Pat Brill is the author of the blogs http://www.LifesManyLessons.com and http://www.ManagingEmployees.net . You can reach Pat at pat@TheInfoCrowd.com.
Copyright (c) 2009 Pat Brill
I remembered being on Broadway and 21st Street in New York City standing in one place watching the bellowing smoke coming from the Towers. Everyone around me was so quiet!
When I looked around, I saw the dazed looks on everyone's faces. No one knew just how historic 9/11 would be in each of our lives and the lives of those directly impacted by this horrific act.
My job was Manager of Human Resources and I spent the next few months working individually and in groups to help people deal with this traumatic event in their lives.
September 11th reminds me how vulnerable my life is and how quickly it could end. I'm not walking around with fear, but rather with awareness that life is precious and each day I get to choose how I will live it. I don't always live my life fully and in fact I can choose to live my hours in a dull and joyless manner.
I did an exercise around how many hours I may have left in my life. I know there are no guarantees but still, what if I was to live another 26 more years.
**What would the next 26 years look like?
**In 26 more years, would I leave this world with regrets? If so, what would I regret?
**How will I add lots of joy into my life?
==>Here is the exercise:
Decide how old you will be when you will die. I know there are no guarantees, yet if you were to choose an age, what would it be.
=>Next steps:
**Put down how old you will be when you die and minus out your current age. You will come up with the number of years you may have left in your life. For me it was 26 more years.
**Now take the number (yours) and times it by 365 days. For me it was 26 years x 365 days = 9490 days
**Now take the total days and times it by number of hours in a day - 24. For me, I could have potentially 227,760 more hours in my life.
Now, you may be thinking that I should be doing other things with my life besides my simple math calculations. For me 227,760 hours means I can choose what I want to do with my hours...they are mine.
Each hour I use I decrease my total hours, so I need to increase the value of each hour I own in my life. It's all about making a choice on what is important. For me, now it's important to write my blog post and I'm willing to use my hour for it.
As you look at each hour of your life, what is important to you? What brings joy, challenge, warmth, love and laughter in your life? What adds value in your life? At the beginning of each hour, just ask how you can best use this hour for your greatest good and the good of others around you.
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