The work is never done. Ever.

It’s a fact of our modern life, really. And I’m sure you feel this in your business; there’s an infinite supply of stuff to be done and things to worry about.

The question is, though: What really matters?

You know the answer, of course. But we rarely admit it.

Priorities become starkly apparent when a big shock happens.

  • You get hit with a heart attack and your doctor tells you that your situation is killing you.
  • Somebody important in your life passes away and you realize there were too many things unsaid.
  • The birth of your first child totally changes your thinking.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait for a big disaster to hit to learn and grow. One of the uniquely human abilities is to be able to imagine and to envision. To create a future.

When I work with a client who is stuck in the busy-ness and has disconnected from their deeper priorities, I’ll sometimes create an artificial shock to the system:

  • What would you do if you couldn’t work in this profession anymore?
  • What would change if you won the $1.6B lottery?
  • What would you focus on if you had only half the hours in the day?

Each of these is a large enough shift that it requires jumping out of the comfort zone. The good news? It’s just a game, and we know it. We have a bit of safety there.

But I’ve never had a client who didn’t learn from an exercise like this.

What’s the big question which would shift you to look at what truly matters?