A Better Life

This topic has come full circle for me and I would like to share. Basically, the older I get the more I know I must do better in all areas of my life. These areas are, but not limited to, health, wealth, business, relationship and creating the life that I was created to have.

This week I have taken an inventory of things in my life. You may have done this prior to reading this and in some ways I have thought about this before. However, I have never thought about it in the way I have this week. What was I meant to do? What skills must I have to achieve what the Creator intended for me. Knowing I am meant for something greater the self inventory of my life started.

Here today, I share with you the things I need to improve in my life to achieve much more than I had previously thought.

1. Health - My weight is way too high. This was due to years of being neglecting my diet, exercise and abusing alcohol. These items may taken years off of my life and potentially causing me an early death. As of today, I have quit alcohol and eat food that is full of the protein and nutrients that I need. My water intake nears 2 gallons each day, so I am getting plenty of fluids. A minimum of one workout per day is also a norm for me.

2. Wealth - As I inch toward retirement age, 49 in a couple weeks, I do not have enough saved to have an early retirement. This is something that I am working diligently on to accumulate enough to live on later in life.

3. Business - My business, Discover Cabinetry, continues to perform well and we are adding new reps as we speak. Creative ways to help our end user will add more value than any competitor. Developing new ways to communicate with our client and continuing to raise the bar is our focus this year.

4. Relationships - Time with my family is very important to me. Spending a minimum of one hour with my wife each day has been a priority. It allows us time to communicate and be on the same page with one another. The children are a priority as well. We spend our evenings together and enjoy each others company playing games or watching movies. We always eat dinner together and our big night is Friday. That’s were we make homemade pizzas and watch a new movie each week.

5. Creating the life I was meant to have - This is an area that I have been focusing on quite a bit lately. Every day, I spend time being creative in areas like writing blog posts for Sudden Sloth and look for new ways to efficient every day. My creative time allows me to focus on me and my business.

6. Education - If you were to ask me 30 years ago if I would be reading books every day or studying to find new ways to understand life more I would have called you crazy. There would have been no way I would have spent any “free time” with my nose buried deep in a book that would teach me skills that would make my life better. Reading has stretched my mind more and kept my mind working.

7. Faith - Growing in my faith has been a focus over the last few weeks. Having conversations with people on the subject, starting a bible study and praying everyday has drawn me closer to my Creator.

It is my purpose to find new ways to raise the standard in each of these categories. Here are my grades for each category and how I plan to bring it up a point or two.

1. Health - Grade 3/10 Continue on the path that I am currently on. Adding weight training will increase muscle mass and burn more calories. Also, control my macros more and observe the data to make adjustments when needed. Also, I will try to get an additional hour of sleep.

2. Wealth - Grade 1/10 Set savings goals on a month to month basis. Small increases in savings would motivate me to save more and be consistent. No purchasing of things that don’t provide value to anything on this list.

3. Business - Grade 5/10 We have many great things in the works this year and are on pace to quadruple last years sales. We can always do better in this area.

4. Relationships - Grade 7/10 Maintaining what I do now, but I will add at least one date night for my wife and I. Also, need to find time to have one on one time with each child per week.

5. Creating the life I was meant to have - Grade 2/10 This is one area that I need to continue to work on. Finding more time to devote to my creativity should be a priority. Continue to write and share my thoughts/views.

6. Education - Grade 6/10 I enjoy reading quite a bit. Never cared for it until about 6 years ago. Pushing my reading and try to get a book a week in should be easy. Finding time to do this is difficult, which means I need to find a way to more time. Also, elevating my skills in other areas of business, such as sales and knowledge. Communication is another area I can improve on.

7. Faith - Grade 1/10 This is only because I just started reading my bible again. Having conversations that help grow my faith, friends and bible study, will help keep the fire burning.

Taking time each week to reevaluate these categories will keep my focus on becoming better. If I can raise each of these categories by one point over the summer I am sure that happiness and growth will follow.

This post is only to be transparent with you. My mentors read this and my honesty keeps me focused on my goals. If you find fault or hold me in contempt for something that I wrote here, I beg you to run your own self inventory. It is my belief that when you do that you will find areas of your life that you are lacking in and could give more than you currently do.