Five more minutes, please!
Life is short and it’s probably going to end before you are ready. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but that seems to be the trend. This year alone, I have heard about so many relatively young people who were suddenly gone from this earth. I doubt any of them had finished their ‘to do’ list or had the impact they were hoping to have in life. Imagine if you could read their journals or see what they dreamed of creating in life. Would that inspire you to make the most of the time you have? Might it bring you to tears? Might it inspire you to get busy living life intentionally?
What would you do with more time?
It’s so easy to get lulled into the slow rhythm of life, to long for rest, more time off. How much is your time worth? What is 30 more minutes of sleep worth to you? How much is 30 more minutes of life worth to you? If you aren’t working on something that is fun/exciting/challenging, worthwhile enough to get you out of bed early, then you’ve got some work to do to figure out something worth getting up early for.
Forget about making money, getting followers, going viral. What can you do today to celebrate the life and body you have? How touch the lives of the people you care about today? What can you do for a stranger to restore their faith in humanity? How can your take action today to improve your quality of life tomorrow? What can you do to get busy living life intentionally?
What if today is all you’ve got?
Today really is all we’ve got, but we don’t always act accordingly. We think, ‘I’ll do that next week, next month, whenever I get to it’. Of course, we can’t always live with the sense of urgency of today being our last day. We’ve got to find some balance of making the most of today and also preparing ourselves for tomorrow should we be lucky enough to see it. That’s why is so important to get busy living life intentionally.
What if you could design your day to make the most of it and prepare yourself for a brighter tomorrow and ultimately your best life? What would your ideal day look like? Would you get started early or sleep in? What would you work on first? Who would you schedule time for? What would your priorities be? How could you eliminate distractions so you have more time to focus on the things that really matter? What if you lived that way every day?
Take care of your machine
Think about your body for a second. It might not be able to do everything you want it to do, it might not look exactly how you want it to look, but it’s miraculous!! Really it is. Are you taking good care of it? Are you using it to its full potential? Has something like this ever happened to you? You have a guitar laying around your house, you were planning to learn, but didn’t quite get around to it. A friend comes by and sees your guitar and says, ‘oh cool, can I check it out?’ Your friend proceeds to play something amazing and beautiful that leaves you speechless. You’ve had this guitar just sitting around that is capable of producing amazing music but you haven’t learned to use it.
Imagine what your body is capable and what you could do with it if you took the time to learn how to use it better. Have you ever been inspired by an athlete, a dancer, a gymnast who has finely honed skills? They weren’t just born with those skills, they developed them. It’s a long slow process to learn to use your body to a high potential in any given area, but why not work on it a little each day and see how far you can get? What can you do today to celebrate the body you have, to care for it and learn to use it better?
Take care of your relationships
If you are like most people, there are some people you wish you could meet. There are some people who you wish you could spend more time with and there are some people who you really don’t ever want to see again and you might secretly wish bad things would happen to them. What is the difference in these relationships? What difference could YOU make in them? Do you ever think, ‘if only they could see from my perspective, if only they knew how they hurt me or made me feel’. Do you ever think that the people who ‘hurt’ you might be thinking the same thing about you? What would they want you to know?
How often do you tell the special people in your life how much they mean to you? Would you like to hear how much you mean to them more often? What about someone that you met only once who had a profound impact on your life or inspired you? What if you could do that for others on a regular basis? How much more meaningful would your life be if you were able to have that effect on others on a consistent basis? What if you met someone you’ve been wanting to meet your whole life on your worst day? Would they see how you treat others when you’re under stress and be inspired or horrified? What can you do to get busy living life intentionally?
What if whatever you dream of accomplishing in life isn’t your life’s work?
You might imagine that your life is about achieving some grand vision, but what if you never share that vision with anyone? What if you never create that vision? Then what is your life about? Your life might be about one thing to you, but what would all the people who are close to you say your life is about? Do you ever get caught up daydreaming about the life you could have but it’s really the equivalent of an idealized Instagram profile? Lot’s of flashy images, but no really substance.
What if your life’s legacy isn’t what you achieve or acquire but what you leave with others? If it’s not about what you get, but what you give? What if your legacy is more about the impact you have on others, the relationships you build, not the things you accomplish? If it’s actually the little things you do for others that determines the quality of your life and the legacy you have? Your life’s work isn’t about something you’re going to get to someday, it’s about the manner in which you live your life today, the little things you do daily, the things that others remember you for.
Is it graded on the curve?
Imagine today was your last day on Earth. Your life has been lived. How did you do? Are you happy with how you lived your life so far? Did you make as much money as you were hoping to make? Were you able to travel as much as you thought you would? Did you get to experience all the things that you were hoping you would experience? Does any of that matter? What does matter, what are you most proud of? What do you wish you had done more of? Is there anyone you would like to send a message to, something you need to say? What would you do if you had more time? How can you get busy living life intentionally?
Extension granted
The good news is that you do have more time, who knows how much, so use it well. I like the idea of trying to make the most of each day. I used to get so caught up in my future fantasy but never did anything about it, I would just think about how things would be so much better some day, but didn’t really see a path to get there. Now I focus more on making the most of today.
I try to spend some time each day on fitness, personal growth and working on things I need to work on and then spend time sharing, connecting and contributing to others. What I have noticed is that when I take care of the priorities in my life, I have more flexibility for others. I have more patience dealing with other people knowing that I have worked on my priorities already.
Where to start
I am a huge fan of personal development, I take a lot of courses, read books and go to seminars. The best investment you can make is in yourself. Spend time working to improve yourself physically, mentally and spiritually each day. Of course, investing in others is important too. It’s hard to say which is more important. The quality of your life really comes down to the quality of your relationships, but it’s hard to have good relationships if you haven’t worked on yourself.
Recently I have benefited from Jeff Lerner’s courses. They focus on learning how to make money in the digital economy and he puts a lot of emphasis on improving yourself physically and improving your relationships as well. It’s really all about having an awesome life and creating a legacy. His courses have helped me to focus and improve my daily routine. You can check out one of his videos below.
