Finish the sentence – Life’s too short to…

Life’s too short to…

I’m sure you’ve heard that hundreds of times – maybe a bumper sticker or quick comment about the quality (or lack of quality) of a beverage.  “Life’s too short to drink bad beer!”.

If you think about it, it’s a pretty deep thought (maybe not Jack Handey deep, but thought provoking).  I was meeting with someone last week and they had an interesting business related take on it:

Life’s too short to work with people you don’t like.

What a great (and powerful) way to point out the values that are really important to you.  Imagine a small but pointed list of rules that you followed because life is too short not to follow them.  So with that in find, I brainstormed a potential list for you to start with – some of them are mine, some of them came when I did a finish the sentence exercise with a couple of my Peer Group Advisory Boards – let me know what I missed:

Life is too short to…

get stuck in an 8 to 5 job.

(especially one that you don’t enjoy).

worry all the time.

Stop stressing, it’s not like you’re saving lives (please disregard if you are in fact saving lives…).

worry about what other people think.

Live your life on your terms of success – not someone else’s (easier said than done).

not to do what you love / what you’re passionate about.

I don’t really buy into the ‘do what you love and the money will follow’ idea but I do buy into the idea that you will be exponentially better at doing something you enjoy as opposed to something you feel like you have to do.

grow up!

As my client explained ‘Never take your life too seriously – it’s not like any of us is getting out of this alive!’.  😉

not take risks!

This one is especially appropriate for business owners – it’s all about taking risks, without risk you’re not going to succeed, and if you’re not going to put it out there, you might as well not even try.

hang out with people who don’t challenge and encourage you.

There’s a saying that you’re only as good as the people you spend the most time with.  I’ve seen clear evidence that successful people hang out with other successful people – are your acquaintances bringing you up or down?

work with people you don’t like.

Michael Port writes about a Red Velvet Rope Policy (you have to wait through the ad) in his book ‘Book Yourself Solid’  – basically how ineffective it is to work with people you don’t fit with (and it’s not much fun).

not take vacations.

If you’re a business owner who hasn’t taken a real vacation in at least a year, something is wrong (and we should talk).  I know you’re busy, but if you can’t carve out a week of time to really get away, you’re on the downward slide to closing up shop whether you know it or not.

not have some fun.

Lighten up Francis.  A sense of humor and a willingness to smile will go a very, very long way towards building up fans of your business and employees who like working with you.

What’s your rule?

There’s not really a right answer on this, but I’d love to hear if you’ve got a rule to live by (or if you’d like to have a rule to live by but haven’t been willing to really enforce it yet).  Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach