Remember What's Important
Remember what’s important
Last night I was watching Secretariat with my 13-year-old son. He's captivated by pretty much any movie that has to do with anything sports-related.
About half-way through the movie, everything seems to be falling apart. Red, the horse, is not eating or running. The owner leveraged everything she had on the horse winning the triple crown. In those moments it seemed like everything was falling apart after everything had been going so well.
As I was watching that section of the movie, I felt like those 4 minutes summed up my day. It was the kind of day when nothing was going right. Proposals weren't signed, friends were getting divorced, and the list goes on.
All of a sudden, what they thought was a life-changing issue was not a big deal.
It seems that way in life. We put so much stock into what happens today that we can forget what can happen tomorrow. A few years ago if I had a day that didn't go as planned, I would have stayed up all night working because of my short-sighted view of the big picture. I would have justified skipping:
story time with my four kids (3 boys and 1 little girl)
watching a movie with my son
sipping wine with my wife
Let's be honest, a few years ago that happened often!
My business is much healthier now than when I started, but my ability to remember what's important and not let bad moments ruin my day and shift my focus has improved as well.
I hope to dominate life at work. But if some days I miss out on dominating life at work - that's no excuse for missing out on loving life at home.
Let's remember that there is more to life than what happens today. While what happens today is essential it shouldn't ruin our ability to engage with who and what is most important. We can always rest, wake up tomorrow and get back after it.
How do you keep yourself from forgetting what's important in life when life doesn't go your way?
