Building a Cathedral

There is a story that goes something like this: three men were working with rock by the side of the road and a passerby asks each of them, "What are you doing?" The first man says, "I am cutting stone," the second man replies, "I am earning a living," and the third man's response is, "I am helping to build a Cathedral."

A lot of people ask me how I get everything done, how I stay in shape with five children, keep my house up and juggle so many businesses. If I were to approach the mundane, small tasks I engage in each day as "cutting stone," I most likely would not get most of the things done each day that I need to because I would lack motivation, be too tired, be too distracted with worries or troubles or I would be wasting time doing things that are more fun than "cutting stone."

If I were to look at what I do as simply "earning a living," then whenever activities were not immediately income-producing or directly profitable, I would most likely be passing by on work that was foundational, or was an investment of time now for a large payoff later. I would simply earn a dollar, spend a dollar, but I would not be engaging in personal development activities or spending time acquiring knowledge trying to become more valuable to my clients and customers.

I look at my life like I am building a cathedral. I keep my short-term and long-term goals in mind at all times when I am making decisions about how to spend my time and what direction to take in my life. I plan my daily activities with specific items in mind for physical, financial, spiritual and relationship development in addition to simply meeting my commitments and getting done the mundane tasks necessary as a mother and a business owner.

Even simple things like laundry and dishes take on deeper meaning and are more rewarding when you realize that you're creating and caring for your home for your family and modeling behaviors for your children. That said, if you can afford to hire someone to take care of easy stuff for you so that you can concentrate on more high-value activities, then by all means you should take advantage of that!

But many people become discouraged and give up because their activities do not appear on the surface to be producing an immediate, tangible benefit. If you can adopt a "bigger picture" way of thinking, all of your activities become easier and more enjoyable because you know you are working on something greater than yourself, and greater than your life in that particular moment. I try to measure up all of my choices during the day by the goal that I am trying to accomplish related to that task, which sometimes helps to motivate me to completing tasks that I might otherwise procrastinate or avoid doing altogether. I am very clear in my personal health and fitness that this is the key that will allow my husband and I the financial freedom to live our lives by design rather than default, so I put much of my effort and energy into this as it makes me most effective in all other areas of my life.

I actually don't visualize myself building a cathedral, but rather a sand castle . . . what are you building today?