Mover's Syndrome

November 13, 2010

How often do you fall prey to Mover's Syndrome?

Mover's Syndrome looks like this: the clock is ticking, and you're wanting to spend as little money as possible, and that anxiety becomes so prominent that it dominates the mood in the room. And then the focus shifts from methodical progress to a feeling of being rushed.

When that happens, when the focus shifts in such a significant way, building new skills and learning new techniques for current or chronic challenges disappears and suddenly, it's all about speed.

From there, it's almost impossible NOT to grow impatient with the progress -- since every minute is only about what it's costing and not about what it's producing.

As soon as Mover's Syndrome is recognized, it's imperative to stop. Even though pausing is in direct conflict with the pace and demand of the syndrome.

Someone in the room has to ask the question: Which is more important -- saving a few dollars or remaining calm, focused and useful?

Fear can't run the agenda or schedule.Good therapists are excellent at staying on point and present with no sense of time elapsing. They don't buy into subjective evaluations of perceived progress. They have their eyes on a larger prize.

Movers, on the other hand, may become brusque and clumsy with your stuff when they know that everyone is watching the clock. So even the best ones begin racing to get your job finished as soon as possible.

Being sensitive to how long something takes makes sense. But letting fear set the pace for any sort of activity is never going to yield the strongest results.

Declutter Your Life Podcast by Andrew Mellen. Available on iTunes!