Priority in Life

Many of us are mired in this endless beat of fast paced environment. If today, you’re having an I-phone 5, I bet tomorrow that is obsolete already and a new gadget is unveiled. It’s fast. Perhaps you haven’t seen all the features of the I-phone 5 yet and there you are trying to get a hand on this new gadget.

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In our work, we open our emails to see if there is some action to take. You open one email, work it out and try to finish it. Afterwards, you reply to the sender and send back your workings. Not long after, incoming emails from various senders that include your boss, your staff and colleagues fills up your Inbox. You checked which ones need to be ignored and the emails that need attention and further action. Perhaps the emails that need further action are down to five and you decide to work on them one by one. You start the urgent ones and tried to work on it. In the middle of the computation, your boss called and asks for a report immediately. You put off what you are currently doing and finish what your boss instructed you to do. You go back to your unfinished tasks and by the end of the day you are already tired without finishing the tasks in your emails. You tried to finish the next day and the jobs just keep on piling up while you try to finish your tasks one at a time. You are now slowly putting your feet to the world of a fast paced environment where tasks are endless and relaxation is a privilege.

I have one colleague way back in the medieval ages who is the epitome of an efficient employee. He is optimistic, sanguine, detail oriented, works hard, follows the rules, and offer brilliant suggestions. However, just like what I have mentioned above, he is trapped in the wheel of modern slavery where accomplishments are measured by the amount of time and labor you have put into and not by the results you have fashioned. Just to give you an example, during offseason he rants everyday that other employees should put more time in their respective jobs because there is so much to do. He is correct. Everybody should do their own thing to finish the jobs given to them. However, during offseason he still rants on our colleagues wasting their time in front of their computers. You know whether it’s an offseason or peak season he sees the same thing to other persons. So in order to differentiate himself from others, he stays up late at the office during off season and peak season even though he can finish the job from eight o clock in the morning to five o clock in the afternoon.

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The result? Oh man, he is tired and restless. He almost forgot his family because of some illusions that are not healthy for him. He has developed a negative attitude towards others and life in general. He is brilliant and yet he is trapped with the daily rigors of the tasks.  He forgot that work is only from 8 o’clock in the morning to five o’clock in the afternoon. He forgot that family time is more important than anything else.

I have witnessed it unfold in my very own eyes. I reminded him how a young, energetic and smiling person he was once without any pretensions or masks to cover his weaknesses. Whenever we talked to each other, the negativism pervades his whole being. His family recognized it and ask him to take a vacation far from where is working. No laptops, no emails, no internets just pure relaxation, bliss and most importantly to reflect on his goals, his ways, his mentality, and his outlook. He has a different perspective now. Gone are the days when you can only hear positive words from him. He likes to spend more time in front of the computer in the office because he is bored in the house and doesn’t have anything to do there. Well, I told him that he has his family to spend with especially his kid. His response? “My kid is still young and doesn’t know anything yet. I’m working hard for them. This is for them” My response to this answer? That is bullshit! That is an excuse to cover his shortcomings or perhaps of his selfish ambition. His family longs for him, waiting for him to spend more time with them. The feelings of irrelevance, worthlessness and uselessness permeate through their eyes.

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I still hangout with him from time to time. But in order not to be infected by his mentality, I tried to spend more time with my friends who are optimistic, brave, and dreamers. I don’t know when the Eureka moment will come to him, but I’m hoping and praying that it won’t be too late.Thomas D Kempis says: “It’s good for us to encounter troubles and adversities from time to time, for trouble often compels a man to search his own heart. It reminds him he is in exile here, and that he can put his trust in nothing in this world.” Yes, perhaps he needs to experience that to savor the great things in life later. 

I live for my family and they are my priority in life. Everything else is just secondary. That is my principle in life. The time spent playing with my daughter and of the time I shared with my wife, oh boy those are precious and immeasurable to me. I cherish every moment with my wife and daughter. They are priceless. I am not perfect but I’m trying to be as responsible as I can.