Flooding The Engine

I was driving in to work the other day, and as I was preparing to change lanes in traffic, knowing I would only have a short window to accelerate and get over, I ended up flooding my engine. I do this often, to be honest. I will push my foot down to the floor in an attempt to accelerate, only to temporarily flood the engine and find I have created a delay rather than making things happen faster. It creates a short lag and usually causes me to panic because nothing is happening, and suddenly everything is happening. My heart rate will increase and my life will quickly flash before my eyes, until my gas pump catches up and launches me forward. Do you know what I mean?

Here's the thing… sometimes in life, in our attempt to make things happen faster, we flood the engine. We push ourselves too hard, too fast, and burn out, or create unnecessary delays. We can get overzealous and sometimes not even think our decisions through and we find that suddenly nothing is working at all like we expected. Sometimes we get in such a hurry to do things and get them done, that we miss out on the most fundamental elements that need to happen.

I have noticed this in various areas in my life, and this experience has caused me to take a moment to reflect. I realize I sometimes “flood the engine” with relationships. I respond quickly to an email or an instant message and I don’t use the typical pleasantries I would have used in the past. Instead I jump right in to getting to my point. Because that’s what I’ve been conditioned to do in today’s crazy busy chaotic society.

How often are we in a hurry to respond that we come across abrupt or brash? Do we take time to really listen, to practice the pause, before we respond? Today’s lifestyle seems to be all about being busy and in a hurry. But, we must take the time to slow down sometimes in order to go far. Just like the tortoise and the hare. We may end up burning out and not making it to the finish line if we rush to get there.

So as you go through your week, take time to become aware of anything you may be doing that could be figuratively flooding your engine. What might be holding you back from getting started because you are getting ahead of yourself? What might you be in such a big hurry to do that you end up missing crucial steps in the process? And what might you be doing that is just plain burning you out? Take time to reflect and then make small corrections to help you slowly accelerate so you can get where you want to go.