Always Planning

T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6…..

There have been a couple instances over the last few months that got me thinking about time. The first happened in February when Barb and I were lucky enough to be in Tampa on the same weekend that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was taking off from Cape Canaveral. We woke up at 4am and drove across the state and found a great viewing spot in a state park directly (3 miles) across from the Cape. We sat in the car for an hour until folks started lining up at the railing looking over the water towards the Cape. We then did the same and took our spots awaiting the liftoff. Another 90 minutes passed before we were ready for big event. I watched the countdown live on my phone and at exactly T-minus 0 seconds, the rocket blasted off. From a distance, you could see it but almost immediately it was lost in the low hanging clouds. Total viewing time: 4-5 seconds. Yes, we waited 5 hours including drive time to watch 4 seconds. Now to be fair, the roar of the rocket in the clouds was remarkable. It felt like the whole world was shaking and the world was coming to an end. And then in a few minutes, a part of the rocket (first stage) came back down and landed on a platform a few miles down the coast. Barb saw it but I blinked and missed it.

Then last week, we visited my daughter in California. We stayed in Pacific Beach where everyone seems to have been born with a surf board. At one point, there were over 80 folks surfing in the ocean. I watched them fascinated by the amount of time it took for them to paddle out to the waves, the time it took to wait for just the right wave and then the ride itself. In some case, surfers spent 8-10 minutes working their way out and waiting for the wave only to ride it into the shore for a total of 7-10 seconds. But you could tell they loved those 10 seconds.

This got me to thinking about life in general. Life just flies by! In a blink of an eye, my kids have grown and now have kids of their own. My wedding day, which I remember like yesterday, is now 37 years in the rear-view mirror. And my life is most likely 75% behind me.

And yet, I continue to plan!

The planners (me) love to plan. We love to build a plan, have goals along the way and reach success whether planning an event, a project or even vacation. In business, we plan for acquisitions, implementing new strategies, new brands and new products.

But too many times we forget something along the way: The present! We need to stop and enjoy the ride, not just the destination.

I know I need to be present with my wife (really present, not thinking about a project or an upcoming call). I need to be silly more, take more chances, dance and not care what others think of me, and see all the reds, blues and yellows that life offers.

I need to be present with my staff, be concerned about their lives and feelings, and to be a better cheerleader. Sometimes, I need to be a better husband, father, friend and leader and not let the day-to-day stuff like emails, voice mails, texts, meetings and the like control my day.

I cannot let one area of my life suffer at the expense of another.

To ‘move the ball down the field’, I not only need to look to the future but I need to be more intentional about living in the present as well. This will make quite a difference as I try to be the best I can be professionally and personally.

Thanks for reading this and have a great weekend.

With a goal to “help the next guy in line”, Glen Cavallo, a 30+ year healthcare executive has chosen to share the many lessons he has learned with others. Glen does this by serving as a coach/advisor to leaders at all levels of organizations, as a board member and as he presents inspirational speeches at regional, national, annual and awards meetings.