A business owner I’ve coached for three years said to me, “I had a lull in my week, and my first thought was, ‘Uh-ho! If I’m not busy, I’m not going to make enough money!'”
But then she laughed, “James, that’s ridiculous. Busyness doesn’t make me money.”
“What makes you money?” I asked.
She paused. And then she said it, like she finally meant it, “My value.”
When I grew up, I lived in a little town in Sonoma County, the wine country of California. I rode my bike all over those hills, but it was the general store that had my bike parked out front most often. Red vines for 5 cents. A nickel was really important to me when I was kid.
“But James, you know what just hit me?” this woman said, “I have to stop thinking that if I’m busy, I’m valuable.”
Now I was curious and so I asked her, “What makes you valuable?”
There are questions in life that we don’t have quick answers to. Where you know there is more to you than just what you do. Questions that make you think about yourself and what’s really important.