[callout]This is a guest post from Tom Elliott. Tom is an inspirational speaker, comedian and magician on a mission to help people live life more fully. When he’s not traveling, Tom loves spending time at home with his wife Natalie, daughter Abigail and his cat Jeffrey. You can find out more about Tom at www.tom-elliott.org or connect with him on Facebook or Twitter. If you want to guest post on my blog, check out my guest post guidelines and submit your post.[/callout]
Life is full of pressures and commitments that distract us from investing in the core elements of a life well-lived. The problem this presents us with is that we then miss out on a life of wholeness that is available to us. If only we had a bit of discipline and advance planning, we could live life more fully.
Failure to invest in these 5 areas will often result in a sense of dissatisfaction in life or feeling drained.
Take responsibility for putting the big life rocks in first. Then you’ll begin to find a life of wholeness.
Here are 5 key areas that you should invest in and not neglect:
1) Social – Invest in your family and friendships. Though a business book, Matt Bird’s book titled “Relationology,” has a great strategy for managing your relationships and maintaining contact with a large group of people. This helps me to be intentional about my contact with key relationships.
2) Physical – Exercise is a key factor to a good day. I’ve slacked on this one recently and I’ve noticed the difference in my motivation levels, my attitude toward life, and my productivity. Get even 30-40 minutes a day of exercise and you will be thankful you did.
3) Emotional – What activity fills your time of replenishment? How often do you take time to do the things you enjoy? Perhaps it’s walking, photography, music, painting, or something else. Our hobbies and interests play a big part in our approach to life. In his book “Simplify,” Bill Hybels says, “When you decide that you never want to live on empty again, you start paying more attention to the replenishment side of the equation.”
4) Intellectual – A key characteristic that I believe everyone should maintain is the art of being teachable. Seek to learn, seek to gain wisdom from others, and take time to soak up information on a topic or skill you are passionate about. Stay teachable. They reckon it takes 10,000 hours of practice/learning to be a genius. How close are you?
5) Spiritual – If you are not a person of faith, this is perhaps the most neglected. For me, this takes the form of an hour of quiet time each morning. I feed my soul on the words of Jesus and spend time in prayer and worship. For you, this may simply be taking a moment of quiet to reflect on your day, on what really matters in life, or on people you care for.
I believe that when these 5 areas are truly invested in, we can live a life of wholeness and satisfaction.
We are able to live unto Jesus’ promise of “life in all its fullness” (John 10:10).
I’d love to hear from you…
[reminder]Which of these do you find the hardest to invest in? Which of these do you need to create more time for?[/reminder]
photo credit: The sunny selfportrait via photopin (license)
100% with you here. I actually have a two more but divide them up a little differently rather than emotionally. Social, Physical, Intellectual, Financial, Family, Career and Spiritual. These are my big rocks. It is critical to prioritize the important areas in our life and fill those needs so we can go forth and be our best selves in all the other areas. The one I find the hardest is physical because it is the easiest to cast away when there is not time. At one time that wasn’t the case and it used to be one of the easiest for me to invest in. Especially with the upcoming holidays, need a few more hours of physical activity.
This is such a great topic! Realizing I had not been “alone with God” for, I dunno, years…I took a day off to go sit by the ocean and just talk to God. It only took about 30 seconds before I was weeping. It’s so easy to neglect that essential part of our being, connection with our Creator. I can even busy myself with bible studies and other “Christian stuff,” and neglect to just be with Him, my sustainer, and my sustenance.
That’s great JP. I have the same struggle. It’s odd that all of us would say God is the most important person in our lives and yet often the last person we give time too.
I love moments like you describe and I try to be proactive about getting them in my diary.
My mentor said to me yesterday about instead of trying to fit God in the balance, we blend him into our day. So whilst set aside time is great and encouraged, let’s not get caught up in it, but rather see God in everything we do, every place we go and every opportunity we have.
Agreed. Our Greek/Western mindset compartmentalizes our spiritual life as separate from our carnal life. The Hebrew, and many, if not most, indigenous cultures see God in all aspects of life. When we, however, “pray without ceasing” and “do all things as unto the Lord” we live life more fully. Even science coming back around to saying that our brains function at greater capacity when we pray. Let our thoughts and our speech reflect the presence of God in our everyday activities!
Amen!
Wonderful. wonderful, wonderful!!! The most important in my opinion is my spiritual life with The Lord Jesus!! It is also the one I neglect. I’m working in correcting that! Thank you for this great encouragement!!!
Awesome, Warren. Glad you liked it!
Thank you Jackie!! Keep up the great work you’re doing!!!
Thanks warren, let me encourage you to take action on the spiritual this week
Absolutely!!! Today matter if fact!! The Lord is gracious and full of mercy!! Bless you my brother!!