Is Your Bulb Burnt Out?

I was reminded of a simple fact this morning while preparing to meditate.  As it was still dark, I turned on the light in our basement before going outside to get situated.  The socket still had an older incandescent bulb in it (the kind that are increasingly hard to find).  The thing about incandescent bulbs is when they are about to go out, they start to flicker, sometimes get really bright, go out briefly, then come back on.  It’s the telltale sign that bulb is about to burn out.  In my case, I found myself with moments of light interrupted by darkness as I tried to find my way around - we have lots of things to avoid in our basement and doing so in the dark can be like navigating an obstacle course.

It was great inspiration for my meditation because it reminded me of how we as individuals give off signs that we’re about to burn out.  All I have to do is look back on times when I burned myself completely out and there were flickers often followed by intense activity, more flickers, then suddenly the emotional and physical filament failed and my own bulb was finished.  The other thing I reflected on is how I typically respond to a bulb on the verge of failing.  Whenever I’ve had a bulb that started to flicker, I usually rechecked to make sure it was screwed in tight, jiggled it around, did anything I could to squeeze the last bit of life out of it before finally having to replace it.  Don’t we do the same thing to ourselves?

In reflecting on this, I realize that I often ignore the flicker that signals that I’m personally about to burn out.  I jiggle things around in my life, shift priorities, or try to convince myself to push a bit harder to finish something faster.  The end result is still the same; I burn myself out and have to do a reset with a fresh start.  When we ignore the flicker telling us we’re about to burn out, we usually end up in the dark when things burn out and we can’t see our way around.  Yet we do it to ourselves time and again believing we can squeeze just a little more juice out of things instead of taking the time to stop and do a replacement before the lights go completely out.

So next time you feel that flicker in your life telling you that your emotional, spiritual, or physical bulb is about to burn out, don’t ignore it.  Instead, respond to the signal and take the time to replace the failing part before you find yourself groping in the dark for a new bulb.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership, igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action and connect with him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google+.  Learn more by visiting www.connect2action.com.