Are you Doing Important Things?

In modern society, we are oftentimes caught in a rat-race, and usually find that time is not always on our side. A common complaint I hear from people is," I wished there were 25 hours in a day!" In his bestselling book, First Things First, Stephen R. Covey says we often feel stressed and ineffective at meeting our goals because we haven’t learned how to put first things first. We spend too much time on lesser important things because we lack proper direction, or the discipline, to focus on the "FIRST THINGS".

Suppose you were in a serious car accident and you were rushed to the emergency room with multiple life-threatening injuries. The attending physician takes your blood sample and comes back to you and says, “Mr Teo, your cholesterol level is 230. We’ve got to get that down. Now I’d like to talk to you about your diet and get you started on some Lipitor.” You would think he was crazy, wouldn’t you?

The actual fact in life is, believe it or not, we ourselves are behaving in such a manner. I would like to introduce you to 2 tools: the clock and the compass. As one with common knowledge would know, the clock gives us the time and tells us WHEN to do what while the compass tells us the DIRECTION and shows us where to go. Suppose I give you a map and tell you that I will meet you at point B at a certain time, which tool do you think you will use more? I am beginning to relate.

A lot of us tend to use the clock in our lives. " I need to finish the project by today." or "I must meet up with my boss later in the afternoon." are just 2 examples of the "clock" thinking. In an age where we have just SO MANY things to do in a "limited" amount of time, we rely heavily on the clock for DIRECTION! We find ourselves working on URGENT matters, but forgetting to question the IMPORTANCE of it. This phenomemen is the cause of much unhappiness and disatisfaction in our lives, be it in school, work or relationships. How often have we sat down alone and asked ourselves what do we REALLY WANT, the IMPORTANT THINGS IN OUR LIFE?

I have to confess truthfully I never really appreciated my family in the past and concentrated my focus on lesser important things such as computer games or basketball. However, after attending a funeral of the mother of a friend who unfortunately passed away due to a disease, I began to realise my ignorance and folly when I saw genuine tears of regret roll down the face of my friend, who seldom spent time with her mother and preferred to hang out in Orchard Road. It was then that I understood the true value of kinship. Some of us may think sitting down to have dinner with our parents is a complete waste of time when we could be having it while catching the much-desired 8pm drama. However, do not underestimate the QUALITY of the time spent with them as you may find out things from them you never thought you would had known, even though all of you stayed under the same roof for so long!

Are you feeling touched? I don't want you to be because I only want you to USE WHAT YOU LEARNT! As I like to say, no one can change the way you behave except YOURSELF. Others can ONLY advice and influence you to a certain extent. So, the next time you have to make a decision regarding whether or not to do something, use the COMPASS more, not ONLY the clock!


P.S. : Watch out for a new section called Quotes of Wisdom coming out soon in my Blog as I am undergoing preparations to launch a new look.