A Little Soul Searching Is Good For You

I've been doing a lot of soul searching lately. It kicked into high gear last night just looking at how messy my house has become. I think it's a metaphor for my life in general. The problem is a limited amount of time & a ton of things I really want to do. I feel pulled toward a lot of really good stuff, (My “Good to Great” study is kicking into high gear) but wonder if I'm really doing my best. On top of that, I'm trying really hard to work out every day & by 8 or 9 pm, I'm pretty spent. I can remember a time not that many years ago that I could run pretty hard on 3-4 hours of sleep. Those days are definitely gone.

For those of you who wonder how busy a guy can be, let me share the biggest stuff that's plunked firmly into my existence.

First off, I have the greatest wife a guy could have. God has blessed me in ways I can not even begin to enumerate. And I want to be able to spend time with her & my kids & especially my grandson. Family has not always been the highest priority for me, but I've reached that stage of life where I know that giving family less than the highest of priorities is a dumb thing indeed.

Secondly, I'm trying to get my Investment business to a point of profitability. That in and off itself has been a greater challenge than I first thought. I have a lot of passion to help people put their financial lives in order but they don't always cooperate. My entire life has been in & out of the financial services industry and while it's going fairly well, it takes up an overwhelming amount of emotional energy. If only I could make people do what is in their best interest.... hmmmm.

There is my church which I absolutely love. I love the staff & the direction that the church is going. God has opened doors there to serve in a multitude of ways & I am excited by the opportunity. But it is way more than just a couple of hours on a weekend thing for me. The problem is that I can not imagine not doing what I'm doing there. In fact, I wish I could do more.

In addition to that I'm involved in a men's group that is really meeting a need in my life. I love being able to really know guys who are just like me in many respects, trying to serve God & be the best Christ follower, husband, dad, grandpa I can.

One of my real passions has been teaching Scuba. It is the reason I created C-Life Adventures in the first place. Though I've been trying to teach a Newbie group every month, mostly I do that so that I get to dive. It's also why I serve as the Advisor/Coach for the UCF Dive Club.

Then there is the Walsh University Alumni Association of which I serve as the Florida Chapter president, my Lodge which has just asked me to serve on the Finance team and the Chamber of Commerce where I serve as an Ambassador. On top of that I still need to mow the grass every week & clean my garage.

I hope no one sees this as just a rant or complaint session. I also hope no one sees this a a bragging session. Just the opposite. I've often found writing stuff like this out helped me to put things in perspective. Writing has often been cathartic for me. Most importantly, the older I get the more I realize that time is a precious thing. While we all get the same number of hours, I want to fill them with the most important stuff I can.

But I suppose at the heart of the question is whether I feel I am doing what God wants me to do. On a bunch of levels, I feel like I'm juggling too many balls but choosing to let things go has always been difficult. I suppose that has been the purpose of writing this today. I've allowed my life to get out of balance & now I need to refocus my priorities. It makes me sad, but I know that if I continue to go down all these paths, I'll burn out or break down fairly quickly. I've been praying a lot about whether to continue with some of the stuff & some of it definitely has to go. For me, the hard part is choosing those things in life that bring the greatest honor to God.

Well, that's enough for today. I'm pretty sure I know what I have to do. The problem is actually pulling the plug on a few of the things I'm involved in. But that's what life is all about . . . making choices. And I choose to only put in those things that will help me be my best. I pray God gives me the wisdom to the right things.

I hope to choose wisely. I hope you do as well.

A New Year . . . Time to Get Started Again

Hello my friends. It's been a while since I've taken the time to really sit & write. Sadly, I've let the busy of work & life get in the way of doing quite a few of the things I love to do. Writing on a regular basis was one of those things. Any, I've put time in my schedule now to get back to a few things I've been slack in. Some of it simply has to do with the frustration of leaving things just sit there. The other big reason has to do with some great insights into some real life inefficiencies that I'm working at within my life. And it all started a few months back when my good friend Paul Walker gave me the book, “Getting Things Done” by David Allen.

With business slowing down going into the holidays, I decided to make the time to read it. It really didn't take long to realize that I not only had a lot to learn but really needed to see if I could make the principles the author was highlighting come to fruition in my life. After about 30 pages, I made a conscious effort to begin the process of applying the principles to my life and started the process of collecting all my stuff into one place. While I would love to tell you that this will be something I include in my life forever, I can tell you that I am firmly trying to use the wisdom that I found there. Without giving away too much, let me try to give a simple overview & then encourage you to get the book & read it. I will include the information about the book at the end of this article.

First of all, the book is built on the idea of efficiency. In other words, most of us are not too busy, we simply are inefficient with the use of our time. That certainly was true for me. I have been trying to do a lot of things relying on my brain to keep them all in play. Sure, I keep my schedule up to date & I have always been a to-do guy. The problem was that by trying to keep it all tidy within the limited space I have in my head, I was always finding myself running behind or putting projects on hold (procrastination was just a part of my life).

Secondly, the author has you take everything in your space that he identifies as “stuff” and put it in your in-box. From there you deal with each & every piece of your stuff in a way that makes your mind & desk clean. (You need to read the book if you want to understand how to do that) If it did nothing else for me, it helped me to get myself organized. I had always used the excuse of a messy desk as the sign of a clean mind. The reality is that I used my desk as the accumulation point & filing system for my life and the second someone came into that mess & moved something, I was lost. While I may very well continue to struggle with clutter (after all my entire upbringing was by a closet hoarder) I feel I've actually been able to get a handle on the mess.

Most importantly, the book deals with creating a simple flow-chart for ideas, phone calls, e-mails, agendas & so forth. Once I was able to get my own system in place for dealing with the reference materials, lists & projects, it became a lot less of a struggle to find a way of making the system work for me. The big issue that I dealt with was trying to find a good electronic app or program that would let me track things in the way my brain works. While there may be more than a few systems that could work, I found a free app on my iPad called “Errands” that allows me to do everything I need.

Getting Things Done “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen

You can find a lot of great info about David & the work he at his website David Allen

On another note, Scuba instruction season has started again & I will be back to teaching an Open Water class each month which is rather exciting. In addition to that, I've been asked to join the Leadership Team at the church. Pastor Mitch is not only a wonderfully Godly man but a good friend as well. Of course I'm still building my Financial Services business & trying to be the best husband, dad & grandpa I can be. Anyway, I hope the new year provides you with amazing opportunities, blessings & friendships.

Chet