I keep thinking about Gandhi's quote that I shared a few days ago...
"Actions express priorities..."
I was thinking...
When my father died last year, we made decisions immediately.
I bought tickets to go to Peru for the the next day.
We cancelled our plans as a family.
My son cancelled his trip to Los Angeles.
Work would sort itself out.
We made decisions immediately and without regret.
When my son was in the hospital last year, he was the priority.
I almost never travel on my boys' or my wife's birthday... almost never. It's a day I keep clear on my agenda.
When things truly are priorities - they make decisions easy.
Life is all the same... I am the same... it is just that for "certain" things that I deem "most" important - I make decisions differently.
Based on the way I have been living my life I have only two priorities currently - family and work, and they are not necessarily in that order. "Me" doesn't make the list... at least not the top two. So taking care of myself hasn't been my priority. And, as I think about things, the two things which I believe need to be the most important priorities in my life are my health and how I choose to spend my time. And yet, I am almost never willing to "drop everything" to take care of those two...
What if...
What if I lived my life with CLEARER and MORE DELIBERATE priorities?
What if instead of allowing myself to negotiate with myself all of the time, "well, push hard now at work and next month you can take more time to work out", I actually held my priorities as priorities?
Depends... do I regret my current priorities?
I am not sure that I would use "regret" as I am choosing them deliberately.
But, I they are simply NOT the priorities, or better stated, the BALANCE of my priorities as I WANT them to be.
Clearly if someone dies - there is no alternative but to "be there" or "not be there".
Some things in life leave us no "alternative option" - either we participate or we don't.
It's the things that we do everyday...
The things that are more fluid and "If I dont do it today, I can do it tomorrow" that become more "negotiable"...
And, it is those things that define our life and in many ways how joyfully we live it.
I want to work out at least 4 times per week and ideally 5 or 6.
I don't want to sprint to everything I do - I want to schedule my life with transition time.
I want to meditate every day. I want to write. I want to think.
And, I want to lead my company and our efforts.
A joyful life requires deliberate choices...
A purposeful life, a meaningful life, requires thoughtful choices.
When we start to give ourselves away...
We start living less joyfully.
Realizing that I can't do everything is a start.
But, importantly, deciding what I will and will not do comes next.
And maturity and wisdcom comes not just when we start to make clearer decisions on our priorities, but when we FULLY accept the trade-offs to the point where they don't even feel like trade-offs.
I will keep choosing to work hard... but I am going to draw more boundaries...
Life is compromise.
Life is decisions.
Life is priorities.
I will attempt to choose more wisely...
More as if my life depended on it...
in harmony,
Nestor