eBusiness Weekly
Arthur Marara
Do you know there is so much power in creating your quiet time, and just being with yourself? There is a tendency to believe that this is a selfish act, but I would like to differ.
Solitude is actually the best nurse for wisdom. You are a product of what you do when you are alone.
Do you really want to perform exponentially in your personal life and business? The answer is simple, create your alone time, and be selfish about it.
Yes, very selfish about it. It is not selfish to be selfish in this sense. The greatest act of selfishness is failing to reach your potential because there are millions of people who are counting on you to action.
You know, we are living in very hectic and busy times where if you are not careful you can be busy for everyone else, and forget to create time for yourself.
I work in the service industry where my phone is always ringing and if I am not careful I can end up very busy for other people and forget myself. Create time for yourself, and be with yourself.
As a matter of policy, I put my phone on silent when I am home, and enjoy quiet time with family. Never allow your work to interfere with your family time. This will be a lesson for another day.
Time is central to human existence.
A number of people are good at creating for other people, but few people are good at creating time for themselves.
You need time to reflect on your life, how far you have gone in your purpose and what you need to do to execute effectively your purpose.
If you discipline yourself to give yourself time you will not have problems in giving other people time. When we talk about creating time for yourself it does not mean that you have to shut all the people out.
You still leave room for other people, and have time for yourself whereby you are doing just nothing but reflecting.
But why do you need to create your solitude time?
Solitude is immensely valuable for creativity.
You cannot be creative if you do not have time to think and reflect. You need time to think outside the thoughts of the people. There is a moment where you need to be away from the opinions of other people and to reflect on your own thoughts.
Big companies recognise the need to create time for their employees to be creative through solitude. For major corporations, employees are even given time where they are not disturbed so that they just focus on creating ideas.
Do you do this for your business? My designers do not want me close when they are doing designs for my projects; I meet them after drafts are done. Why? They need their quiet time.
Reflection matters
Serious corporations create time for themselves to reflect on their performance and also on ways to improve the performance of the firm.
This is where new ideas come from on how to bring about changes to the various sectors of their business.
These would not happen nor be executed if these corporations were too busy to sit down and have time to reflect. When we do not have time with ourselves we do not have time to assess our performance.
We will not be able to do much because most of the time we will be operating blindly.
There are several instances that Jesus would move out from the crowd and go and pray.
What Jesus effectively did was to create time for Himself so that He could have the opportunity to pray to God. If you cannot create time for yourself, no-one will create it for you.
If you share my faith, I would say, you need to move out from the crowd so that you can have time to pray to God and meditate on His word.
My story: I value solitude
This is one of the things that has really helped me in my writing, speaking and work as an attorney.
I really thrive on solitude, there are moments that I actually need just to be alone, so that I think and concentrate more. I work sometimes even better when I am by myself.
I write books in weird hours of the day when many people are dead asleep. I wake up to read articles on my phone when my family is asleep, I make notes.
I developed the practice of creating time for myself when I was still growing up particularly at High School Level. This developed due to the distance I travelled daily to school, about 10 kilometres everyday on foot.
This is where I discovered most of the principles that I am writing about today. I utilised this moment to speak to God and also to myself about the future and what I wanted to be.
I also had the opportunity to speak the word of God to myself such that it built faith and confidence in me. I carried on with this practice to University.
I used to take a walk alone at night at the college grounds; I found the same refreshing and inspiring. I found most of the titles to books and the content in having time out and interfacing with God.
Some wonder how I managed to improve my communication skills. Now you have the answer, with no background in public speaking, speaking audibly alone daily really changed my life, even when I never knew I would actually be hired to speak to live audiences.
I have never been in a public speaking class a single day in my life. I am a self-taught speaker. You can do it as well.
I have managed to build self-confidence through having time for myself, and now I am able inspire confidence in other people. Every day I take at least a ten-minute walk and have time to reflect on my day and on the greatness of God.
I utilise the moments when I am driving as well just to relax, and reflect. You know your schedule better, and when you have time alone. Build on that. You will certainly realise that there is a lot that is hidden inside of you that should be released the moment you have time with yourself.
Utilise every moment that you have to bring out the sweetness in you so that you can share it with the world.
When I drive long distances I enjoy driving alone, not because I am selfish but because that is the opportunity I also get to be alone.
The majority of these articles and books have been produced during such times. I have been writing for several newspapers, including The Sunday Mail, The Herald, The Manica Post and now the Business Weekly, for years. Do you ever wonder where I get this information from?
I am not the type of person who would open a book in order to write an article, I always believe in sharing, what I see, what I observe, and what would have been impressed on my heart from the quiet moments that I spend.
You can do the same for your business, personal life or any area of your life that you want to change. Learn to spend time with yourself.
When you accord yourself the time to reflect you also accord yourself an opportunity to redirect and go back to your purpose, if you have strayed. Most people do not have time for themselves.
This might be attributed to the busy schedules that most people run in their lives. They only find themselves sleeping after work and for most of the time it would be for a very short time.
This is the challenge with most developed countries and also in some developing countries. You need to have time with yourself when you are active in your mind and all the other faculties.
In the various researches conducted on serial breakthrough innovators, it was discovered that all of the innovators had spent significant time alone, pursuing their own interests.
Most were voracious readers —Elon Musk, for example, often read for 10 hours a day, and his brother Kimbal noted “If it was the weekend he could go through two books in a day.” Elon Musk himself says, “I was raised by books. Books and then my parents.”
There are several more examples of great innovators, but it is for another article. I hope this one inspired you.
Join me on Star FM on Wednesdays (09:30am-10:00am) for some moments of inspiration on the Breeze with Tariro “Mai Judah”.
Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote and peak performance speaker, business strategy facilitator commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, sales, business leadership and strategy. Arthur is the author of the “Personal Development Toolkit”, “Keys to Effective Time Management” among other inspirational books. Follow him on social media, or WhatsApp him on +263780055512 or email [email protected].
