I always enjoy spending time with my good friend Dr. Jordon Smith, he is a dentist by occupation, but a true entrepreneur and creative at the core of his being. We had lunch today and as usual began our philosophical discussions on life, love and the pursuit of happiness, while enjoying sushi. The topic du jour: ‘How our busy lives get in the way of having a life’.
It is ironic that successful professional careers often rob us of the things that matter most and the relationships that we so need in our lives. The most common phrases I hear from people lately are ” I am too busy” or “there aren’t enough hours in the day” or “I need more time”. But, time is the single most finite resource in the universe. It continuously expires with steady precision, and cannot be manufactured, borrowed, or stolen. What we choose to do with the limited time we have ultimately determines our success or failure, in everything, especially relationships. The greatest quote coming out of our conversation today was “Time is the currency we invest in great relationships”.
Don’t get me wrong, I get it. Most of our calendars are jammed packed with meetings, appointments, kids activities, etc.. And if we are lucky, time to do some actual productive things for work, community or church. I recently read an article on Why Spending Time With Friends Is One of the Best Things You Can Do for Your Health . The article surmises that our health and well being is connected to our time in building relationships “because all of us, innately, are wired from birth to connect”. But yet, we choose to fill our calendars with everything but quality time to connect with the relationships that matter most to us. Or we spend our time in front of a screen with the impersonal connections of social media as a convenience.
In the past, I used to get grief about the insensitivity of having to set appointments on my calendar for lunch with my spouse, or playing video games with my son, or taking my daughters out for a daddy daughter date. I have been nerd shamed for the color coding of events in my calendar, red for personal activities, green for work activities, purple for couple time, and yellow for family events. After my lunch conversation with Jordon today, I realize that the purposeful planning and investment of time into meaningful relationships yield some of the greatest returns, and that planning is one of the most respectful things I can do for those I do life with every day.