Balance (yeah right) – Page 18 – Disney Leadership Keynote Speaker

Carpe Diem Midlife!

Ever get to the end of your work day and feel like you gave so much you hardly have energy to be engaged later in the evening?

Was feeling like that yesterday after giving two great keynote speeches here at the Metro Toronto Convention Center.

But there were several tempting choices:

Run along the harbor waterfront
Visit the CN Tower (world’s tallest?)
Attend the Blue Jays vs Red Sox Baseball game

So, knowing that these opportunities will most likely never come again, I’ll share photos of what happened, after I get to Charlotte, North Carolina. Carpe diem!

What Happens Next?

How often do we spend time taking a moment looking ahead?

Not talking about mid-morning, trying to decide where to go for lunch and with whom, even though that can qualify as an important decision.

Rather, looking ahead ten years.

What?

It’s hard isn’t it? That’s why we rarely, if ever, give it considerable thought.

Considerable thought.

Substantial thought.

The long and hard discussion with ourselves about our future.

It’s like reaching the top of Maslow’s pyramid.

I’ll be spending several precious days with a couple of 80-somethings. Wonder what we’ll talk about.

Geek, Jock, Monk, King

How much time do you spend on your back up plan?

Is your future dream your backup plan? So like, when you retire, then are you planning to get cracking on the next stage of your life?

Too late!

Much too late.

As I was sharing the Mid Life Celebration vision with my banker two days ago, it simply came out of my mouth:

“People think balance is either/or, when actually, it’s all four. Too much focus in this one makes you a geek, too much here makes you a jock, here, a monk, and here, a king.”

Busiest Day of the Year?

“Tomorrow is always the busiest day of the year”. — Jonathon Lazear

Ain’t it the truth? At least that’s the way it feels. Why?

You may feel differently. But for me, it seems like tomorrow is “the day” that, “I’ll finally be able to catch up with things“. So I race hard to get so much done.

Time marches on and there is simply more to take the place of that which has been done. Ever heard the phrase, “busy beaver“? Beavers work hard every day, repairing their dam, fixing their den, looking for food, etc. Seems there is always lots of work to do.

What’s the solution? If I knew that, tomorrow would be looking like a vacation day, eh?

Workaholics Hate Leisure Time

“Because it is less structured than work, leisure time leaves workaholics at a loss for what to do. Workaholics practically climb the wall when they can’t work”. — Marilyn Machlowitz

This is “painful” to read. Why? Because I felt particularly guilty this weekend.

While I did do a decent job of carving out time with our son, work occupied a better portion of the weekend. It was predictable.

It isn’t leisure that leaves a loss for what to do. It’s quite enjoyable, almost nirvana, doing nothing. But the work starts to pile up. So much to do. So little time.

Yes indeed, so little time. Our nine-year old will be driving before you know it. And then it will be too late.