On Sunday I got to the airport to catch an evening flight to Ft. Myers, FL. To my surprise when I checked in, thanks to upgrades, I was seated in 1st Class! I LOVE it when that happens. So here were my thoughts……it’s been a LONG week, I haven’t been feeling well AT ALL and I can’t wait to board the airplane, get a pillow and a blanket and sleep for about 3 hours – YES, I need sleep!!
Little did I know that God had other plans for me. As I got settled into my seat I casually started talking to the guy sitting next to me. Small talk, “How’s it going?”, “So thankful for the upgrade.”, “Are you from Florida, or just visiting?” Our small talked turned into a 3 hour conversation and NO sleep, but it was worth it!
After about 45 minutes of talking I finally learned that the guy I was talking to had a name, it was Tom. We shook hands after we formally introduced ourselves to each other and continued talking. As we talked I learned that Tom was in the financial services industry. He was heading to Florida looking to potentially purchase another company to grow his company.
I also learned that he was in the process of writing a book. Boy did I have LOTS of questions about his book project. I too have a dream of writing a book someday. His message as he described it to me that he’s writing about in his book was similar to my vision with Keeping it Personal, except with a business angel, how cool is that!! I was so intrigued by what he was saying and the wisdom that he had with his many years of experience, I can’t WAIT to pick up his book when he’s finished.
Another topic that we covered during the flight was simplifying and living a life of balance; both seem to be so difficult to accomplish at times with everything going on in this world. One thing that I learned from him and REALLY liked and will incorporate into my life is this. He said that many times each day he asks himself this……
ADD — KEEP — GET RID OF
Ok, so how does that work?, I asked. First he explained, you have to determine what’s important to you and what is it that you need and desire to KEEP. THEN as life happens and we are faced to ADD things into our world, whether it’s a material possession or something that will take a time commitment or something in business to expand or grow – how will that effect your KEEP? As we determine how our KEEP is effected, what, if anything do we need to GET RID OF in order to ADD?
I know it’s a little complicated so let me give you an example on how I relate this to my life. My husband and I have made a decision that 2010 is our year to simplify – we aren’t going to TRY to do this we ARE doing this and ARE making changes as we do our year end planning and 2010 planning.
As we make our KEEP list we’ve determined that there are many things that we currently have that we are going to sell or eliminate in our lives in order to have more time and resources…….so our list of GET RID OF is growing and we will work towards that goal in the coming months. The ADD hits us daily. We are constantly being approached by others to invest in new “ventures” which take resources that we want to KEEP, so we will have to pay very close attention to this and be sure to go through this exercise – sometimes we can get caught up with a “great opportunity” act too fast and before we know it get completely out of balance because it’s effecting our KEEP and we don’t want to GET RID OF what we wanted to KEEP so as we look back we probably should not have ADDED in the first place.
I am grateful for the connection I made on Sunday and for what I learned from Tom, he inspired me in many ways. I truly believe it will be life changing…….it’s a simple way for me to look at the way I do life.
I wanted to post this on Christmas as I know that for many this is the time of year that we ADD to our lives with Christmas gifts from others. As you wrap up 2009 and bring on 2010, consider Tom’s statement. ADD — KEEP — GET RID OF. Is there imbalance in your world? What can you do to simplify or what adjustments do you feel need to be made?
Wishing you Peace and Joy and a Merry Christmas!
……..then I changed the subject in the remainder of my text. The next day when we actually spoke on the phone, she told me that she respected my response and it made her actually think about what she was thinking or saying.
This topic has come up a lot lately in my conversations with friends and interactions with others. I’ve been hit over the head with it in a VERY real way and am sad to say that over the past 4 years – YES, you heard it 4 YEARS I’ve been really bad at giving others around me undivided attention.
