The Life in Your Years

One of Abe Lincoln’s many memorable quotes is “It’s not the years in your life that matter, but the life in your years.”

We all know that to be true. Who doesn’t want to live a full, rich life?

Based on all the research we review at BUILT TO LEAD, however, it seems only a few of us really now how. Years of studies of employee attitudes clearly point to the sad fact of the majority going through the motions at work. We see the statistics of depression and addiction, of wasted time and opportunity in work and in life.

Many of us know that certain someone who claims to have had “30 years experience” when, in fact, they have “1 year of experience repeated 30 times.”

So how do we avoid this fate and live life to its fullest?

For a part of the answer, I want to tell you about my friend Doug.

Doug is a poster child of otherworldly success. He’s handsome, tall, fit, and he’s got a winning smile. Doug’s happily married to his first wife and together they’ve raised a great family. He is CEO of a profitable and growing national company. Doug lives in one of the most desirable zip codes in the country, and he’s a thoughtful and generous humanitarian.

And he’s dying.

Doug was diagnosed with a condition that would doom him, his doctor explained, “in no fewer than five years, and no more than ten.”

That was seven years ago…

Doug recently shared the insights he’s gained from living the last seven years under a death sentence. Specifically, Doug explained the ONE THING he decided to do on that long night when he and his wife first received his prognosis. Here it is. Don’t miss this. This could be HUGE. On that night, Doug decided to…

…LIVE.

That’s right, to “live.” Specifically not merely to “exist.”

Doug decided to live fully. With intention. Awake, aware, and alert. With gratitude for the time he’d already been given and for the time he hoped he’d be given.

He also prayed for courage, grace, peace, and yes, Doug prayed for time.

What Doug has received over those seven years is all of that, and more. Doug has learned the secret of living his life to the fullest, and contributing his absolute best, and leading others to do so. That secret is a conscious awareness of…

…NOW.

Doug has become a master of the awesome power of NOW. He explained that NOW, in the final analysis, is all we have, anyway. The past is gone. The future does not exist. NOW is all. And check this out: each of us has exactly as much NOW as anyone else.

Some of us, though, such as Doug, learn how to concentrate our energy and power into NOW and, in so doing, extract 30, 60, 100 times the life out of every moment! That’s what Doug learned, and explained, “It’s not about ‘time management’ but focusing my ‘life force’ on this moment in front of me. I now live at 100 times the rate of consciousness that I did before my diagnosis. I figure that I’ve already experienced more than the ‘old me’ would have had I lived to the age of 120.”

Doug readily agrees that the lessons of the past have huge value, and that a future vision and mission that gives purpose to life is essential. But he no longer dwells on past mistakes or accomplishments, just as he no longer worries about the future. Doug’s take away about both the past and the future is “It’s okay to look; just don’t stare.”

How can we, as individuals, discover and channel this “life force” as a means of living our lives to their fullest?

How can we, as members of a family, team, or community, contribute our best to others?

How can we, as leaders of people and teams, inspire them to give their committed best?

What are we waiting for, a death sentence?