Today Matters

This week I have been trying to come up with my philosophy of life. I sell Juice Plus, and one of my mentors in the organization was sharing how she had been pondering her philosophy of life. She has worked with a variety of personal trainers, and their differences prompted her to realize they were guided by different philosophies of life. The trainers never explicitly shared their philosophies of life, but as she interacted with them their philosophies became evident. Her first trainers view of life could be summed up as, "life is hard, push on," the next trainers motto was, "life is a war, win it," and the current trainers philosophy is "life is an adventure, live it." My friend challenged us to think through what others would say our life philosophy was based on the actions they see in our lives, and then to think through what it is we would intentionally want our life philosophy to be. She thought for a few days and came up with "life is a gift, unwrap it." I have thought about it all week and have settled on something else - "TODAY MATTERS." I'd choose to with Today Matters as my philosophy of life for many reasons:
1) Today does matter. Success is found in our daily routine. We do not wake up one day and realize we are successful, one day we are successful because we chose to follow a daily routine that set us up for success. (Admittedly, a concept I learned in John Maxwell's "Today Matter's" Book.)
2) I want to be intentional and I want to be a good steward of my time, talents, treasure, and relationships. What better way to do that, than by valuing every day and being intentional in all facets of my daily walk?

Specifically, I break it down into the things I want to see reaped at the end of my life. I have made a decision of what I want my life to look like, now I must daily manage those decisions. At the end of the day, I want to go through and evaluate how I did in the following areas:

Health - Did I provide my body with the nutrients it needs, and get some exercise?
Money - Did I spend my money wisely?
Spiritual - Did I spend focused time with God, as well as remember Him through the day?
Family - Did I show love, respect and support to my husband?
Did I spend time in my son's world?
Did I help him develop the things he needs help with?
Work - Did I add value to the mission, vision and people of my organization?
Personal - Have I spent time learning this week?
Have I tried to connect with and value typical people?
Have I shared life with those I love?

Choosing to be intentional does not mean I can never have fun or relax, it just means I make a choice to have fun and relax rather than doing something (or nothing) by default, rather than by design.

Having said that, I'll admit I have been trying to live this way for the last several months and it is harder than I would have guessed. First off, I have to remember what it is I am aiming for and secondly, some things are more natural than others. I hope the knowledge of why I am doing what I am doing is enough to help me ingrain these principles in my life long term.