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About This Site.

This site is the website of motivational speaker Craig Harper. A constantly updated, one-stop information, inspiration, education and motivation station. Unlike many similar sites, it is a totally free resource for anyone who is serious about moving from mediocre to amazing in any area of their personal or professional life. With hundreds of articles covering a wide range of subject matter, great interviews with cool people and inspirational video posts, there's more than enough brain-food to keep you busy for hours. Okay, days!! Enjoy.


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Welcome to Craig's site.

Craig Harper is Australia's leading motivational speaker and educator (according to Google Australia). He is a highly sought-after corporate coach and is considered to be a leader and pioneer in the areas of personal and professional development.

Working with hundreds of teams, companies and a wide variety of organisations on numerous continents over the last twenty years has given Craig a unique insight into, and understanding of, human performance and all its variables. Craig has an ability to educate, inspire, challenge and make people laugh all at the same time!

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Renovate Your Life Blog


Monday, November 12, 2007
The Importance of Doing Nothing
* Hi Team.

Sorry I've been absent for a few days... needed to recharge my batteries.
Had a great relaxing weekend but of course, I'm missing you all desperately; I'm only human.
Wanna say hi to my new buddy, Internet marketing expert and fellow blogger, Brendon Sinclair. He's a lad from Queensland who I had lunch with on Friday and apart from the fact that his punctuality is crap and he's not nearly as funny as me, he's a good man with an even better son, Jack. Keep up the great work lads and thanks for the support and help Brendon.

On with today's post...

The importance of doing nothing?
What kinda weird-ass title is that from a motivator dude?
Surely it's important that we do something.
This is a personal development site right?

Is it not a stupid notion for people who are all about maximizing their potential and living their ultimate life to do nothing?
Why would Captain 'get-off-your-ass' suggest that we get back on it?

Yes, of course it's important that we do something.
Followed by some regular nothing.
And then a bit more something.
And then... okay, you get it.

Let me know if I'm getting ahead of you.

The truth is that there comes a point where we are doing so much 'something' that we end up achieving a whole lotta nothing. Nothing positive anyway. We start to do more harm than good - to our career, our health, our relationships, our reputation, our 'creative well' and our emotional state.

And without an opportunity to step out of our busy-ness and into some tranquility - whatever that is for us personally (space, nature, quiet, sleep, music, play, meditation, holiday), we gradually become more miserable, more emotionally and mentally exhausted, more dysfunctional, less effective and eventually, completely unproductive and physically unwell.

Not to mention, unpleasant to be around.
Well actually, I did mention it.
Why do we use that expression?
Stupid.

I digress.

As usual.

Sure, we can 'get away with it' for a while... but unbalanced lives inevitably lead to unbalanced individuals.
Yep, seen it way too often.
Knocked on the door myself.
Not a good place to visit.

This is a lesson many high-achievers will learn - one way or another.
Especially the blokes.
Many men suffer from indestructible-itis.
Or as you ladies might call it, stupidity.

Over the years, I have watched many people spontaneously-combust.
Working themselves to misery.
Heaps of money... and no life.
No balance, no fun, no health.

Other than that, they've pretty much nailed it.

We all need some regular nothing.
And by investing in some nothing we become more effective, more dynamic, more productive and more excited when we are doing the something.
With me?

Just like our body needs recovery between training sessions, so too, our head and our heart need 'recovery' so that when we step back into the 'game', we're much more effective, we produce better results and we're in a much healthier place mentally and emotionally.
When we're in our nothing phase is the best time for us to gain real perspective on where and how we invest our energy and talent... and how we're living our life.

If (for example) you manage to get yourself on a holiday and you discover that you're dreading going back to the pressure cooker that is your 'normal life', then there's a fair chance you need to make some big decisions and get the wheels of change turning.

Many reality-defining and life-changing decisions have been made when people get away from their (day to day) life... "so this is what the rest of the world looks like... cool".

It's often when we're away from our 'busy-ness' and routine (daily grind) that we gain some real clarity and perspective about where we should be (professionally, personally, even geographically) and where we should invest our time, talent and energy.

Maybe we should work less and play more?
Maybe we'd be happier?
Maybe we should hang out with our kids more and work colleagues less.
Maybe we should try and make our body as healthy as our business.
Maybe we should put as much energy into our significant relationships as we do with our careers... and lose the "but I'm doing this for you and the kids" martyr mantra.

Maybe we should move from Suburbia to Utopia.
I've heard it's nice.
Perfect even.

I have a theory that there's actually no correlation between increased (financial) wealth and increased happiness and contentment... in fact, I believe that often the opposite is true. I've worked with very wealthy people for years and I gotta tell ya... I'm glad I'm me!

And no, I'm not saying that money and happiness are mutually exclusive.. (of course there are plenty of rich, happy, balanced people), I am saying that when money (or the pursuit of it) becomes our identity, our primary reason for getting out of bed... then we're doomed.

"He who dies with the most toys wins" is meant to be a tongue-in-cheek comment on wealth and greed... but sadly, for some of the people I've met, it actually is their life philosophy.

So Saturday night I had ten hours sleep.
Something of a record.
And last night, nearly nine.
A phenomenal achievement for the man who averages five to six.
I would have slept longer this morning but I was woken up at eight by the deafening applause of every cell in my rejuvenated body giving me a standing ovation.

Even something as simple as extra sleep can make a significant difference with everything from physical health, to attitude, to creative output, to how we communicate, to how we manage stress.

I've spoken recently about the notion of less is more and how sometimes to produce better 'results' in all areas of our life we need to stop 'pushing' for a while, let our head, heart and body recover... and to let ourselves feel the sand between our toes, the breeze on our face and the sun on our back.
Literally and metaphorically.

This past weekend I slid down to the beach house and did a lot of nothing much.

My mind is very happy with me; it needed some time out.
My creative tank is full once again.
I laughed at some mindless TV, ate food, read a book, watched some surfers play on the waves (not too many surfers die of a stress-related illness by the way!), walked barefoot in the sand and let the gentle sound of the ocean massage my tired brain back to health.

I found my 'off' switch.

Nice.

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