Today my little daughter came to me as I was in the middle of working on a consulting project. She asked me to play LEGO with her. At first I said, “I’m very busy at the moment, Honey, but I will play later today.” And then it struck me – what is more important to me, in my life, at this moment? This project or my daughter? Just as it has happened many times before, this “later today” might never come, as I can easily get caught up in other things. So here we go – another day when my little princess keeps waiting for her daddy to play with her.
So, I decided to stop in the middle of what I was doing to play with my precious daughter, since there is nothing that even comes close to those moments of play, laughter and creativity together 🙂 It was fun! It also helped to deepen our relationship. By spending time with her I show her how much I love her.
What are the most important things in your life?
If I could look at your calendar, what would it tell me about your priorities in life? We all have so many things going on that it’s easy to forget to devote time to the most important things in our lives.
I’m sure this is true for most of us – we value our family, our loved ones, more than anything else, but for some reason either most of the time or at least often, our calendar does not reflect that.
Time runs so fast that we don’t notice how fast our kids are growing up, and one day they don’t ask us to play with them anymore. They have probably even learned over the years that there are always other things in our lives more important than them. I don’t want to have this kind of impact on their future lives. Do you?
My sons have grown up so fast, and I realize that I really miss those days when they were younger. It feels as if I never spent enough time with them, because I was always working on the next big project, or I was preoccupied with worries and thoughts about current projects, running the business, etc.
940 Saturdays and glass balls
Someone calculated that before a child reaches 18 and heads for college or university, we have only about 940 Saturdays to spend with them, among all the other things in our lives. This is such a small amount of time . . .
Do you spend enough time with your kids, your spouse, your loved ones? Do you schedule these blocks of time into your calendar on a weekly basis?
Once I heard a metaphor: imagine you hold in your hands glass balls and rubber balls, which you are constantly trying to juggle. If a glass ball falls, it breaks. If a rubber ball falls, it usually bounces back. This illustrates our life and the things we deal with on a daily basis. Glass balls represent the most important things in our lives, like family, loved ones. Rubber balls, other things like business, a job, etc. If we can’t manage all of them at once, we choose which ones to let drop and which ones to be more careful with.
Your turn now
Today is the perfect day for a change, if you feel you do not devote enough time to the most important people in your life. You can do something about it. Walk the talk. Plan in some quality time with your kids this week. (Read “quality time” as “quantity time.” It’s impossible to have quality time in really small amounts, especially with kids.) Schedule time with your spouse. Don’t allow other things to steal this precious time of being with the ones you value most.
Have a meaningful week! 🙂
Related posts:
Your Highest Priorities in Life And Alcatraz Prison Rule 5
The Most Common Regrets When Dying. What Will Yours Be?
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