A Wake up Call…

In my past career I was essentially a slave to the phone.  It rang, I answered it.  The key to my success was being available to everyone at almost anytime that they needed me.  I would answer calls at dinner, in my car, on vacation, on a walk, at the lake.  It didn’t matter.  My livelihood was solely based on commission and I put my clients first.  That behavior made me money but took a toll on my friendships, my relationships and my marriage.  Looking back, I would have been wise to set boundaries for myself.  I should have allowed myself the freedom and pleasure of turning the phone off and enjoying the moment that I was in.

Yesterday I became acutely aware that I was once again behaving in the same way.  However this time the calls that I was answering and the messages I was responding to, were not tied to clients.  They were from many people from around the country that are in the same business that I am.  We are all independent of one another but have built great relationships with each other.

If  you know anything about me, you know that I love to help others.  I love solving problems, creating marketing pieces to share, lending an ear, helping with technology issues and the list goes on and on.  Normally I receive one or two calls a day but yesterday I literally talked to or responded to 100 people’s phone calls, text messages, emails or Facebook messages. I was essentially a  full-time support person for my company, for which I was not being paid.  In the mean time, I accomplished none of the personal goals that I set for the day.  I’m not gonna lie, I was frustrated with a capital “F”!!!  That’s when it hit me, I was repeating the same pattern that I had lived in my past.  I was putting everyone else’s priorities before my own.  I realized that I needed to set boundaries and establish my priorities or I would never defeat mediocrity.

Yesterday was a “wake up” call for me.  I believe that everything happens for a reason and I believe that God gave me one day of complete insanity so I would “wake up” and see exactly how much time I have been wasting on any given day.  Well, it worked, and honestly even though I was frustrated by my lack of personal production, I went to bed with a grateful heart and thanked God for the lesson.

Since I will still want to “help others”, how I go about setting my priorities and boundaries will be the subject of a future post.  Until then, I ask that you examine your life.  Do you have your priorities and boundaries in place?  If not, what are you going to do about it?  Remember, the one thing that everyone has in common is time.  We all get 24 hours a day to use as we see fit.  If you want to truly defeat mediocrity and co-create the life of your dreams, you (and I) will need to learn how to use our time wisely.

Have a great day!

Kevin