Cadence, Disrupted

Cadence has become my new favorite word. It’s rhythm. It’s priority. It’s intentional. It’s flow. Getting into a cadence with your teams, your customers, your work-out schedule, your date nights, your faith, your family dinners… these things are important and as such, we need to set and protect the dedicated times for them.

But, like New Year’s resolutions that are diligently planned and placed on the calendar, life gets in the way. So, what do you do when your cadence is interrupted? Here are my suggestions.

Look Reality In the Eye

What has caused you to get out of sync and not commit to this? Sometimes, we may just be overly aggressive with our commitments. Is this one of those times? Or is this just a temporary challenge. Be wary of those temporary rhythms though. They quickly gain permanence!

Recommit

If this is something that is truly important, make a concrete plan to recommit. If that “temporary” situation is your issue, set a specific date to get back to it. For instance, for me I have recently taken on a new role at a new organization. That period of transition has disrupted some of my cadence (in amazing ways!), but for those that are important to me, I am actively making space for them (#FridayConnection, #Crossfit)!

Forgive Yourself

It sometimes seems that re-starting is actually harder than starting. Maybe because we feel that we failed, or feel guilty for shifting priorities. It doesn’t have to be that way. Everyone understands, and we are often our harshest critics. If it was important enough to start, it’s probably important enough to finish regardless of any pauses or failings in between.

Caesura

A caesura is a timely pause in music or poetry. It adds space for emotional impact. We need these in our lives. Add them. An overly structured and packed cadence is brittle and breaks easily. Intentional breaks have even bigger impacts on our lives than intentional cadences.

So go out with intention and set the cadence for those things that matter to you. When you miss a step, get back out there and dance, and never forget why you were dancing in the first place.