What is your recovery rate? How long does it take you to recover from actions and behaviors
that upset you? Minutes? Hours? Days? Weeks? The longer it takes you to recover, the more
influence that incident has on your actions, and the less able you are to perform to your
personal best. In a nutshell, the longer it takes you to recover, the weaker you are and
the poorer your performance.
　　You are well aware that you need to exercise to keep the body fit and, no doubt, accept
that a reasonable measure of health is the speed in which your heart and respiratory system
recovers after exercise. Likewise the faster you let go of an issue that upsets you, the
faster you return to an equilibrium, the healthier you will be. The best example of this
behavior is found with professional sportspeople. They know that the faster they can forget
an incident or missd opportunity and get on with the game, the better their performance.
In fact, most measure the time it takes them to overcome and forget an incident in a game
and most reckon a recovery rate of 30 seconds is too long!
　　Imagine yourself to be an actor in a play on the stage. Your aim is to play your part to
the best of your ability. You have been given a script and at the end of each sentence is
a ful stop. Each time you get to the end of the sentence you start a new one and although
the next sentence is related to the last it is not affected by it. Your job is to deliver
each sentence to the best of your ability.
　　Don’t live your life in the past! Learn to live in the present, to overcome the past.
Stop the past from influencing your daily life. Don’t allow thoughts of the past to reduce
your personal best. Stop the past from interfering with your life. Learn to recover quickly.
　　Remember: Rome wasn’t built in a day. Reflect on your recovery rate each day. Every day
before you go to bed, look at your progress. Don’t lie in bed saying to you, “I did that
wrong.” “I should have done better there.” No. look at your day and note when you made an
effort to place a full stop after an incident. This is a success. You are taking control of
your life. Remember this is a step by step process. This is not a make-over. You are
undertaking real change here. Your aim: reduce the time spent in recovery.
　　The way forward?
　　Live in the present. Not in the precedent.