What are you holding onto that no longer serves you in your personal and professional life? Too often we complain of being 'too busy' and time poor, struggling with too many balls in the air to consider change or innovation. But what are we doing out of habit, familiarity or comfort that we might choose to let go of?
'Putting down the duckie' simply means ceasing to act out a time-wasting, unproductive, valueless activity. In our personal lives this might look like scaling back our time spent using technology in order to fit in a gym workout. For a teacher in a classroom, it might mean 'putting down' the daily calendar activity in favour of finding time for culture-building circle time.
Change might be as good as a holiday but habits and valueless engrained practices are hard to change without conscious effort. We might use the proposition of change as an opportunity to audit our time spent. Instead of stretching ourselves to fit in something else, we might ponder what we can let go of, cease or shift in order to make space for something better.
Where we choose to spend our precious time shows Core Values and beliefs. The 'time-stealers' or Rotten Apples of our day often hold little value but might satisfy a need for order, completion or routine. Being honest with ourselves about the purpose of our daily activities will likely highlight where we might begin to 'put down' meaningless and 'pick up' meaningful'.
'Duckies' drain us, stifle us and prevent our growth. Replacing them invigorates and empowers us, allowing us to gain a sense of greater productivity and add deeper meaning to our day. We simply can't hold onto all the 'duckies' if we want to continue to learn and grow.
"You've got to put down the duckie if you want to play the saxophone." - Hoots the Owl, Sesame Street.
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