One billion

Line up an elephant, a hummingbird, your favourite pet … and you.

What do you have in common? (Apart from the good looks, of course.)

The answer I’ve got is that you’re all born with about a billion heartbeats to spare. It’s why big animals live longer than small ones – their hearts beat slower. It’s a powerful metaphor of course, and it begs the question: What do you plan to do with your billion beats? But you can get much more specific than that…

12,486

That, according to my calculations, is how many days I’ve got left to live this life. Or to put it another way, the actuary tables are predicting my demise on September 15, 2043. (It will be the 35th anniversary of Lehmann Brothers going bankrupt.  Terrific.)

What does that number do to you? For me, it does two things.

It sends me into a bit of hand-flapping panic. “Aaagh!  So much to do!  So little time!  Work harder!  Focus more!  Freak out a little bit!”

And at the same time, it quiets me down. You’ve probably read stories of people who’ve come close to death and afterward found absolute clarity about what they want to spend their time on. Here’s a recent example.

That, although undoubtedly to a lesser extent, is what happened to me.  It absolutely makes me stop and take a breath or two and ask myself: What am I up to?  And is this the best it can be?  Is this really my Great Work?

And even more important for me, it makes me think about what I should stop doing.  I know I go on and on about this – it’s probably because I’m trying to remind myself to say No so I can say Yes.  Someone recently described me as being a ball-juggling, plate-tossing, chair-balancing maniac.  And funny as the image is, it’s not exactly the way I’m trying to show up in the world…

You can calculate what your own number is by following the instructions in this article by Kevin Kelly.

5.75 Questions

Not sure where to begin?  Why not carve out 10 minutes and ask yourself the 5.75 Questions?

1. What’s going well? (No, really. What can you celebrate?)
2. What are you trying to ignore? (That irritating stuff that you’re tolerating.  Or that call to Great Work that’s making your palms sweat)
3. What’s boring you? (”Comfort is boredom with good PR.”)
4. How do you want to be remembered? (What’s the ending you want to write for your life?)
5. Who do you love? (And why aren’t you spending more time with these people?)

You can see it in all its glorious animation here, and find out just what is the 0.75 final question.

6 strategies

I hope I’ve stirred you up a bit, pushed you a little, and got you thinking. But what will you do?
Here’s a few options you have – feel free to pick more than one.

1. Pick a project. Just one.  The one project you’re going to really focus on for the next 90 days. Make it a project that counts. Make it Great Work.
2. Pick a big project for the next five years.In the Kevin Kelly article he quotes Stewart Brand (founder of The Long Now Foundation) who says a good project takes five years from go to whoa. Start a company. Write a book. Begin a new career. Change the World. Pick something that will inspire you, hold you, thrill you.  (At the very least, write a shortlist.)
3. Write out your “Not To Do List.” Put down at least 10 things you’re likely to get suckered into doing that – big picture and all – are a waste of your time. This is the stuff you’ve been keen to say No to for some time now – and I’m giving you permission to do just that!
4. Write out your “To Be List.” Don’t get fooled into thinking that it’s all about what you do. How do you want to show up for the next little while? Will you be … loving? Courageous? Focused? Happy? Unpredictable? Curious?
5. Get inspired. Go check out the Great Work Interviews. In recent weeks we’ve posted podcasts with Steven Rothstein (Head of the Perkins School for the Blind), Dixon Thayer (senior exec and turn-around guru), Sally Bonneywell (Head of OD for GlaxoSmithKline) and Chris Guillebeau (world traveller, writer of the Art of Non-Conformity.) Don’t tell me there isn’t SOMETHING there for you!
6. Get tactical. Think about the next 90 days. I wrote about the power of planning in 90 day “chunks” a little while ago, and you can read some specific tactics to do just that here.

4 opportunities

1. Pick up your own copy of Find Your Great Work.
Some are calling it the squarest, most red, most shaped-like-a-napkin book ever. Others, like David Stockholm, Head Coach of KaosWorks in Denmark say:

The process of going through ‘Find Your Great Work’ feels like a powerful coaching session. The book contains the structure, reflective questions and forth calling energy – that will have you (the reader) experience the power of you, the power of you being at choice and the power of you planning proactively. Claiming the work you want. This book rocks, we should all take a time out with it once a year, and use it as a compass for quality in life.

2. Coaching for Great Work
We’re holding an open workshop in Boston on Friday July 31st. If you’re wondering how to get coaching to really work within your organization, this might provide the answer. It will be a fun, entertaining and deeply useful day.
Details are here

3. If you can’t make Boston but are curious about Coaching for Great Work, sign up for a free teleclass, 1pm EST Monday July 13th. I’m using a brand new technology that means this will NOT be a one way monologue. You’ll leave with an insight about how coaching can work better in your organization AND with a coaching tool you can use.
Details are here

4. The Big Questions Trilogy
We’re offering all three of our small-but-perfectly-formed movies as a trilogy set for a bundled price.  If you’d like to keep a little inspiration nearby, you can pick up your copies here.

Don’t take my word for it…

Smart people reflecting on priorities, what matters and “times winged chariot hurrying near”.

You’re alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
Barbara Hall, American writer

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.
Oscar Wilde, Irish writer

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
Carl Sandburg, American poet

The whole life of man is but a point of time; let us enjoy it.
Plutarch, Greek philosopher

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, American writer

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.
E. B. White, American writer

Look, I don’t want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you’re alive you’ve got to flap your arms and legs, you’ve got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you’re not alive.
Mel Brooks, American writer

Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
Groucho Marx, American comedian