Ride or Fight?

September was an uncomfortable month for me. Several work and personal projects converged, leaving me feeling quite overwhelmed. I was unusually sick for about two weeks. Then, three friends lost close loved ones within a span of four days. All of them were very strong, and they inspired me with their faith. But I could see the longing and sadness in their puffy eyes.

Bad things happen. Certainly it’s okay to grieve for a time, and then we have a choice. We can continue to focus on the sadness we feel, or we can focus on uncovering what we can learn from the situation.  For me, the basic lesson of this experience was simple: I am reminded that each day is precious because there’s no guarantee we’ll get any more of them.  Deciding how to apply that lesson is more complicated.

I heard Nickelback’s “If Today Was Your Last Day” for the first time, and I think its lyrics are a great start.

To me, what’s worth the price is our purpose in life. And the fight is over our time.

Jack Canfield believed his purpose was to deliver the original Chicken Soup for the Soul book to those that needed the message. He made it his goal to do five things towards his purpose each day. It took over 130 rejections to get it published and over a year to make the bestseller lists. Then, the book went on to sell over 8 million copies and started a series of over 80 more best-selling books.

A graduate school professor challenged Jim Collins to focus on the right things, not just doing things right. He’s now added a “Stop Doing” List to his annual planning process, making it as important as his goals. At last year’s Inc. 500 conference, he answered an attendee’s question about what’s on his list: 1) Get rid of layers and reorganize his company, 2) Stop unnecessary fire drills (by not responding via email when he’s upset about something), and most importantly 3) He stopped watching television.

Dying of pancreatic cancer, Professor Randy Pausch returned to the University of Virginia to give one final lecture. His topic: Time Management. As he points out, time management is a systemic problem, and one-time solutions don’t work. It’s up to each of us to design a system that recognizes time as our most valuable resource. I highly recommend watching the video, both for it’s motivation and specific ideas.

So will you take the free ride, or will you fight?