THIS WEEK I WAS CHALLENGED Red_and_blue_pill 2by a speaker named Todd Musselman to think about the concept of making choices.  One of his key messages? “At every moment in time, you’re doing exactly what is most important to you.”

I have a resistance to this, as you might as well.  It feels like an incredible amount of my time is spent on extraneous stuff, trivialities, and annoyances.

Yet, this is absolutely true.

When I’m spending time slogging through my email, it’s because – for whatever reason – I have deemed that as how I want to use my time at that moment.  Nobody is forcing me to do this.  There’s really incredibly little consequence if  I don’t do it.

So the simple truth is:  This is what I want to do right now.  I can’t blame it on anyone else, nor on the “incessant onslaught of email”, or on all those demanding people out there.

I’m choosing it.

Why is this important?  Because it means that I can choose to do something different.

Here’s an example:  Imagine that you get a call from your mother, saying that Dad is in bad shape and may not survive more than a day or two.

Instantly (assuming you’re human) you drop everything and focus on this one issue.  All that other stuff you had on your plate?  It’s wiped away, or put on indefinite hold.

And the world doesn’t fall apart.

Yes, there may be some impacts here and there because of your change of focus.  Typically, a whole lot less than you fear.

What I’m saying is that this is all a story we’re constructing, and obligations we’ve placed on ourselves.  So maybe it’s time to really look at all the … stuff … we’re engaged in, re-prioritizing based on what’s really important.  For yourself, for the business, for society.

This is a space that I take my clients into on occasion.  It can be a bit scary, but is always enlightening.  When’s the last time you really looked at where you’re spending your time and attention?