Opps…Busyness Became My Business

The truth is coming out…I allowed busyness to become my business. How did busyness make its way so mischievously into business? Sure the answer can be a lack of focus. It is an excellent generic answer. However, generic is not my style. The easy is not necessarily the correct. The simple answer presents a clearer resolve, The future was not clearly defined. 

 

A foundation for building the future was crafted with a simple mission statement. The future was imagined, then casted into the empty expanse. It was all, well…cute. Without defined boundaries, the mission and vision will fail. 

 

 

Applying this to personal life, not just business, changes how we approach each decision. The jobs we accept, the places we live, the relationships we cultivate, the money we invest and spend. Each opportunity, being measured to the mission and vision that has been created, presents a new challenge to remain or alter the current course.

 

Did you catch that? I almost missed it…the word “measure”. You can not measure that which is not clearly defined. 

 

Years ago people would ask, “Chad, what do you want to be when you grow up.” I would respond with, “a rockstar.” There was an immediate mental image created. Being on stage in front of thousands at a time chanting my name. People pressing the limits just to meet me. Money in excess. Extravagant clothing, cars, and homes. A rockstar, a SUCCESS! 

 

Age has redefined this image. The measure of “rockstar” has morphed. The measure of being a successhas changed. A clear mission and vision has been presented. Success for me is not rooted in the monetary, nor a value of possessions. Rather rooted in the currency of influence. 

 

Too, youth is not the constraints of altering ones mission or vision. There is a highly admired couple in their 60s, my parents, who crafted a new mission and vision for their lives. One of spending retirement in a warmer climate, sipping coffee on the beach, investing in their relationship with each other. We all have the power to create something new for ourselves. The key when crafting the new for yourself is to set clear boundaries which are measurable. 

 

Bringing it back to my vision, “to guide influencers to be influential”, the boundaries need to be clearing defined. Who do I define as influential? What does it mean to guide? When is success in the process reached? When those and other questions are not clearly answered, my business quickly turns into busyness. I begin to allow others; clients, friends, family, even acquaintances to define my mission and vision. 

 

Remember this, “Normal is living in a world others create for you. Extraordinary is living in a world you create for yourself. So get creating, clearly define, set boundaries, and then protect it!