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Tag: present moment

The most valuable unit

When finalizing a product, shipping art, or editing work, it’s easy to get lost in details. Scraping through drafts and searching for the finish, time passes without recognition. We forgo ourselves and others in order to see completion.

Athletes call it The Zone. A moment when you and performance mix with sacrifice and joy and little else matters. Vision becomes narrow, your focus steadfast and locked onto the end result. All the rest, from relationships to household duties, fades into periphery.

Consider your must trusted communities. Most likely, you’ve endured together, you’ve grown together, or you’ve experienced hard work together. Challenging times weave lasting bonds, and nuances become sacred. We separates us from them.

Why, then, do we race towards finish lines alone? Some of the greatest benefits of creation’s final stages — the connections, the struggle, the lasting memories — fall victim to schedules, timelines, preoccupation, and restricted sight.

We’ve entered a new economy. One in which people have become the most valuable unit. Do you create time in your day to connect with those around you? What will support you when you need it most: your work or the relationships you’ve made along the way?

The Project Exponential community continues to grow. We’re building stronger connections and finding even more ways to help you do your best work. If you missed this morning’s newsletter, see what we’re up to here.

This second

You’re not going to get it back.

Think about that when considering the value of your time.

I’m taking something precious from you as you read this.

Now think about the people you’re choosing to spend your time with.

Would anything change if you honored how much each second is really worth?

Are you the first to the party?

Most people are afraid to arrive early. They stall around and carefully consider the appropriate time to enter the room. Arriving before others places you in the category of looking too eager, bland, idle. And think of all that empty space you have to fill before other guests arrive—silence! awkwardness! preparation! look busy! smile!

Yet these in-between moments are when great relationships are formed. The moments before the talk begins, the hours after the conference has ended, the off-campus lunch break.

Show up early and offer help. You’ll be thanked, you’ll be the first to meet attendees, and you’ll establish familiarity with your surroundings before the rest show up.

When was the last time you did one thing?

Read that again.

When was the last time you did one thing?

Not two, not six, not four.

Checking email, eating breakfast. Halfheartedly listening to your partner while making a list of grocery items. Calling your mom while watching CNN and scanning your iPad for Facebook updates.

We’re bombarded. We’re hungry for information and validation and surprise, and we are impatient.

One of the most valuable things you can do for yourself and for your clients and for your family and for your relationships is to make the decision to commit to one action. Give each moment your all, and watch what happens.

Fight and focus and concentrate to be 100% there, fully tuned into the messages you’re receiving and what you’re sending to those around you. You don’t want to miss that big shot you’ve been waiting for just because you were too preoccupied to notice it.

The person you wanted to meet (and who wanted to meet you) might have been at the party, but you weren’t there to meet them.

Commit to the present today.