Sometime ago, I came up with a slogan I used for several talks I gave to local business groups – “For the Life of Your Business and the Business of Your Life”. I thought it was a clever play on words that I could use as a tool to get across my main message. I found that this ‘play on words’ became the main message in most circumstances I found myself in. I’ll explain this a bit by posing a few reflective questions:
Q – How do you define/explain what is ‘The Life of Your Business’?
Q – How do you define/explain what is ‘The Business of Your Life’?
Q – what is the difference between these two definitions/explanations?
See what I mean? I have come to the understanding the distance between my answers determines the balance I experience in my life. Where does one component end and the other begin? Do they overlap?
Anyway – big questions that not everyone likes to get into. But for those who do:
Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist who lived from 1905 to 1997. As a survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp, he developed a perspective on life that was unique. Here are a couple quotes from his book Man’s Search for Meaning (1959).
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
“When we are no longer able to change a situation . . .we are challenged to change ourselves.”
Reflective Questions:
Q – Do I consider myself a responder or a reactor?
Q – Am I content with the way I address problems?
Q – What would I like to do regarding problems that I do not do now?
Q – what is one thing I can do today that will get me closer to what I want/need?
In Service & Gratitude,
Dr. Bruce McLaughlin