How to Design a Life Worth Smiling About: Developing Success in Business and in Life by Darryl Davis

Author:Darryl Davis [Darryl Davis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Personal & Professional Development
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Published: 2014-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

A couple of years ago, I was holding a seminar at the University of Maryland. The university has an interesting setup because it has a hotel that’s attached to the campus meeting rooms. There’s a link from the hotel lobby to the meeting rooms, and you have to walk down this very long hallway to get to the other side. It almost feels as if the university created the hallway as a sort of tunnel to get you from the hotel to the meeting room space. It was the night before the event, and, as always, I like to check my meeting room to get a feel for the space, and also to bring over some of my equipment, handouts, and the like. I had to make a couple of trips along this corridor. After going down the hallway a second time, I noticed that there was this beautiful artwork on display. I caught myself, stopped hustling and bustling, and took the time to enjoy the artwork. I spent a good 30 minutes going from piece to piece to appreciate each artist’s work. I thought to myself, “What if I had continued just running down the hallway?” I certainly would’ve missed out on this opportunity to appreciate my surroundings. How many other times have I done this in my life when I’ve been rushing to get somewhere and missed out on the artwork of my life that was right there in front of me? There is so much art in our lives: our relationships, our accomplishments, even strangers on the street. All of these are things for us to appreciate, and we should take the time to go through life just a little bit more slowly, so that we can be present in the moment.

Here’s another example. Not too long ago, I went to Disney World with my family. Like a lot of amusement parks today, it has a phone app that gives you a map of the park showing the attractions and waiting times. It even lets you make reservations at the restaurants. To make sure that I optimized our time, I was trying to map out the best approach: decide which rides we should go on next based on the waiting time, then coordinate this with our lunch and dinner. I spent more time staring at my phone and playing with the app than I did appreciating being in the park!

Sometimes, we can be that way with our goals when we focus on trying to get somewhere perfectly, and we plan and we strategize over and over again. Meanwhile, we’re not appreciating where we are in the moment. Make a conscious effort to take a deep breath and appreciate your surroundings. Don’t take your present life for granted while you’re planning your Next Level.

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