Have You Run Out Of Time?

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Have You Run Out Of Time?

I always remember feeling like I did not have enough time when I was a much younger person. If you read the first three episodes, you’ll understand a little more about why I felt this way. My history of battling with medical conditions and brain damage and my mother’s death. I never quite understood or appreciate that not everyone felt the same way or had the same urgency about life. If I was a busy ant, most people live like grasshoppers in the endless summer of their lives. There was never any need to prepare for tomorrow and there will always be time for everything they wanted to do. Apparently, in some cultures, new symbols or icons like a plastic or a ceramic skull that denoted a Memento Mori, meaning remember death. People often used to have something to remind them of death so they can make more of life. It’s thought to come from a Roman tradition when a victorious general was parading through a town, a servant who walked behind him is whispering in his ear, “Look behind you. Remember that you are but a man. Remember that you will die.” All kinds of artwork have been inspired by this idea over time. Some of them would make excellent tattoos. The purpose of these Memento Mori was to remind you that every day, you’re closer to death. Don’t waste your time. Don’t waste your life.

I had a close friend and client. We had gone to school together. He also has done my personal development programs. He consistently put other people in his life first, his ex-wife, his children and his brother. He put himself last. I finally told my friend that he needed to do significant emotional work about his relationships with people. This will take one year. If he chose not to do this, he will have serious repercussions in his future. He told me it sounded too painful to do that type of work. Fast forward five years later, his brother defaulted on his bank loan. The bank forecloses on the loan. Since my friend was a guarantor of the loan, they went after him. In one year’s time, he would have achieved financial freedom for life. Instead one year from that, he was declared bankrupt. He then came in to do some emotional healing too little, too late. He got very stressed and then later health problem was activated and became life-threatening. He needed surgery to carry on. Fortunately, he survived the surgery.

My father, by contrast started off with no illness but 30 years of smoking, drinking and overworking, he developed obesity, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and cancer in that order. For twenty years, I went on after him to change his ways and having worked as a pharmacist, his answer was that the symptom was perfectly controlled by his drugs and his obesity was not a problem. When I went after him about his way for twenty years, he keeps telling me that the drug control the symptoms perfectly. Only at 69 when he had just recovered the night before from a heart attack and he was terrified, he asked me, “What could I do?” I said, “You have run out of time.” He died three years later. He woke up to the peril too late.

We should be mindful of our choices. For instance, the assumption that sugary drinks offer any benefit or a harmless choice for ourselves and our children is simply programming we got as a child. There are several others pertaining to food that we received. This is true about food. Think about the condition about the work ethic, being able to say no, etc. that we are also subjected to. Then one day, you wake up asking yourself, “Where does this extra ten or twenty kilos come from? Why am I finding it difficult to love my spouse? Why am I living here in this job? Why do I feel like something is missing? Why am I having this heart attack?” If you continue what you’re doing now, will you feel fulfilled five years in the future or do you need a rapid reality check on where you are going on in your life?

Productivity: Productivity is about your life and spending it on what matters.

A few years before I formalize the Life by Design model, I was working on my schedule for the forthcoming year. I thought I had a really good plan, but I remember that one year earlier, I had the same thought that I had grossly over-committed. I looked at my plan again and broke it down into the number of hours and realized I underestimated how much time and resources I needed. I needed 500 more hours that year. This was a major wake up call. I felt desperate because so many things were rising on me like current businesses, the future project, my staff. I felt exhausted. I felt there had to be another way. It took three months to reconfigure everything. It took another six months to implement and change all the ways of thinking about managing time, energy and resources that I have been doing for the last 40 years. Once I did and I got everyone in my company on board, everything changed. Suddenly, I have time to exercise, go on movie dates with my wife once a month instead of twice a year.

I could exercise nearly every day, plus our companies became more profitable. That was the point at which I decided I will be committed to never wasting time again doing unnecessary things. Sometimes when I feel frustrated, I ask myself, “Am I wasting time? If so, how can I stop wasting time on this?” The time I just spent on it and the time I spent feeling frustrated is a time I can never get back. That part of my life is gone forever. This mental version of a Memento Mori sounds depressing, but it isn’t to me. It keeps me focused on what matters and reminds me I have control. I choose how to spend my time other than used to be like this. I used to obsess about getting things right, agonized over it and waste time. I would spend three times as much time as I needed on things I needed to.

I spent a long time turning that around but I now have it down. I go through tasks in a couple of hours that would have taken me all day several years ago. That means I don’t waste time on procrastination and I don’t get easily distracted. I never get day gone by syndrome wondering what did I do with the whole day? I’m much more productive and the greater productivity keeps me closer to the deeper things in my life, family, friends, meaningful work and personal growth. Productivity isn’t really about producing excellent. It’s about your life and spending it on what matters. It’s about not running out of time.

One lucky audience that posts a review on iTunes will win a private confidential consultation and coaching with me on discovering your soul’s purpose. I will lead you on a personal journey to discover the unique mind-body psychosomatic map of your life. You will get a detailed report and the personal 45 minutes consultation with me that is worth thousands. I’m going to help you design a life that works so you’re able to say yes to the things that matter and eliminate everything else that slows you down. The clearer you can be about how to organize your daily life to support your bigger vision, the more you step into your true potential, stay on track and accomplish all that you want and deserve. Are you ready to make that happen? Feel free to reach out to me and ask your questions at AskDrSun.com. Your life is a gift, design it. Do what matters. Join me as we get closer to designing the life of your dreams.

Important Links:

• Life By Design on iTunes
• AskDrSun.com