STOP Doing it All: Identify What Really Matters
The quest to identify what really matters in your life doesn’t have to be difficult.
Earlier this year in Lithuania, at the BlackSmith Liberty and Entrepreneurship Camp, I gave a speech about the importance of creating a vision for your life.
“With a clear and concise vision,” I said, “You can achieve exactly what you want in life. It worked for me, and it will work for you, too.”
After the session ended, several attendees lined up to ask me follow-up questions. One young man, Steve, a New Yorker now teaching in Panama, asked me the most common question I get after all of my talks.
“I want to do so many things. I want to get up early and write, but I also want to exercise in the morning so I can get back in shape. But I don’t want to upset my girlfriend and miss out on time with her. With all these goals, how do I know what to focus on in life?”
The answer comes from a friend of mine, Pastor Luciano Del Monte. Last December, at my annual Christmas party, he said to me: “Craig, I love your focus on priority. I love how you’re helping men and women get focused. You’re helping them succeed in their season of life.”
“Season of Life? What’s that ?” I asked.
“Everyone is in a Season of Life, and just like there are four seasons per year, there are four seasons we can focus on for ourselves,” Luciano said. “Knowing the four seasons will help you help your clients. It will show them where to direct their attention, where to focus on what matters, and how to concentrate on what counts.”
When he explained this to me, I realized:
The Seasons of Life was the missing link needed to figure out exactly what matters in your life and where to focus your time and effort.
Let me tell you about the Four Seasons of Your Life…
- First, there is a Season of Health.
This is often for the man or woman that has sacrificed themselves for the last 30 years building their finances and family. They’ve worked hard, and now the kids are out of the house, their relationship is strong and secure, and financially they are on track — but success has come at a cost.
They might be overweight, have high blood pressure, or simply just bad habits, and things need to change now. If you are in a season of health, you must make health your focus.
When you get up early in the morning, you could spend that time exercising. You could make your meals for the day, or lunches for the week. You could read about nutrition and plan your weekly shopping list. You could meditate.
You could also use the time to identify the biggest obstacles, temptations, and distractions in your way, and then create two solutions for overcoming each.
That’s how you dominate your days, own your life, and succeed in the season of health.
If that’s not you, then you’ll find yourself in one of the other seasons of life.
- Let’s look at the Season of Family.
Your kids are young and still at home. They require constant attention and care. Even your relationship with your spouse is still in its relative infancy.
Now let’s be brutally honest.
If you think you’re going to be the world’s number-one parent, a high-level athlete, and start a 7-figure business from scratch all at the same time and in 60 days or less, you’re setting the bar too high, too soon.
You can achieve great things in time… But first, you take care of family.
In fact, “family first” must be your overriding philosophy in life. In this day and age our definitions of family may differ greatly, but it is family that matters.
At the end of your life, your legacy and fulfillment will be determined by the people you loved, the experiences you had, and the family and friends you did those things with. So you will put your family first.
Sneak out of bed 15 minutes before everyone else. Go to your kitchen table and work on your number one priority in life: figuring out how to do what is best for your family.
But that’s not the only example. Some Perfect Day Formula readers are focused on building (or re-building) the first stage of a family, and out there looking for their life partner.
And so if you are in that version of the Season of Family, then you’ll get up early, sit down, and think about how to find that person, where to go, what relationship sites to join, what exactly you’re looking for in the partner, and even the friends or family members that might act as your matchmaker.
Each day you’ll make your plan and move ahead, getting closer and closer to creating the family of your dreams.
That is how to dominate your days and attract success in the Season of Family.
- The third season is the Season of Wealth-Building.
Perhaps you are a young man or woman, engaged to the person of your dreams. With your vision in hand, you can look ahead five years into your future and know where you’ll live, how you, your spouse, and children will spend your Sundays together, and how you’ll contribute to your community.
You know all of that costs money, so you set your mind to setting yourself up for life. You build the skills and make the connections needed to advance at work, grow your business, sell more goods and services, and add value to the world. You earn. You save. You grow your wealth. You get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning and you sit down and chart your course. You are able to make wise decisions with your money. You identify how to cut expenses. You focus on what matters and convince yourself to quit trying to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to spending.
You set your goals to setting yourself up for life.
- The Fourth season is the Season of Personal Enrichment.
You might think this is selfishness. It’s not.
Yes, personal enrichment is what you’ll experience, but it’s only through giving and generosity that you’ll achieve success.
This season of life is about charity, giving back, and building community connections.
Let me tell you about my mother, and if you can relate, you’ll choose this as the focus and priority for your life. My mother is set financially thanks to she and my father’s hard work and saving. Her kids are grown and on their own. She’s in good health and has good habits. She can focus on giving back and getting involved in her community. She’s heavily involved in the local farmer’s and agriculture associations, as well as with her church.
My mother gets up each morning, and before she starts watching her favorite country and western songs on YouTube while she enjoys her coffee, she goes through her daily plans for the charities, identifies any phone calls she needs to make, and builds her shopping list so she can pick up the supplies for the next farmer’s charity barbecue on her agenda.
She does this six days a week, and that’s how she dominates her days, even at the age of 75.
The Season of Life system works for us all. It shows us what and who matters.
Once we identify our Season of Life, we no longer wonder, “What is my priority? Where do I put my focus?” Instead, we are free to set ourselves up for success.
We control our mornings and dominate our days. We achieve the success we desire and deserve.
This is a powerful mental model that separates us from all those other hard-working, but under-achieving, people in the world. It’s the missing link in the journey to your Perfect Life. Apply the right Season of Life to your Perfect Day Formula, and you’ll get exactly what you want.
It has worked for me, Luciano, and my mother, and I know it will work for you too.