Were you doing it?
Were you working on Labor Day?
If so...let me challenge you with this...
First off, if you're a full timer working at the casa, then I get it. You might have been working on Labor Day because "vacation days" can kind of happen whenever you want or need them to.
If that's you, then great. Work away on the national holidays...
As a full-time "solopreneur" myself, I totally freaking love that I'm the one who gets to decide when and how I want to take "vacation" time, or whatever you want to call it.
For example, I may have been working on the recent Labor Day holiday, but on the following week I took an entire Thursday offline in order to take the wife and kids to a state fair.
And it was great! We rode all the cool rides and got sick (as usual) after eating all the roasted corn, onion blossom and funnel cake we could handle.
And we did this smack in the middle of the week, during the day, when hardly anyone else was there.
Because you see, we intentionally craft our life to give us as much freedom over our time as possible.
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We school our two girls...from home
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My lovely wife helps run a non-profit to help homeless Ethiopian children...from home
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I run my business...from home
...and actually, we can do these things from anywhere we darn well please, not just home.
That's the benefit, the luxury if you will, of intentionally shaping your life towards freedom.
But what about you?
If you were working on Labor Day – or if you tend to work on other popular holidays – is it because you take vacations whenever the heck you darn well please?
...Or is it because you're obsessively, compulsively working yourself right out of your mind?
Look, I'm all for hard work. I actually think having a solid work ethic is one of the most critical keys to long-term success.
The great General Colin Powell said it well:
"A dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work."
But also, consider this:
For me and my family, freedom isn't about money as much as it is about control over how we invest our time.
That, and being able to share as many rich and meaningful experiences together as a family as we possibly can.
We decided that, as a family, one of our chief core values is to share awesome experiences together.
So rather than focusing on "stuff" – buying "toys" and accumulating lots of bright, shiny objects, keeping up with the Joneses, etc...
...I mean "stuff" is okay, but instead of really focusing on all that, we intentionally focus on crafting shared experiences together as often as possible. It's just how we do life together.
Here's something that'll help put this into perspective for you...
Have you ever heard of anyone on their deathbed saying, "Gee... (cough, cough, sputter)... if only I had accumulated more STUFF... life would have been so much better and more fulfilling for me..."
--dies in regret--
Of course not!
Instead it's almost always about wishing you could have spent more time with the people you love…
...and really enjoying them...
...wishing you could have said more of the things that really matter – or made amends earlier...
...wishing you could have shared more meaningful experiences together – creating more memories.
Let me make this super real for you...
MY DAD HAS BRAIN DAMAGE.
Literally, a couple years ago now, my dad was in a stupid scooter accident (he wasn't wearing a helmet because he didn't want to mess up his hair) and he slipped on a patch of sand and cracked his skull.
It was incredibly shaping for me.
Yes, today he's still alive. But he's not the man he used to be – not even by a long shot.
He now sits in bed all day and all night under my angel-of-a-sister's care. She changes his diapers, feeds him through a tube in his stomach, and every day tries to pull just a little more of him out into the world.
Last week I tried to talk to him on the phone. It was the best phone conversation yet since his accident...
...Meaning he actually knew it was me on the phone, and I could actually understand like half a dozen words that he said.
When he actually talks, it’s a majorly UP day for me, and our entire family.
Yes, I love him with all my heart even though he's literally a shell of a person compared to what he should be.
Oh, and did I mention he's only 62 yrs old?
Where am I going with all this?
Here...
My dad always told me how much he wished we could spend more time together. He was a super awesome Dad in so many ways, but when it came to investing quality time with us through shared experiences together...well that's an area he really sucked at.
(Pardon my French.)
See, he was self-employed and always super busy, so it seems he just never could seem to get around to it.
We used to always talk about a fishing trip we both wanted so badly to take together. And as the years went by, I could hear in my Dad's voice the growing ache of deep regret that he hadn't yet made time for us to take that fishing trip together.
Well guess what?
I'm now 38 years old, and I've still never been fishing with my Dad. Not even once.
I'm not bitter or sour. Though few could probably blame me if I were. But Jesus helps me not to be sour about stuff like this.
More than anything, I'm grateful for the time we did have together, and hopefully we'll get more before he goes to Heaven.
But do you think my Dad would regret (if his brain is even capable of it now) not ever actually carving out the time to take this blasted fishing trip with his son?
I think you already know the answer.
So look... I didn't plan on writing a novel for you today. After all, there's some grilled strip steak waiting for me with my name on it, along with the three ridiculously cute redheaded ladies in my life.
But I guess I kind of struck my own raw nerve here and felt this was worth saying to you today.
Maybe all this applies to you only a little, but for many of you I know it'll hit you square between the eyes.
Here's the challenge: Starting today, make your moments really count with the people who mean the most to you.
Don't assume you have tomorrow. Don't keep putting off really living your life today, for the sake of some version of tomorrow that may not ever come.
And I challenge you to consider making SHARED EXPERIENCES rather than "stuff" one of your chief aims and a core part of your definition of "winning" at life.
So that's it! I gotta run now.
Steak time :-)
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PS. I hope I didn't offend you by using the word "sucks" twice in this lesson. I realize different folks feel differently about those kinds of words.
Around our house, we consider it a "13 year-old word" – meaning, we don't really find it offensive culturally, but it still kinda sounds yucky coming out of a little kids mouth.
So we tell our kids they can start using words like "sucks" and "crap" when they turn 13 years old. We just kinda decided that one day.
Anyways, that's how we roll in Casa de Moses. If you're on a different page, no biggie. Or maybe you don't care what the crap kind of words people use ;-)
Regardless, I'm just keeping it real and being authentically me.
Okay now...seriously...STEAK TIME!
Seize the Day with Loved Ones – Starting today, make your moments really count with the people who mean the most to you.
Murder Procrastination – Don't assume you have tomorrow. Don't keep putting off really living your life today, for the sake of some version of tomorrow that may not ever come.
Prioritize Shared Experiences – Consider prioritizing high-quality shared experiences as your family’s chief goal, and a core part of your definition of "winning" at life.