The “Think Clearly” Pledge From Linked In Influencer Bruce Kasanoff
Yesterday I skied 10″ of fresh powder in Vermont, and as I neared my house at the end of the day, I simply took off my skis and lay down in the snow. After about 20 minutes of doing nothing but let snowflakes fall on my face, an idea occurred to me and I took this photo.
Here’s the idea: every day in 2014, I’m going to take at least 10 minutes to do what I did yesterday: stop, empty my mind, and do nothing at all.
In return, I hope to think more clearly the rest of the time.
Over the years, I’ve meditated off and on, and have often exercised or simply walked to clear my head. I’ve also observed that my best professional ideas come in the days right after a vacation. But I’ve never pledged to spend ten minutes in silent inaction every single day for a year.
Will you take the pledge with me?
I ask you this in the spirit of enlightened self-interest. The more people who take the pledge with me, the more likely I am to abide by it. But also the more people who abide by the pledge, the more people it will help.
Look around you, and you will see countless people who live in a fog. They don’t listen to what you say, they don’t understand what others are trying to communicate to them, and they don’t understand reality; instead, they operate within their own distorted sense of reality. As a result, they make a lot of bad decisions, and they miss numerous opportunities.
Here’s the really bad news: the same is true for you and me. We live in a fog, too.
Truth is, I’m not sure that ten minutes a day is enough to free either one of us from the fog, but this is a step in the right direction, and it is a modest enough commitment that – with the help of others – we can actually stick to it for this entire year.
To help both of us stick to the Pledge, I just created the Think Clearly group on LinkedIn. If you are taking the Pledge, please join the group.
Update, 3:45 p.m. Friday: Went back to the same spot today. This is the view. The temperature outside was -7 fahrenheit, but I still enjoyed the break. 425 people have already joined me to take the Pledge…
Related Post: http://karahpino.me/the-sacred-shadow-self/the-zen-of-going-to-the-rest-room/
