My husband and I went to the Ohio State Fair on Friday with his brother and wife. We ate our way through melt-in-your-mouth-warm-mini donuts, Italian sausages, roasted ears of corn, and milkshakes. The best part of the day was watching the juggling act of Roberto the Magnificent. Roberto was the consumate entertainer – juggling knives on a unicycle, golf clubs, even taught a youngster how to juggle, a little. Obviously he had to be able to juggle a lot of different stuff while keeping up a conversational patter, or else we would all mosey on to the next food group.
What is our excuse? Why do we choose to juggle so many activities? Granted, jobs enable us to eat. What are some of the other reasons we try to jam so much into 16 waking hours? These are a few excuses I have identified in my life.
- My ____________ [husband, mother, child(ren), friend] expects me to. You fill in the blank.
- No one else is qualified to do it.
- No one else can do it as well/the way I do.
- I get a kick out of the adrenaline that comes with a last minute save.
- I like to earn praise.
- I want to be seen as ” super ____________!” [wife/husband, mom/dad, son/daughter, friend, brother/sister]. You fill in the blank.
- I will feel guilty if I don’t.
- I have always done it.
- Compared to So-and-so, I ain’t done nothin’ yet.
- I procrastinated and I have to finish it NOW in the midst other pressing details.
Are you seeing a pattern here? It’s as if I threw a handful of knives up in the air and am trying to dodge them as they come down in order to survive. Most of these scenarios center around what people will think of me.
Thankfully, I am learning to ask myself better questions to avoid tyranny of the urgent.
- What is truly important to me, to my immediate supervisor, to God?
- How will this activity enrich the relationships I consider priorities?
- Is this action truly my responsibility, or am I grabbing someone else’s knife?
- If I do this am I helping or enabling?
- Will doing this make me or someone I care about more healthy?
- Am I truly indispensable? (The answer here is a big, fat, N-O!)
Finally, this is the big one: Will this even matter in 5 years? If you have been to a few of your high school reunions you know that time is a great leveler and that people’s opinions truly don’t matter.
Take the time to look at what you are juggling and ask yourself, “Why?” I hope you can eliminate a few of the knives you have in the air. Life is short. Keep it simple. Enjoy!
