During the “New Normal” I have been having Virtual Coffee Meetings with some terrific people from around the globe. One such person is Martin Howey, he’s a wonderful and wise man a coach/consultant and mentor to some of the top leaders in the business coaching arena.
It’s been said that we need to have a sense of urgency in our lives, that many are not aware that they do not have an endless amount of time on earth. To help you recognize that you have a finite amount of time in your life, and we don’t ever really know how much time we have. In talking with Martin, I was moved to write this.
He suggests that you look at the time you have left in your life. This lit a fire in my soul when I found out. It may do the same for you.
Have a read of Martin’s wisdom, from an interview I recently had with Martin Howey. I hope that this impacts you as he has for me to a “Get-To-It-Ness” state of mind, that moves you to do what you must do to lead your ideal life.
The first step for you is to go check the “Life Expectancy Calculator” and find out how much time you have left.
From the Interview
It's kind of interesting to look at “Life Expectancy” results, we all have an estimated total number of years left. I’m almost 76 years old the estimated total years I have left are 11 years. If I follow the averages, I will live to 86, now maybe I will make it maybe I won't, I don't know, of course, this is based on averages.
Life insurance companies determine how much to charge by the Life Expectancy Tables, they know how many males and how many females are going to die every year. They know what they're going to die from. They know how many are going to die in car accidents. They know how many are going to die from cancer, from heart disease, and from all the rest of the stuff. They just don't know their names. That's how they establish their Life Insurance rates and policies.
I am recommending that you look at your current age, check the Life Expectancy Calculator to determine your current situation as a starting point of what is next for you. Martin shares his own assessment as a model for you and me to follow.
If I look at this today, I’d have 11 more years, so I took a look at all of the things that I do in the course of a day a week and a month. I added up how many hours a day do I sleep? How many hours a day do I eat, bathroom duties, and all these other things that I am responsible for.
[quotes] One of my major revelations for me was the crazy amount of unavoidable time suck we have in our lives every day. [/quotes] The unavoidable time that is sucked away from you the time you have remaining and it's unavoidable – You're standing in line at the bank, you're in a traffic light, you're at the grocery store standing in line, it just sucks. There is nothing you can do its nonproductive time, you can't do anything about it, it just sucks. So how much of that time do you have per day?
I added all of that up and then subtracted it from the number of years I have left. I figured out how many hours I have left that are mine, my discretionary time. How many of those years do I want to spend with people I don't like doing things with, that I don't want to do, doing something I have to do, all these other things I had, all these kinds of categories, and the answer was zero.
I don't want any of my time being wasted with people I don't like being with and doing things I don't want to do. I don't want to do any of that, ever! I remember thinking at age 65 I had something like eight years left out of all that time.
Okay, so now I know that’s the case, then how do I fix that? If I take the number of years I have out of that I only have five or six more years of living.
Then I decided to set up my life the way I want to have it, I determined the lifestyle I really, really want. Determine how many clients I want and what kinds of people I want to be around. What things do I want to have in my life, the number and types of cars, the homes I want, the places I want to see and enjoy. How many hours and days a week do I want to work? With these questions answered, I was able to design the life that I wanted, Why I wanted it and how to get it.
With this vision of my ideal life, I am then to figure out what the finances are to live that lifestyle.
If you’re a business owner, entrepreneur, or sales professional, if somebody comes on as a new client and they don't want to do the work in many cases I would recommend that you cut them loose. Why? It's just not worth it for you to have them on your list of clients they’ll just be pulling you down. If they are not going to do the work, you've got to cut them loose. The 80:20 comes into play 80 percent of your opportunities come from 20 percent of your clients and your efforts.
One of my consultants called me, “Hey, Martin, I just fired another client. Well, you know that you have taught me to work with clients that are willing to do the work. I reminded the client that I'm charging a base amount per month with a percentage for all the increased revenue you generate from our working together.
I cannot live on what I'm charging you on a monthly basis. So if I want any more money, I have to make that up on the results I produce for you by working with you to increase your revenue and then get a percentage of the additional income I produce for you.
Part of that increase revenue is based on what you do, I can't do it all, I can give you the ideas, but I can't do it for you, you’ve got to do the work.
[quotes]If you're not willing to do the work, we're not getting the results and if we don't get the results, I don't get paid what I need to get paid. It's actually costing me money to work with you. [/quotes] I can take the same amount of time and I can go down and work with one of your competitors or some other type of business that is hungry, driven and motivated, they will be excited to do what I'm telling you to do. They'll have the results that you could have, and they’ll be happy with the result and paying my fees with newfound revenues.
If you aren't willing to do the work, let me know. And I'll just release you from the contract and will go away and you can go do whatever you are doing. But for me, it's not working so if you’re not interested in doing the work lets end this now, I really would do that. Absolutely.”
Write Your Ideal Life Chapter
Remember that Martin pointed out the value of time? Check the life expectancy tables, determine where you’re at then write your ideal life out in a chapter.
- Determine what lifestyle you want to live, the house, or the houses you want.
- The number and style of cars, where do you want to travel?
- What do you want to learn? Who do you want to meet and spend time with?
- What about your family how much time do you have with them, where are you with them?
- What are your financial targets and aspirations?
- How many hours do you want to work? What amount of money do you need to live your ideal life?
Now that you have that clear in your mind, you can design a plan around the number of hours you want to work, the hourly rate, and what else you need to learn to support your ideal life.
Look at the years that you have and develop a vision of what your life will be.
-by Coach Phil Gilkes
