Today we’re getting news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the impact that’s having on the people on the ground, investor confidence, and global business. Get ready for the escalation of soundbites across the airwaves…
In that face of looming world challenges like this, keeping your own balance in your business and your life can be problematic. Especially when we are mostly, as independent consultants, working alone.
You, like me, probably have quite a few priorities tugging at your attention. And at the same time, concerns about what’s happening in the world – locally, nationally, and internationally. We can’t help thinking about those things and being concerned about the fallout to people directly impacted AND to our own lives and business. They pull at our attention and can easily take us offtrack as we try to figure out if we can do anything to help in these bigger issues.
And the constant bombardment of click-bait news, social media detritus, and sensationalistic reporting truly doesn’t help any of us.
How do you choose your short list to allocate your time, attention, love, and commitment to what really matters to you?
I recently took a trip to Pennsylvania to help a long-time friend (from high school!) get ready to move permanently to New Zealand. She has to get rid of almost literally a ‘ton’ of precious stuff so that the remainder can be packed into a shipping container and make the 12-14 week journey. An overwhelming task in so many ways.
This trip reflected a prioritization on my part of what I want to focus on in my life – part of my choices about where to spend my energy, time, emotion, and attention: all of which are somewhat limited I’ve recently realized… In my younger years (not too long ago) I thought of these things as boundless and that I could spend freely in any direction: take a stand for something happening in South Africa; march for something in the US; be incensed about something in Spain; get involved in a family challenge; and on and on.
I am now prioritizing the actions, in this order, I can take that directly and positively impact:
- Myself: so that I can continue to live a good life and help lift others up as well as have fun.
- My core values: taking micro and local actions to stand up for my values
- People I care about: this means taking action on things that matter to them that I haven’t gotten involved with because I’ve been too busy being whipped up by clickbait and soundbites.
- My clients: how can I help them in ways they don’t yet know about.
- My local area: what can I actually do to directly impact others in ways that help my locale?
- The world: again, what can I do that directly affects change in the direction I support?
My trip to Pennsylvania was part of helping the people I most care about by taking action that I know directly affects them positively.
I’ve got more ideas on how to put this all into action. But I constantly battle with being taken off track by the seemingly idiotic world events happening and being broadcast constantly on social and in the news. I’ve resolved to not whip myself up into a tizzy emotionally, not to repost inflammatory headlines, and to focus on taking the actions I can take that keep me and my health whole and complete. I have to refocus this every time I come across something that agitates me, but it’s worth it and I have more energy to do what there is for me to do in this life: with myself, my interests, my friends, my business, my clients, and my neighborhood.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on all this.
Take care and remain calm, engaged, and committed.
