I have been thinking a lot about change and our hectic lives recently. From a business standpoint, change has been the one constant in my life and one that creates very hectic times.

While going through some recent business changes and doing my best to help others through it, I realized something. While I am good at dealing with change and have helped many organizations through change, I myself have stayed pretty constant.

This can be good as within change there needs to be some constants. Something or someone that brings a sense of calm and consistency to what is an often volatile situation.

Thus, my role has been and continues to be one of helping others keep focused on the task at hand during change. This has translated to being a calming, focused voice in critical or stressful situations as well.

What I realized, however, is that this is emotionally and mentally very stressful.

As such I find that I am in need of an outlet for this stress which typically means riding my bikes more or other hobbies when time allows. Which it does not as often as I would like.

When I can this is good, but through extended change you find yourself wading back into the fray each day and ending up at the end of the week exhausted.

Thus, I have found that taking frequent walks during my day to allow myself moments of respite and reflection to be very helpful. These are not long strolls, but brief calming walks around the office or on really tough days out side just to soak up a little sun.

I do not allow myself to think about anything work or change related, I simply allow my mind to wander to energizing thoughts and aspects of my life. I often talk to God and just let my mind rest for a few moments.

This brief mental break allows me to recover a bit from the stress of whatever might be in flight at the moment.

This can be a real challenge with meetings often stacked back to back. However, I have tried to build in a 5 minute gap between meetings as much as possible to allow me to mentally retool for the next meeting anyhow. Thus, if the next meeting is not a total shift from the last that requires mental retooling for a totally new subject, it’s time for a brief “mental stroll.”

I really cannot emphasize enough how much these breaks have helped me deal with the mental and emotional stress that come in times of change. Furthermore, they have become a respite between often stressful business meetings.

I see so many professionals going from one stressful meeting to another and have been watchful of how this impacts their decision making.

Look, just like in our physical state our mental and emotional states can only sustain peak performance for a period of time. Like a runner, we cannot sprint everywhere. There must be times where we set a pace so that when we do have to go all out to overtake someone or pull a hill we have the reserves to do so.

A continual dead run…well…leaves you dead.

I see so many professionals who believe that they can go from one thing to another in the work world in a dead run. Furthermore, they are typically the same ones who continually put in 12-16 hour days. They see themselves as machines.

I have “been there, done that, got the tee shirt” when it comes to this behavior.

It almost killed me.

Don’t get me wrong, I work hard still. I keep up a very active corporate career, I have Biker Chaplain that takes up time and effort and I freelance write/blog, along with helping out at my home church, a biker fellowship and ride with Bikers for Christ. Of course Biker Chaplain and my writing are often as much an outlet as they are an effort for me.

However, this creates a hectic life. We all have them now.

Thus, more than ever I must allow myself time to “reset” to take a mental break from all the hectic activities.

When time is not on my side to allow for a long cathartic ride these momentary breaks have made all the difference in my mental state and attitude. I have found that I am not only able to maintain a mental calm in the storms of life, but I it makes my decision making much better and provides for clear thinking on critical topics.

This mental clarity, I have found, is highly critical in both business and personal situations. That may sound like a very obvious statement to make. However, I have seen many individuals make critical decisions in stressful times while exhausted to disastrous ends. I have seen top executives allow emotional and mental stress cause them to make snap decision that have corporate impact that can last for years if not severely impact their careers.

The other aspect of this comes from a quote from Abraham Lincoln which I have always taken to heart, “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

Change and stress in this life is inevitable, how we deal with it (and others through it) is a choice we make.