A simple concept that will transform your life – if you learn to live by it daily. No one other concept is more important to the idea of “time management,” and more importantly “life management,” than this.
I can’t tell you how many times a week I say this to people. And just like you, everyone gives me that same look when I say it – a look that says “what in the world are you talking about?”
Take it from me – a recovering workaholic – WORKING HARDER IS NOT THE ANSWER! We all have things in our life that we want to change – bad habits that we want to get rid of, or good habits that we want to incorporate into our lives. And most of us think about those changes in terms of effort – I need to work harder to accomplish _________.
Well, I know this might sound strange but believe it or not sometimes working harder is actually counter-productive and takes us further away from our goal, not closer to it.
Hero: ‘a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities’
I grew up loving action movies – but not the comic book, superhero kind of movies that are popular now. I grew up watching real heroes, guys without any superhuman powers but who fought with superhuman courage and bravery. Guys like Bruce Willis in Die Hard – who saved the world from terrorists without a weapon or even a pair of shoes. Or like Rambo who could take out an entire city alone and never had to call for backup. Or my personal favorite – this is really going to test your knowledge of the 80s – The Greatest American Hero (listen to the theme song and see if it rings a bell).
Today I want to celebrate one of my real-life heroes – not a fictional character but a real person who really did save the world from evil and without whom only God knows where we’d all be today. And in addition to all that, he’s got a really cool hero name too…We all love heroes! Especially the kind that aren’t superhuman by nature but they endear themselves to us through supernatural strength and resilience in the face of evil adversity.
ATHANASIUS (pronounced ath-uh-NEY-shuhs)
Athanasius the Apostolic. That’s his name and he is a true hero who saved the world from bad guys back in the 4th century. But the bad guys he fought against weren’t trying to steal a suitcase of money or blow up buildings for political gain – these bad guys had much more evil intentions.
The bad guys in this story were called Arians and were named such because their leader was a guy named Arius. Arius seemed like a pretty decent guy on the surface (he was a priest so he must have been a good guy right?), but in reality, he was nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
“Your wife is so sweet…your wife is such an angel…your wife is the nicest person I’ve ever met.”
That’s Marianne – my lovely wife – and those are the comments that I usually hear from people describing her. And those who know her understand why. She really is the nicest person ever. She is sweet, she is kind, she is gracious and she is generous. She is the pillow to my sword and she really is the best!
BUT….(all the husbands out there need to pray for me because I am risking my life here with this next sentence)….at times my wife reminds me of a gorilla (may God help me!).
Life is about relationships, not accomplishments.
That’s another one of those life changing sentences that I read several years ago that changed me and really helped me get my life in focus. I am about as “Type A” a personality as you can find. I am hard-working. I am driven. I take initiative and I take pride in getting the job done.
But one of the flaws that come with such a personality (one of the FEW flaws let me add) is that I tend to focus more on accomplishments at the expense of relationships. I am not a relational person by nature. But one of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that when you get to the end of your life – see yesterday’s post if you didn’t already – it isn’t about accomplishments. It’s about relationships.
As promised, each week I will dedicate one or two blog posts to the idea of “Living on Purpose, not by Accident.” Why? Because we all end up somewhere, but few people end up somewhere on purpose.”
Imagine this scene. You’re in a big church sanctuary about to attend one of the most important occasions in your life. You’re surrounded by hundreds of people that you know well – family, friends, colleagues, neighbors – anyone who you consider an important part of your life. The church is packed but there’s no talking – only sounds of sniffling. There’s a big box in the front and everyone seems to be focused on that box. You know what’s in the box right???
I’ve now been collecting suggestions for my tagline for 3 weeks and it is time to finally choose the winner. But I still need your help. I have narrowed the field down to the final 12 entries – listed below in no particular order. Now I need your help to choose the winner.
But once again, before I get to the list of what is on the final list, it’s always more fun to start with what didn’t make it.
