Questions to Ponder

 

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

I have been an ardent follower of Robin Sharma since I first read The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari many years ago. He introduced me to the 5am club and the concept of leading without a title among many other gems I have gleaned from his work in the years I’ve known him. As this year was starting out, he sent out a new year’s message that got me thinking about my plans for the year ahead.

In considering 2022 and your plans for it, Robin asks us to think deeply about 4 questions that should guide our planning. First, who must I become to have the year that I want? Do I need to cultivate generosity, an attitude of gratitude, become a hard worker, a learner . . . who must I become in order to achieve what I am setting out to achieve? What character traits will get me to my destination and which ones must I leave behind? (Yes because there are some that will pull you down if carried along.)

Secondly, what gifts and talents am I not celebrating? Out of the 4 questions, this one got me. He posits that human beings are endowed with rarely celebrated gifts and talents such as those of reason and intuition, dreaming and execution, compassion and caring, invention and disruption, persistency and relentlessness. And the greatest of them all is the gift of absolute personal responsibility to do the work, take the risks and endure the trials that success demands. So, considering your goals for the year ahead, what gifts and talents do you need to sharpen and put to work? What do you need to take absolute responsibility for, own wholly and run with in order to celebrate your-dreams-come-true at the end of this year?

The third question to consider is what are the top 5 habits that will serve me best in 2022? I’m smiling as I think about this one. Because most of the ones I’m thinking about are not new habits I need to install. Rather, they are habits I have dropped along the way despite the fact that they have in the past resulted in great rewards when I practiced them consistently. Simple stuff such as jumping out of bed without snoozing, a regular workout habit, early to bed and early to rise, not snacking and keeping a regular mealtime. So many more I could add but think about your own, what habits have enslaved you to defeat and which ones elevated you to great achievement? What needs to be revived and who needs to see the other side of the door, for good this time?

Last question is how may I most serve the world this new year? Your big why for being on this earth. It could be as big as bringing about world peace, or as obscure as planting 10 trees this year. Mother Teresa said “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” For some of us, raising an upright generation will be our service to the world. So don’t go building lofty castles or despairing because the world is huge, that small thing you do to make your neck of the woods a better place to live is also service to the world.

Is your head buzzing from all the questions and the answers you have and those you still can’t find? Mine is too. I’m off to take a walk outside and when I return it will all fall in place. Have an answer-full week ahead.

“I would rather have questions that can’t be answered than answers that can’t be questioned.” ~ Richard Feynman