To Do or Not to Do – Always the Question

This morning I met with Lonnie, who has been my personal trainer for more than fifteen years.  The most important part of our time together is the half hour or so during which we simply sit and talk.  He knows that I prefer to postpone the actual physical exercise.

“I have news,” he said.

“Yes?”  I thought – this can’t be very good.  At least for me.

“Carol and I have decided to move to North Carolina.  We made the decision based upon something you said years ago.”

“What did I say?”

“It was right after we first started.  You said that early in your business career you had some money coming in, and had to decide how to use it. Remember?”

I did.  I had three potential uses for the money and I wrote each one at the top of a column of paper (this was before spreadsheets).  I then listed the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative.  I don’t remember the specifics, but I do recall that the score was 28 to 13 to 8.

“Yes, I remember that exercise well.  I looked at my columns and realized that in my heart I wanted to do the third alternative.  The one which had the lowest rational score.”

‘And that‘s exactly what you did.  You went with your heart.  And so did Carol and I.  In North Carolina we can live a better life, and be closer to family.”

Partly because of my (good) advice, I was going to lose Lonnie as a personal trainer and, because of geography, as a personal friend who I have seen two or three times a week for fifteen years.  Even so, I was delighted for him and Carol.  They were excited about their choice, and I concluded years ago that my priority with my friends and family was to support their dreams and decisions, and to delight in their happiness rather than allow my personal feelings of loss to intrude.

All of us face choices in our lives.  Whether or not we think about it consciously, many times throughout each day we make decisions about what to do, and how to do it.  My decisions are governed by my sense of priorities which I have developed and refined over many years.

For example, survival is my top priority.  My health is a close second.  Money is somewhere down the list.

I know that if you are a vegan then you are going to make different food choices than I might.  So it would be a fool’s errand for me to tell you what to eat, just as it would be foolish of me to argue with Lonnie and tell him why his decision might not work.

When I consciously set my priorities and then live by them my life runs better in the long run.  And one of my strong priorities is the long run, which is why I intend this to be the first blog of many on how I set priorities in my life.

I hope that one of your conscious priorities will be to keep reading my blog every week.  I want the world to be a better place for all of us, and I intend to help by sharing my insights on how you can improve your life by setting clear priorities for yourself, and then learning how to live by them.  It’s fun and, over time, pretty easy.

Lonnie – I wish you and Carol the absolute best.

Love,

Alan