A Resolution Worth Keeping

I would like to share with everyone about something that I read today, about how important it is that we keep looking at h0w we spend our time.

A Resolution worth Keeping
by Alexander Green

A sign in front of a church down the street says, "Resolutions go in one year and out the other."

How true. The other day I was cleaning out my desk and found a list of New Year's resolutions for 2006. Turns out I still haven't lost those pounds, taken that trip, read those books, or updated my estate plan, among other things.

This is generally when we fall back on that ironclad, all-purpose excuse: But we've been so busy.

Maybe that's the problem. We spend too much time on things that are urgent but unimportant and not enough on things that are less urgent but more important.

Phone calls, e-mails, junk mail and Monday Night Football are urgent. They require our immediate attention, if only to pass on them. Deciding whether to change jobs, end a broken relationship or what to do with the rest of your life can always wait. Tomorrow is as good as today.

Yet few things are more dispiriting than realizing you're bogged down doing things that don't really matter. As Stephen Covey says, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

In his book "First Things First," he talks about the age-old battle between the clock and the compass. The clock represents your commitments, appointments, schedules, activities - how you manage your time. The compass represents your vision, values, principles, mission, conscience, direction - what you feel is important, how you lead your life.

Where you're headed is so much more important than how fast you're moving. Doing more things faster is no substitute for doing the right things.

Every day we continually make decisions about how we spend our time, from "this afternoon" to "this year." The consequences of those choices determine the quality of our lives.

Yet too often there is a gap between what we're doing and what we know is most important. We want to spend more quality time with the kids. Yet we're off to the mall... or to poker night. We know we would look and feel better - and live longer - if we got out and exercised. Yet we plant ourselves like rhubarb in front of ESPN instead.

The result is increased stress - or a gnawing feeling of discontent. Yet there is a solution.

At financial conferences, I often tell attendees that investment success does not come from following the right predictions. It comes from following the right principles.

Warren Buffett, the world's most famous investor, follows the time-tested value principles of his mentor Benjamin Graham. John Templeton, the man Money magazine called "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century," formulated his own "22 Principles for Successful Investing."

Principles are not ephemeral. They don't come in or out of fashion. (Or shouldn't.) They are timeless and universal. They are markers that provide direction in both good times and bad.

And just as surely as the best investment principles can safeguard our portfolios, the great human principles ought to inspire our behavior.

As Stephen Covey writes in "Everyday Greatness," "Principles such as vision, innovation, humility, quality, empathy, magnanimity, perseverance and balance can mobilize us toward greater personal effectiveness and increased life satisfaction. If you doubt this, consider living life based on their opposites, such as lack of vision, laziness, sloppiness, closed mindedness, revenge, lack of determination or imbalance. Hardly the ingredients for success."

The challenge is to examine your life and see if your actions are in harmony with your values, with universal principles. How are you treating people? What are you contributing on a daily basis? Are you doing good... or are you just doing well?

How you answer those questions will determine your real success in 2009... and how you're remembered many years after you're gone.