In January, I wrote an article entitled “Do Less, Accomplish More” where I stress the importance of asking “What’s most important to you about […]”. This is an extremely powerful question that will help you make the right decisions. I recently used this question to help a former colleague and wanted to share that experience.

Recently I had an interesting discussion with a former colleague who seemed exasperated and overwhelmed with life. He was so swamped he didn’t know what to do next. He felt was living an information overload life which meant he had lost his bearings and didn’t know how to navigate his life going forward. It was both his work and personal lives.

So after calming him down and bringing him back down to earth, I asked him “what’s most important to you in life?” The first couple of attempts, he went on tangents and started giving me form answers without taking the time to really think about my question. I had to reset the situation, explain the purpose of the exercise and asked it again. I prefaced the question by saying “If you knew tomorrow was your last day on earth, what would most important to you?” I asked him to “allow himself to play this game with me”. I asked him to “take the time and really think about the situation and his answer”.

After 5 minutes of calm and controlled reflection, he smiled and talked about his wife and children. He talked about how he had meet his wife many years ago and how much she helped him grow as a person. He then explained how his children were his single greatest accomplishment and joy. How a smile from either of his kids could make his entire soul smile.

Life often seems uncontrollably overwhelming. You may get the feeling that you are in the passenger seat of this car called life and don’t like where it is heading. The above exercise may seem simple but it is very powerful. It is a great way to periodically ground yourself and remember what really matters in your life. Everyone has a different answer and each person’s unique answer is the right one for them. The important result is to know what really matters in your life and encourage the activities that get you closer to those/them.