Wherever you are at, be there !

Good Wednesday morning to you. We are at the mid-week part of our theme of the Ideal Life. Today we are going to deal with something most people seem to forget about life when chasing a new goal or a new dream or, in this case, our Ideal Life. Too many times when moving towards a goal we seem to forget the very fact that we have to live in the today part of lives. So let’s talk about the Today part of our life.

It was the year 2005 and I was working at a call center making outbound sales calls, working in the debt settlement business. You would think with all the credit problems we have in the country, or in the world for that matter, this would be a great job. It was a good job, and for sales work there was money to be made. At the same time I was facing relationship problems, I could not afford the apartment I was living in. After being in business for myself and setting a high standard of living for many years, my income was considerably lower than the expenses I had. While facing all of this I could not seem to make enough sales to make a decent living. Now, many of those others sales people who worked with me were making sales, some were great others were so-so. In the first two months of working there I was “Rookie of the Month” for highest sales of a new person.  But it was shortly afterwards that my sales took a slump, and income started to dry up.

I tell you this story for a reason. First, I have failed a few times in my life. Second, yes I did lose a place to live. I was out on the streets. My sales manager was named Paul. About a year later, I was working at a Starbucks and Paul happened to walk in. He was just out from a break from the office and doing some shopping. We sat and talked for a few minutes. Was I mad at this man who fired me a year earlier? No. Was I blaming him for my situation? No. My situation was my own fault. But that is another story. What we talked about that day made a big impact on my life since. He told me my head was just not in the job while I was there.

The words he used ring so well that I titled this post today by those words he told me: “Wherever you are at, be there.” You see, while I was working there my focus was on where I was going to spend all the money I was going to make. My focus was on the bills I couldn’t pay. So I was not doing the job I was paid or hired to do. My mind was elsewhere.

When you are working towards a goal in life it becomes so easy to work towards the goal, that you seem to forget you have your kid’s ball game to attend; you forget that your parents are coming to town to spend family time and go to see those great sights your town has. You forget things like your spouse’s birthday, or forget to plan a special dinner for you and your spouse on your anniversary. The memory that comes to mind is from an Adam Sandler movie out a few years ago called Click.  In the movie, his life gets set on auto pilot as he’s working to reach his goals and he seems to forget his family. The result was that he set a magic remote to move forward to the time when he reached his promotion. But when he fast forwarded he realized he missed so many important events in his life.

Well as we are working for an ideal in life we could miss the very things that could make our life the exceptional ideal that more people wish they had. I live an ideal life because I found some things I was not looking for along the way. I started to learn to live each moment I was alive, to not have regret that I did something a certain way. To not be afraid to make a mistake.  I personally recommend this. So start enjoying each day you have and look for the nuggets of joy that help you see Ideal living a new way that is only you.

I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live the life you always wanted, to love what you do and those you share your life with, to become a RockStar in your world creating an ideal world for you.