The One Thing
One metric that influences everything you do
Every day is full of tradeoffs. What to do now? How to do it? And what to do next?
Will you go to the gym after work, or spend an extra hour on your passion project? Will you spend your Sunday with your children or your friends - or give yourself some well-earned alone time?
How do you decide?
Every choice is infinitely complicated. You can consider, analyze, and sense into it for hours - and still only see a small fraction of the total picture.
There is always more.
So how do you simplify?
If you could choose one metric - one KPI for your life and work - as a compass for your decisions, what would it be?
Your health? Money on your account? The degree to which your work feels meaningful?
The number of quality friends in your life? The amount of love in your family?
Your overall sense of happiness?
One thing influences all of the above.
When this aligns, everything else becomes easier.
The quality of your attention.
The state from which you live influences what follows.
When you are rushed, distracted, or overwhelmed, everything you touch weakens. You make mistakes in your work. React annoyed toward those you depend upon. Miss valuable information they share. Overlook important details. Energy gets lost - both in the moment, and afterwards in the effort to correct things.
Yet, when you are calm and present, everything is easier to navigate.
You deliver quality work, because you pay attention. You communicate more clearly, because your whole system is engaged. People respond positively, because your calmness is pleasant to be around.
If I would choose one KPI to navigate life, it would be this:
The percentage of time I am in a state of peace.
Readers from back in the day - 2013, 2014 - remember my phrase “work stress-free”.
It is essentially the same.
You are either at peace, or in stress.
Those are the two flavors.
Green or red.
Trust or survival.
Love or fear.
Present or distracted.
Your most important work lies in the privacy of your own mind.
The question is less: “What to do next?” and more “What supports inner peace now?”
Life becomes simpler.
Living here and now, moving with the energy of the moment. Working when you are inspired or when circumstances demand it - and resting when you can.
You nature your body. Your people. Your mind. Your heart.
Presence is the name of the game.
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P.S. In The Way of the Gaian I explore the question: how do life, work, and relationships function when experienced with full presence?
The writing itself became part of the journey. The deeper I went into the manuscript, the more it shaped how I went through my days. I found myself slowing down, simplifying, and relating to life differently. Through that, the book itself deepened too.
A few more weeks now until the manuscript is ready.
A subject close to my heart! Thank you. I do see it a little bit differently, particularly around states of peace and presence. A great dialogue to explore, perhaps. Looking forward to the book. I know how much of a challenge it is to write a book, way more than an article or two, so kudos.