Toast, slightly burnt, a little smokey and that certain smell. That’s the way I feel on certain days. I little over done and not pleasant for anyone. Other day’s, the bread is just lightly browned and oh so good. How do I get more of those days? Once you have reached the point of being overdone, there is not much you can do but through away the bread and start over. I guess the challenge is not get to the point of being overdone.

I recently ventured into making maple syrup for the first time. After you collect the sap, you need to start boiling it down. It takes a long time, like 10 hours. The first nine and a half not much happens, but after that you need to watch it. We take the temperature of the sap and when it gets to 7 degrees above boiling, it is syrup. From 212 degrees to 215 it is fairly slow, but from 215 to 219 degrees it is fairly quick. If you do not watch it, it is easy to get overdone, burn and then be ruined.

Well, that is how it has been for me lately. Too many things inputting and competing for my time, then when I am not paying close enough attention, overload. For me, I have had more things being funneled into the hopper lately and I have not done a good enough job of controlling the flow into my life. So there it is, problem identified. Now what?

For me, it is realizing that I am not effective in what I do, by adjusting my output, to the input provided. I need to maintain a balanced pace regardless of how fast things are coming at me. There is always going to be something else to do, something else screaming for my attention. I am at my best when I take the time to do some self reflection and make the necessary adjustments to run at peak performance before I become burnt toast. For me, it is a slower, more deliberate pace. If I am not paying attention, it is over. So, may you take the time to reflect on the pace you are running and fine tune yourself to run at peak performance on a consistent basis.