Listen

I am always surprised when someone spends 10 minutes telling me how much they dislike their job, their level of fitness, their relationships or another area of their life, but can then spend 20 minutes explaining why nothing can change.

• It's too hard
• It's too expensive
• I couldn't do it
• Someone else is already doing it
• ...ad nauseam 

We should listen more to ourselves when we have a good thought or vision. We should listen less to the internal debate we inevitably encounter anytime we push ourselves beyond our mind's faux comfort zone. It's instinct to be afraid and avoid the unknown. This protected the physical bodies of our ancestors but does the modern day person, and more specifically their mind, a great disservice.

To be able to really listen and not just hear your thoughts you have to be able to cut through the incessant noise of a very busy mind. The exercise of quieting the mind is most commonly known as meditation. We often reach a meditative state naturally after vigorous exercise, while taking in a great view or enjoying a great cup of coffee while watching a child or pet at play. We love these moments although most of us don't realize why or that they're even happening until they're over. It's because we're giving ourselves permission to enjoy the fact that we exist - we are present, what else could one wish for? That peace of mind is always available to us, we just don't work very hard to keep it close at hand. 

We have much more control over our minds than we realize. Mediation is a great practice to adopt into one's life and can be thought of as an exercise that strengthens clarity of thought. Lawrence can show you the way if you're interested.

Clarity of thought is a wonderful habit to practice. It is also very helpful in allowing a person to truly listen to themselves, to who they really are. We learn to listen to our parents, to listen to our teachers, to listen to our peers, to listen to the TV, to listen to books - mentions of listening to oneself are more often referring to carefully weighing the consequences of listening to others than truly exploring our own mind. 

Listening to oneself is scary, who do you blame if you fail? What if you're wrong? You will fail, we all fail, it happens all the time. Being wrong is great, it means you could be closer to being right - whatever that means. Failing and being wrong happens regardless of who you listen to and then before you know it, lights out, game over, you're done. What's the point of keeping your head down? The end results of this journey are the same regardless. You die. 

Be yourself. Have an opinion. Pick a side. Create your vision everyday. This is a battle for the ages, we've been fighting it for a long time. In reality there is no yesterday or tomorrow - there was and hopefully there will be - but today is it. Listen. 

of time and health. forget new year's, today is the day!

Time is the scarcest of all resources, followed closely by health. Ironically, these are often our most squandered.

You can't buy more time. You can't produce more time.

Besides two days of your entire life 86,400 seconds is all you get. There are many reasons why we constantly ignore this fact. It's kind of scary for one. While I'm sure mental health professionals would not recommend obsessing on the scarcity of time, it is important to keep in mind as we manage our life.

We often live as if we have nothing but time. Too much time but too little money. Too much time but too few television sets. Too much time but not enough work. So much time we're bored!

More money, more problems? I don't know about that. More problems than what? Poverty offers plenty. However, time is infinitely more important than money. Do you protect your time? Protect it from both yourself and others? Probably not as much as we should. Do you rush out of necessity or habit? Undoubtedly both, but are you sure you're always aware of which? Working late? Feels good to get things done, I'm on a roll, other people have schedules to keep, they need me to get this done, the client needs me. Every good manager realizes that usually the most important schedule is your own. These executives have also realized that references to "they" or "them" are often used to generally explain that which is specific yet has never been considered or is not understood. You're working late for a very specific reason. Is that reason internal or external? This question is much more difficult to answer than it seems. In modern economies like the United States, the answer is usually internal. "But..." but nothing, this is YOUR life. This is not the time to keep your head down and wait. Wait for what? Life only happens right now.  Don't skip out on the responsibility.

After time, comes health. In most circumstances we can buy more health - clearly illustrated by the average life expectancy in the rich vs poor countries of the world. The doctor tells us to stop smoking or to loose some weight or take some pills and we'll live longer. We can usually produce health through lifestyle. Anyone close to chronic pain, injury or disease understands the scarcity of health - and that there are circumstances when we cannot buy more health. Health is the single most important factor in determining the quality of our time. Of all things, health is often the last factor considered when managing our time. It's amazing, and sad, to think the #1 health problem and expense in the United States is obesity. Good thing we stayed late to finish that TPS report. "The kids/wife/husband keeps me too busy." Being busy doesn't cause obesity. It is caused by being sedentary and making poor food choices. We can't blame others because we fail to manage our time. "I'm too tired to exercise." A rampant misconception in life is that feeling precedes action - actions come first. An unaccomplished task is always more draining than the task itself. A healthy lifestyle generates energy. Don't worry about yesterday, don't worry about tomorrow - just take a walk today.

Don't make a New Year's resolution this year. Make an every day for the rest of life resolution. Protect your time and health as if they're all you have - they are. Ultimately we run out of both at exactly the same time and we'll find that other day with fewer than 86,400 seconds.