“Wherever you are, be there. Lifestyle is not something we do; it is something we experience. And until we learn to be there, we will never master the art of living well.” -Jim Rohn
Most people are never truly present.
If they’re working, their mind is not 100% focused on the task at hand. Rather, they’re scatted between email and an array of other meaningless tasks while simultaneously thinking about all the other things they could be doing.
And then when they’re spending time with their family, they’re not emotionally present. Now they’ve got to worry about all the work they left unfinished and are bouncing between the dinner table and their computer.
Basically, they are everywhere at any given moment except for being precisely where they are at that given moment.
And this sort of Being might be living, but it’s not a lifestyle that will ever allow you to fully experience the incredible world we live in; a lot of things are going to pass you by.
You’re not going to be able to experience truly deep intimacy and connection within your relationships.
You’ll never enter flow states and produce deep and impactful work.
Wherever You Are, Be There.
How Are You Using Your Time?
“Most people have no clue what they are doing with their time but still complain that they don’t have enough.” -Grant Cardone
Interestingly, Pareto’s principle or the ‘80/20 Rule’ states that 80% of your results come from 20% of what you do.
Thus, 80% of what people do is actually unimportant. It’s not really taking you anywhere.
And hence why Jim Collins wrote in his book, Good to Great,
“Most of the things people do are, at best, a waste of energy.”
How you choose to use your time determines what you accomplish in your days, and ultimately life.
So, how are going to use your time?
Are you going be distracted and thus ineffective or you will you be in one place at a time? Will you put aside the noise and be where you are?
The remainder of this will explore a couple of principles, that if applied, will allow you to live presently and experience the fullness of all that the world has to offer.
Here we go.
You Need to Go Slower, Not Faster
“Many of us are speeding up and skipping over, missing the important as we scan for the urgent. The irony is that in our anxiety toward not missing out, we are losing the most meaningful moments of life.” -Jeff Goins
In our ever-connected world of constant push notifications, the portrayal of superficial lives and click-bait headlines, it’s easy to feel the fear of missing out. It’s easy to think you need to speed up in order to see and do it all.
But the truth is, as the world goes faster, you need to move slower. You need to get connected to yourself and ask, “What really matters?”
Because until you know what really matters, you will not have control of your time. You will not be able to live presently, and nor will you be able to prioritize your life. Rather, you will be like a ship without a sail.
You‘ll be taken in whatever direction the mainstream flows.
Indeed, in almost every situation we may need to ask ourselves, “Is this the bestuse of my time? Or am I settling for something merely good?”
In the words of Dallin Oaks,
“We should be careful not to exhaust our available time on things that are merely good and leave little time for that which is better or best.”
Live as Who You Want to Become, Today
“Once you determine who you want to become, you must start acting like that person now. Otherwise, you will never become that person.” -Benjamin P. Hardy
Your present actions determine your future self.
Thus, it’s not enough to sit and ponder about who you could become one day; you need to start living as that person every day.
Paul Levesque has once said,
“Is that a dream or a goal? Because a dream is something you fantasize about that will probably never happen. A goal is something you plan for, work toward, and achieve.”
So, which is it?
If you want to be someone in the future, you need to act like them in the present or you’ll never become that person.
In Conclusion
What are you doing right now? Are you there or are you somewhere else?
Most people are speeding up and skipping the present. They are in a hurry to do and see it all while missing the most meaningful moments of their lives. We would all do best to slow down and ask, “what really matters?”
Finally, you must live as who you want to become, today. You can either pursue a goal or fantasize about a dream. Which is better?