Have you ever noticed the day before vacation how you are suddenly clear about what must be done – what the highest priorities are – and you somehow manage to get it all done before you walk out the door? Your mind is free from concerns about what you might have left behind because you know that you addressed all of the top priorities; whether it was by doing it yourself, handing it off to someone else, by deciding that it was something that really could wait until later, or that it didn’t need to be done at all. Wouldn’t it be nice to have that kind of clarity all of the time?
How much more would we get done? How much less stressed would we be? What if we were so clear about our priorities, both personal and professional, that those were the things we put our energies towards first and foremost? If we have a limited amount of time in our lives, how are we going to choose to spend it?
Some time ago I read a book titled, “Chasing Daylight; How My Forthcoming Death Transformed My Life.” Eugene O’Kelly, the author, learned in late May 2005 that he had terminal brain cancer. September 10, 2005 he passed away. During those few months of knowing he was dying, and that there was no escaping it, he not only wrote Chasing Daylight, but he also became very clear about what was most important in his life, and how to achieve great clarity and balance with his priorities in his little time remaining.
In summary, O’Kelly was a high achieving, goal oriented CEO of a 20,000 employee accounting firm. He felt strongly about commitment to one’s career and found that his display of commitment was reflected by how much time he invested into his work. However, as he became more clear about the greater balance of life, he realized that commitment is not measured by the time someone is willing to give up, but by the energy one wants to put in, by how present one is. Some thought provoking realizations he shared were:
- You can’t control time; however, you can control your energy and how it is allocated.
- You can control how your energy is used to respond to outside influences.
- You can do anything if you give your best energy to it…Time becomes less important.
- Commitment is about Depth. Passion. Effort. Wanting to be in a certain place and not somewhere else.
O’Kelly realized that what he was really trying to do, rather than be committed, was to be conscious, to pay attention to and focus on his surroundings, to be “here and now”.
With the ‘vacation season’ here, I challenge you to notice, and enjoy those last few moments before walking out the door to leave on vacation… savor them. Pay attention to what it is you did differently. How can you incorporate these differences into your daily, or even weekly routine?
My desire for you is that this summer will provide you with some time to relax, a feeling of rejuvenation, and heightened clarity so that you are able to be clearer about allocating your energies to those things most important to you.
