Time, why is it so important? I guess we could say it is all we really have here. Our time. So tonight I am hosting a time management, mission management, peace building, stress avoidance workshop. Sounds great doesn’t it, though just saying the name will waste a bunch of your time. I consider myself an effective manager of time.
I don’t typically waste much of it, I like to be productive. I believe sleep is valuable, and have always wanted to push sleep to a decent level, protect it well with my kids, but once upon a time, I was at a leadership conference in Colorado… building chiropractors into health leaders. Dr. Patrick Gentempo said “You can sleep when you are dead”. Simple, and pointed. Now, as your healthcare leader, I need to say again. I believe sleep is valuable. But I also believe that there are things in life that you will accomplish, and you will enjoy, at times that you might have otherwise been sleeping… so be sure not to miss out on life.
Back to the time management piece… not just the find more time by giving up sleep piece. We address it in my health care model, because I believe people tend to fail heavily at health goals, because they are frantic in life, so they let health slide. Sometimes the simple complaint is “I am too tired to exercise, or prepare a good meal after my long day”. If I was allowed to swear, I might just do that right here. Come on man, seriously? You think that excuse holds water with anyone but yourself? Don’t be so deluded. Sure your tired, get up. And prepare what??? We don’t prepare anything at my house and we eat crazy healthy. It takes me all of 45 seconds to grab a bowl, grab a handful of spinach from the fridge, grab a handful of tomatoes, a handful of nuts and a quick shot of dressing (OK, so maybe 55 seconds if I go olive oil and vinegar).
Do you get my point? On the exercise thing. Yeah, you might be tired. If you went home tonight after work, and sat down in your comfy chair, and dozed off to sleep. Then were awoken by surprise to the crackling sound of a fire, and it was your home… would you be too tired to act? Nope. This really cool thing called adrenaline would kick in, and you would get something done. So, If I were you, I would start approaching every workout with that intensity. Build the feeling of fight or flight into your brain, and act. I have butterflies before almost every single workout I do, mild, but butterflies, because I take it serious. Serious like a major competition, or like my actions determine my ability to safeguard my family.
You know there was a bear in my neighborhood recently. I told many of you the stories. Every time I stepped out onto my dark deck at night before letting the dogs out, or before letting my kids leave the garage (yeah, it was this significant of an alert in our neighborhood), I had a rush of excitement. A ready to fight instinct (quick fight then flight)… I trust this is a product of how I work out. My point. There are useful hours in everyone’s day to work out. This is why the 5:15am class continues to be one of the most popular times at The Garage.
What else can I say about time to get it to sink in to your skull? Perhaps that every minute wasted, is a minute wasted? Perhaps that there is incredible value to accumulated time in any given arena of life. For example, exercise, relationships, work, etc. Ask my good friend/patient/CrossFit Bridgemill Athlete Christy Jones, who just hit 60# lost on her path to health (several months in the making, very committed, doing great). She’ll tell you that the accumulative effect of health choices is life change. But ask her the opposite question, what is the cumulative effect of neglect? She’ll tell you that one too, but I bet many of you can draw from life experience and tell us all about that one.
I know I can when it comes to relationship. I was sitting in a self assessment psycho babble weekend long workshop about 10 years ago or so. And I realized, I am lying to my wife. At the time, I was even more of a work addicted fool than now. At least now I choose to sacrifice sleep more, and spend more committed time with my wife and children in the day. Then, I was growing HealthSprout fast, office, 1, then 2, 3, 4… 7. I kept saying, “soon, I’ll be less busy”, yet the entire time, the goal was to have more and more offices. 150 to set it straight. The product of that day of realization, was that I hired a full time corporate level employee to organize the growth. To meet with the doctors, etc. That decision, was very likely the beginning of the end of HealthSprout’s global domination quest, but the start of something wonderful for me. Alignment of the mission.
And this point is where we will stop. My mission : To Change the way Healthcare is perceived by the world, while showing honor and giving glory to both God and my family. It hasn’t changed since that day. And because of it, all my ventures, all my activities, stare down one simple lens. They all fit this mission, they all got sucked into this vortex, so that even as I write this Daily Sprout, it is helping me with my workshop tonight. It is becoming material for the book that I am finally going to finish, and it is going to be part of what I use in a trickle down meeting with the coaches at CrossFit Silos in the coming week.
One lens, one mission, and all the time in the world.
Be well, Be blessed and be prosperous. – Dr. E