Eleanor Roosevelt

More people are killed by
overwork than the importance
of the world justifies. 

Rudyard Kipling

When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.

George Washington Carver

When the world seems large and complex, we need to remember that great world ideals all begin in some home neighborhood.

Konrad Adenauer

Louise Morganti Kaelin is a Life Success Coach who partners with others to
help them turn their dreams into reality.  Phone: 1-617-984-2868 Email: louise@touchpointcoaching.com  Web: http://touchpointcoaching.com

Here and Now

Several of the ideas in literature that has stuck with me the most in my life come from Aldous Huxley's novel Island, a fascinating novel that I read almost two decades ago.  In this novel, children are able to switch families if they want or need to, whenever things get too stressful in their own homes.  Nobody takes it personally when a child decides to spend a few days with another family, and they usually come home appreciating their own families more.  Huxley's point with this idea is that we aren't necessarily born into the family that's best for us in our growth, and that it's wise to seek the teaching and affection of other people, too--not just the blood relatives.

The most striking image, though--and one that it took me quite a while to understand--was of the birds on the island that are trained to say one simple phrase:  "here and now."  Over and over again, all day long, the people of the island are reminded to stay focused on the present moment, on what's going on around them at the moment, rather than having their minds occupied with the past (and things that can't be changed) or the future (and things that more than likely won't even come to pass).

It's often very difficult for my to focus on my "here and now," for there are many aspects of my life that try to keep me thinking of other things.  Concerns about future finances seem to be around for most people, but the most important question usually is do I have enough to live on right now?  And if I don't, am I doing something right now to try to change that situation?  Sometimes if we've made a mistake in our lives, we worry about the consequences of that mistake that may hit us tomorrow or next week, but that worry really won't make the consequences any different.  Right here and right now, I have the possibility of seeing the beauty that surrounds me always, of watching a high-quality movie, of listening to beautiful and/or uplifting music, of reading an important or entertaining book, or of talking to a good friend or an interesting new person in my life.

Right now, I can determine to do the best I can at my job, or I can read a good book or article that will allow me to learn more about my job.  I can teach someone else something important about my work, too, or I can even write down some of my thoughts about work and share them with others.

This particular moment in time will come just once.  We experience it just once.  We may remember it forever, but in our memory we can't change the moment--what we give to it determines how it will live on in our memory.  We choose to give to each moment just what we choose to give--if we give it none of our effort, guess what that moment will be like?

A student in one of my classes once said--and he truly believed it--that one could be happy just sitting in one place waiting for life to bring one good things.  If you sit there long enough, he reasoned, the best in life eventually would come your way.  He felt that even if he were contributing nothing to his moments as they passed, those moments would bring him the best they have to offer.  And perhaps he was right in a way--I can't say that I know the definitive answer to that question.  But my experience tells me that if I encourage someone else right now, that moment will be special for me--and perhaps for both of us.  If I thank someone for what they've done, or if I contribute some small positive something to the life or lives of others, then my here and now will be a very positive there and then tomorrow.

Of all the wisdom I have gained, the most important is the knowledge that time and health are two precious assets that we rarely recognize or appreciate until they have been depleted.  As with health, time is the raw material of life.  You can use it wisely, waste it or even kill it.

To accomplish all we are capable of, we would need a hundred lifetimes.  If we had forever in our mortal lives, there would be no need to set goals, plan effectively or set priorities.  We could squander our time and perhaps still manage to accomplish something, if only by chance.  Yet in reality, we're given only this one life span on earth to do our earthly best.

Each human being now living has exactly 168 hours per week.  Scientists can't invent new minutes, and even the super rich can't buy more hours.  Queen Elizabeth the First of England, the richest, most powerful woman on earth of her era, whispered these final words on her deathbed:  "All my possessions for a moment of time!"

We worry about things we want to do – but can't – instead of doing the things we can do – but don't.  How often have you said to yourself, "Where did the day go? I accomplished nothing," or "I can't even remember what I did yesterday." That time is gone, and you never get it back.

Staring at the compelling distractions on a television screen is one of the major consumers of time.  You can enjoy and benefit from the very best it has to offer in about seven total hours of viewing per week.  But the average person spends more than thirty hours per week in a semi-stupor, escaping from the priorities and goals he or she never gets around to setting.  The irony is that the people we are watching are having fun achieving their own goals, making money, having us look at them enjoying their careers.

Even so, time is amazingly fair and forgiving.  No matter how much time you've wasted in the past, you still have an entire today.  If you've just frittered away an hour procrastinating, you will still be given the next hour to start on priorities.  Time management contains one great paradox:  No one has enough time, and yet everyone has all there is.  Time is not the problem; the problem is separating the urgent from the important.

Every decision we make has an "opportunity cost."  Every decision forfeits all other opportunities we had before we made it.  We can't be two places at the same time.

In their excellent management book Tradeoffs, Drs. Greiff and Munter discuss the difficult options that face us in all areas of our lives.  One case in point illustrates a common opportunity cost.  It's a true anecdote they call, "Bicycle vs. Mother":

"John is a precocious eight-year-old boy.  Both his parents work.  His mother is a management consultant and travels frequently.  After being away for several days, she arrived home late one night and hugged her son.

He said, 'Mom, I missed you. Why were you away so long?'

She smiled and replied, 'One of the reasons I was away was to make enough money to buy you the bicycle you wanted.'

Young John looked at her reflectively and stated, 'Mom, I really did want the bicycle.  But mothers are more important than bicycles.  So please stay home more.'"

Even though we all are aware of the tradeoffs of "quality time vs. quantity time" in our relationships, we are not used to thinking specifically about how our decisions cost us other opportunities.  Without this understanding, our decisions will often be unfocused and unrelated to helping us achieve our most important goals.

You may have heard the story about the analogy of the "circus juggler" to each of us as we try to balance our personal and professional priorities.  I have heard the story repeated by many keynote speakers and have used it in previous books, but have never been able to trace the identity of the original author.

When the circus juggler drops a ball, he lets it bounce and picks it up on the next bounce without losing his rhythm or concentration.  He keeps right on juggling.  Many times we do the same thing.  We lose our jobs, but get another one on the first or second bounce.  We may drop the ball on a sale, an opportunity to move ahead, or in a relationship, and we either pick it up on the rebound or get a new one thrown in to replace what we just dropped.

However, some of the balls or priorities we juggle don't bounce.  The more urgent priorities associated with self-imposed deadlines and workloads have more elasticity than the precious, delicate relationships which are as fragile as fine crystal.  Balance involves distinguishing between the priorities we juggle that bounce from the ones labeled "loved ones," "health," and "moral character" that may shatter if we drop them.

The reason I always ask my seminar attendees to list the benefits of reaching their goals is so they can arrange them in the true order of importance to them and give them a sufficient amount of attention as they juggle them within their time constraints.  Handle your priorities with care.  Some of them just don't bounce!

To live a rich, balanced life we need to be more in conscious control of our habits and lifestyles.  Actualized individuals have a regular exercise routine. They pay attention to nutrition, with lean source protein and fiber-based carbohydrates as their basic food choices.  They relax through musical, cultural, artistic, and family activities.  They get sufficient sleep and rest to meet the next day renewed and invigorated.

In addition to blocking periods of time for recreation and vacations, they also schedule large, uninterrupted periods of work on their most important projects. Contrary to popular notions, most books, works of art, invention, and musical compositions are created during uninterrupted time frames, not by a few lines, strokes, or notes every so often.  Every book or audio program I have written has been done with the discipline of twelve to fifteen hours per day during a specific block of time.

True enough, I may have sacrificed a ski trip or an escape vacation once or twice.  But by trying to focus on prime projects in prime time, the opportunity costs have been outweighed by the return on invested resources.

With your material, time and energy resources allocated well, you should be able to use your innovative powers to focus on goal achievement.  Effective priority management creates freedom.  Freedom provides opportunity to make decisions.  We make our decisions and our decisions, over time, make us.

Freedom from urgency. . . That's what will allow us to live a rich and rewarding life.  You may have thought your problem was "time starvation," when in truth, it was in the way you assigned priorities in your decision-making process.  Have you allowed the urgent to crowd out the important?

Each day we will continue to encounter deadlines we must meet and "fires," not necessarily of our own making, we must put out.  Endless urgent details will always beg for attention, time and energy.  What we seldom realize is that the really important things in our life don't make such strict demands on us, and therefore we usually assign them a lower priority.

Our loved ones understand when we are preoccupied with our urgent business, but it's hard for us to understand, many years later, whey they appear preoccupied when we finally find some time for them.  Harry Chapin's classic song, "The Cat's in the Cradle," is still a mirror reflecting our priorities.

All the important arenas in our life are there awaiting our decisions.  But they don't beg us to give them our time.  The local university doesn't call us to advance our education and improve our life skills.

I have never received a call or e-mail from the health club I joined insisting that I show up and work out for thirty minutes each day.  My bathroom scale has never insisted that I lose thirty pounds.  The grocery clerks have never made me put back on the shelves the junk food I put in the cart, nor has a fast-food restaurant ever refused me a double cheeseburger and large fries because of my high cholesterol.

Nor have I ever been subpoenaed by the ocean or the mountains to appear for relaxation and solitude.  Yet I receive hundreds of urgent phone messages and e-mails each week from people with deadlines.

You see, it's the easiest thing in the world to neglect the important and give in to the urgent.  One of the greatest skills you can ever develop in your life is not only to tell the two apart, but to be able to assign the correct amount of time to each.

Beginning right now, throughout the day, and every day thereafter, stop and ask yourself this question:  "Is what I'm doing right now important to my health, well-being and mission in life, and for my loved ones?"  Your affirmative answer will free you forever, from the tyranny of the urgent.

Reproduced with permission from the Denis Waitley Ezine.  To subscribe to Denis Waitley's Ezine, go to www.deniswaitley.com or send an email with Join in the subject to subscribe@deniswaitley.com  Copyright 2007 Denis Waitley International.  All rights reserved worldwide.