The Most Important Question in Business

At the time you will be reading this blog post I’ll be spending time with my parents back in Israel.

A few weeks ago I was talking with my father and he was telling me with huge sadness in his voice that this year none of his daughters would be with him and my mother during my brother’s memorial.

Eight years ago our family’s world was shuttered when my younger brother was killed. He was barely 40.  I cannot think of a worse nightmare for any parent than the one of losing one’s child.

With all the pain and sadness that I have experienced I could not compare it to the one my parents were going through. Even though we were all grown up kids and both my brother and me had our own families, a child is always a child for his own parents.

However, life is stronger than any pain or sadness. Life goes on and so do people. During the years this day was always a day when we got together and allowed the pain and the love to come up.

This year my father said that somehow all of us (three girls) were caught up in our own life and somehow managed to be outside the country on that day.

He wasn’t saying it in order to make me feel guilty; he wasn’t saying it in order to make feel ashamed that I forgot them. It was said in his usual dry, “matter of fact” tone of voice. There was no demand in his voice, no pleading for pity or anything.

After ending that conversation I couldn’t rest, I was busy checking my agenda, checking flights back home and mostly asking myself a question that you should ask yourself.

You see, I came to realize that no matter how much we all know we would die one day, we tend to take life for granted. We tend to think that we are invincible and that we DO HAVE TIME. We tend to waste our precious time as if there will be tomorrow.

If there was one thing my brother’s death taught me was, we need to cherish each day that we live as we never know what would come tomorrow.

The question that I had on my mind after that talk with my father was – If I knew that I had only one more year with my parents would I be doing what I am doing today? If you knew you have only one year to live, would you be doing what you are doing today?

The answer to that question was not an easy one to face.

I realized that many of the things I’m doing today I would probably stop doing.

Many of the projects that I’m spending today time on I would stop doing.

Many of the people I’m spending time with, I would limit my time with them and spend more time with other people,

if I knew that I have only one more year to live.

This realization made it very clear and left no doubt on what I had to do.

I went online and booked a ticket to Israel to spend even just 4 days with my parents this week.

You might ask yourself what’s that got to do with me?

What’s that got to do with a business blog?

Here is the answer – You don’t know how long you have. You might find out that you wake up tomorrow

and your target audience is listening to someone else. Or that someone else is selling them YOUR message and vision.

You better start telling people what you have to tell them and what you have to give them otherwise you might find that it’s too late.

You better start focusing in what is truly important in your business and spend most of your time on that. When you ask yourself this question it makes everything clear and doubts disappear. That’s the one question you need to ask each morning when you wake up in order to create clarity for that day.

A business is just like any other relationship. You have a relationship with your audience and you don’t know when they might leave you. You better say the important things to them as soon as possible. Don’t hold back.

Now I’m curious…

What would you do if you had one year to live?

How would you spend it?

Who would you spend your time with?

Share with us the comment box below.

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Have a magical week! Vered