Waking up each morning and asking
Yourself, “How would I show up today if this day
Was my last?” is not some cheesy motivational
Exercise. It’s a profound way to bring some
Urgency and commitment into your days.
I have a gentle challenge for you: Die daily. Connect with your mortality each morning. Then give
yourself over to life. Live like tomorrow will never come. Take some risks. You’re your heart a little wider.
Speak your truth. Show your respect for the gift of life that’s been given to you. Shine brightly today. Chase
your dreams. It’s tragic that most people would rather cling to security than reach for their best. And then,
wake up tomorrow and reach even higher. At the end, people will remember you as one of the great ones.
And your funeral will be a celebration.
43.
Client – Focused vs. Out to Lunch
It’s a Saturday morning as I write this chapter. I woke up nice and early to get a great start to this gift of a
day. I spent an hour journaling, read and had an excellent conversation with my kids. I then set out to have
a workout at the health club I exercise at, which opens at 8 a.m. When I arrived, I saw all these people
standing in the parking lot. This particular club has a bridge going over a little river that leads from the
parking lot to the main building and tennis courts. Yesterday, we had monsoon like rains and the bridge
collapsed. A few of the employees were checking out the damage.
So I walked up. It was about 7:50 and I was ready for a nice, big workout to energize me for the
day. I’m a client, one of the people who keeps them in business. But they didn’t seem to get that. No
greeting. No smile. No warmth. Just a continued conversation about the destroyed bridge.
I asked whether the club was still open. They laughed. One of the employees said, “We won’t be
open for a while.” Okay… a little more information might be helpful guys. But no more information came. No
data on when the club might re – open or a solution for me such as alternative clubs that could allow me to
work out for the interim until this place gets up and running again. I turned away, receiving further evidence
that this organization just doesn’t get it. And that it just doesn’t care anymore. It once did.
In the past, it offered excellent services, excellent facilities and excellent amenities. I’d get a
birthday card signed by the whole team once a year and they always used my name when I walked in
(which felt good even though I knew they’d look up my name when they’d swipe my card as I entered).
Then things began to slip. They got successful. Nothing fails like success. Richard Carrion was right. They
stopped training their team. They let the machines get old. And so they took us – the clients – for granted.
The bridge isn’t the only thing broken there.