Today has been a won­der­ful day!  It began with an early morn­ing meet­ing with a friend who has been men­tor­ing me for the last 13 years.  Recently, my time with him has been less fre­quent, but when­ever I am with him I learn and grow.  Our meet­ing took place at my favorite local cof­fee house here in Lake Oswego.  He was pour­ing into me.

After an hour and a half, he left, and one of my sons came by.  He is 17, and is fin­ish­ing up his senior year with some classes at our local com­mu­nity col­lege.  The pur­pose of our one on one time was to con­nect and take a look at his plan for the next quar­ter.  It was an oppor­tu­nity for me to lis­ten to him and to con­nect at a deeper level.  I was able to pour into him.

The rea­son I wanted to share with you about my morn­ing is to chal­lenge you to think about how you will spend your time this year. 

Are you proac­tively sched­ul­ing one on one time with those you care for most?

One on one time is the absolute best way for peo­ple to con­nect, to expe­ri­ence inti­macy, to build trust, to share life, to love and sup­port one another, to chal­lenge each other, to affirm each other and to show those around us how much they mean to us.  With our busy sched­ules, this can be quite chal­leng­ing, but it is worth it.  I have learned — by observ­ing those who are fur­ther down the path than I am — that those who do this tend to have the deep­est and the best relationships.

Many of you are already busily fill­ing in the vacant slots on your cal­en­dar for this month or even the entire year, and this is one dis­ci­pline that will pay huge div­i­dends.   These one on one times (or dates, as we call them in our home) should be sched­uled first before other things get in the way.

Look at your Life Plan, and make sure your key accounts include the dis­ci­pline of one on one time with those who are the most impor­tant in your life — your spouse, your kids, your close friends, your extended fam­ily mem­bers.  Then make room in your cal­en­dar, and invite them to meet with you.  Make this a non-negotiable dis­ci­pline so that it becomes a way of life for you.

I know many of you already do this, and do even more to make the time rich and mean­ing­ful.  I could learn from you!  Oth­ers may want to make this a pri­or­ity, but don’t know where to begin.  It starts with one date.

I hope this helps you and those you care for,

Related posts:

1. You Have to See the Whole Picture

Tags: Communication, Disciplines, Family, Life Planning, Listening, Non-Negotiable, Parenting, Presence, Teenagers

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 9:33 am and is filed under Priority Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.