All of a sudden I’m in my mid‐50’s facing the reality that life on Earth is finite and, as a family friend likes to share:
“Hey, none of us are getting out of this alive!”
William E. Brown
Psychologists often speak of significant emotional events. I’ve come to believe that it often takes one of these to effect real change in those of us who often move forward while remaining invincibly ignorant and without proper perspective. Cindy’s cancer was a significant emotional event for our family. On a professional level, I believe that my keynote speeches are much better than they were pre‐cancer. They are from the heart, and in spite of the risk that my macho friends from the past will call me a wimp, I find myself more sensitive than before. I truly believe I’m approaching my work from a new perspective; my priorities have changed, the time I spend with family is much more important, my free time is more valuable, and I purposely schedule more time for a new set of high‐priority items.
What are your priorities? I’ve shared with many an audience the results of a national survey I read years back in which the respondents named their top three priorities as family, spirituality and health. Yours may be in a slightly different order, but they’re probably similar if you’ve taken the time to look at life through clear eyes. I’ve read a couple of books this past year that have helped me find a better perspective. One is called Chasing Daylight, by Eugene O’Kelly. In the book, he describes a set of concentric circles defining relationships. The inner circle is composed of those people who will be with you when you are reclining on the inevitable death bed. Those are the very important relationships where we should spend our limited resources. You’ve probably heard about it on the news, listened to interviews with the author, or maybe even read the book titled The Last Lecture by the late college professor Randy Pausch. His focus on principles and priorities is right on the mark.
So, take a look at your upcoming week’s calendar. How do your top priorities fare? I’ll bet you haven’t scheduled an appropriate amount of time for the truly important things. Are you making it to the kids’ soccer games? Are you spending one‐on‐one time with your significant other? How’s the health? Do you spend time for personal reflection?
