Decide now at what point during today you will stop yourself to check-in with reality. Set the alarm or an alert on your 'phone. When prompted by your alarm, consider and reflect upon how you have, up to that point in the day, performed your apparently menial tasks.

A little while back, a client, a Chief Executive, told me that a member of his leadership team had observed that "The Ezines from Willie Horton are awfully repetitive", in response to which my client explained that "There are only so many ways that you can say 'You've Got to Meditate'!" And it's true: much of the videos, articles and tips contained in over 470 Ezines come back to the most fundamental of things we need to do each day - get our head in the right place - the right place being the here and now.

Flow research tells us that, once our head is in the right place, not only is what we have to do akin to plain sailing, while we're doing it we'll be full of the joys of life. Now, whilst all this is true, scientifically validated and experienced by many of the people with whom I work, myself included, it doesn't take away from the fact that, in order to lead that kind of life, I've got manage it as well. Today's video juxtaposes the inspirational of leadership with the perspirational of management - and what goes for leading others goes for leading our own lives too.

Did I meditate this morning? Yes I did! Even though, having meditated now for the best part of 25 years, I know that I can keep myself on my toes, focused, for the greater part of the day, nothing beats the exhilerating feeling of a completely present mind that I get when I meditate. Do I know what I want out of today? Yes I do - because I know what some of my grand goals look and feel like - I know what it feels like to be there already. Does that mean that I can now simply sail through today? No - there are things I've got to do today that could be described as housekeeping, boring, unproductive, repetitive... but these things have to be managed so that I can lead my life. How I do them will determine how clear the decks are for moving my little ship of state forward.

The same is true when it comes to leading others. Leadership is about motivating and inspiring others but, because most "others" don't have their head fully in the here and now (they may be somewhere else entirely) you've also got to manage those you lead. A great leader, of course, will ensure that his or her "Team" become great leaders in their own right but the bottom line is that there's lots of apparently routine boring stuff that everyone needs to do too.

Where does that leave us? Well, if it leaves us anywhere other than the here and now, we've lost the plot! It leaves us with an understand that, in this here and now, regardless of how mundane the next thing I have to do is, I've got to do it as if I mean it.