During the day I work full time as an engineer. At night and on weekends I am a professional life coach for people looking to figure out what ignites their inner passion. In the spring, I coach my son’s Little League baseball team. This past year I volunteered to be part of my town’s Little League board. So when I recently signed up to volunteer as a broadcaster for my town’s local television station, someone close to me said that I was taking on too much. It got me thinking, how much is too much?
I love sports. I love that my son has a passion around baseball. I dream that he has enough ability to match his passion and take him far. I also temper those dreams with the consideration that he may one day decide he doesn’t love baseball as much as I think he does. And I know enough to enjoy what I have right now, today, which is a seven year old who loves to play. I also love to coach him. And volunteering to be part of the Little League organization in my town will allow me to keep coaching him for the next five years. In this town, you’re likely not to be a coach for long, if you are not part of the board.
Now, my favorite sport has always been football. I played in high school and even did a little bit in college. Every Sunday, since I was a kid I would watch the Sunday game with my father and two older brothers, and I am now finding my son is starting to want to watch too. I have enough experience and knowledge to broadcast a high school football game, which I did a couple of weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. I now have the desire to improve on that performance. I want to do it again.
So far I have given up one night a month for the Little League board meetings and one Friday night to broadcast football under the lights. This is in addition to my engineering job and the extra time my coaching business takes me away. It is time spent away from my wife. Time, the most precious gift we have in our life. But time is worth what you use it for. Useless hours are spent by millions of people every week in front of a television or computer. Time is made much more valuable when you spend it enjoying what is most important to you. My wife and family are the most important to me. So I make that time valuable.
So do I do “too much”? I don’t think so. I spend a lot of my time supporting my family through engineering; I spend a lot of my time supporting my passion through coaching; I spend a little time on the Little League activities and broadcasting that I enjoy; and the rest of the time I spend with my family. I can acknowledge that I give up time that I can enjoy with my wife in order to enjoy something else. In order to make up for “lost time” with her, I make the time that we do have more enjoyable. We had a lunch date the other day. We spent time one night putting the new hardware that she bought on our kitchen cabinets. We cuddle more. She will pour a glass of wine while I sip hot chocolate and we’ll just talk, without distractions. It is because I realize I have less time with her, that I try a to make the time we do have more valuable. I don’t think I am doing too much. I think I am doing just the right amount, leaving myself enough energy to capitalize on the time I have - doing things I love most and doing things with the people I love most.
Time is as valuable as you make it. Spend it wisely.
Enjoy Life.
Coach Randal Suozzo, CPC, ELI-MP
www.facebook.com/PassionDiscoveryCoaching
Photo from media manifesto. Click for link.
