A big part of living your best life is being able to differentiate what really matters and what doesn’t. Many times a day, we’re faced with the choice of responding, not responding, paying attention to or disregarding events, information and circumstances.
The question is, “Does this matter in terms of my values and my goals?” Or, “Is it worth my time and effort to confront what I’m presented with?”
It’s a skill that really does matter in achieving what you want to achieve. It’s the small decisions that result in a much bigger and long-lasting result.
But sometimes we have to step back and look at the big picture. What are we really up to? Does what we’re doing really matter? Will we look back on what we’re doing now and say, “That was important. It really did matter.”
I like to be engaged with people who care about things that matter who want to make a difference. It’s not about being important, it’s about having what we do be important.
If you have spent your career working for the money instead of doing something significant (to you), you probably don’t feel the fulfillment that you could experience by doing something in which you are fully engaged—mind, body and spirit.
And it’s not too late. Many of our readers are Baby Boomers. They are at, or approaching, retirement age. Some are in good shape financially—others not so much. Regardless of where you find yourself, I encourage you to seek out how you can invest your time and energy in doing meaningful work—work that’s significant and rewarding to you. Because there will come a time when you will either look back with regrets or with the pride of a life well-lived. Only what you think will matter.
It’s time to let go of your excuses. It’s time to stop lying to yourself about why you can’t do what you really want to do. You’re not too old, too stuck in your ways, too fearful or too lazy. It’s a choice—your choice
I like what my friend Josh Hinds has as the title of his book, It’s Your Life, Live BIG!
It IS your life. It’s nobody else’s. No one who has come before or will come after you will have your unique set of talents, knowledge, experience, viewpoints or feelings. It’s time to play full out (no matter how old you are). It’s time to make things matter. It’s time for significance.
I’d love to hear from you about what you think about this—where you feel stuck, where you feel empowered, what fears you have and what you truly want to do. Send me an eMail or enter your comments below this post. I can’t promise to respond to every one, but I will read 
every one.
Two good books I can recommend are The Achievement Code by yours truly and It’s Your Life, Live BIG! by Josh Hinds. Both available in Kindle and print from Amazon.
www.amazon.com/author/michaelangier
This article was originally published on SuccessNet.org in 2010.
