Got My Kid Back!

we just returned from a marathon roadtrip ... southern texas all the way to missouri to pick up riley at kanakuk, where she spent 2 glorious weeks just being a kid.

that's 4 states in 1 day.

i unpacked her trunk this morning and for a brief moment was horrified.

"how is it possible that there are still 10 pairs of underwear neatly folded in the bottom of the trunk?" i asked myself.

then i got grossed out.

then i let it go.

ahhh, well, if she wore dirty underwear for 2 weeks i'm glad she was there, not here.

dirty laundry aside, i'm in the process of hiring a virtual assistant, which is very exciting.

i must admit, this is a big step for me, a recovering perfectionist.

but i was inspired by timothy ferriss' book "The 4 Hour Workweek", which is an awesome and highly recommended read by the way. one of his "get out of your comfort zone" exercises is to hire a virtual assistant. he recommends a firm based in india. i believe i've found someone in the U.S. to do it for the same price.

so what am i off-loading?

health insurance research, travel arrangements for several upcoming trips, etc.

none of it earth-shattering stuff but here's the key:

i stopped and asked myself: if all the "have to's" of my life were taken care of, how would i spend my day?

answer (and maybe you'll see a little bit of yourself here): "well, gee, there's a couple of things i know i'd do every day or i'd like to do every day but there's also a bit of a big, scary void when i consider eliminating all the chores and have to's"

so this is where that thinking takes us: we fill up our life with little things in order to avoid figuring out what the big things are.

we play small rather than figure out what the big game is.

(yep, i ended with a preposition there.)

if you're task-oriented, like me, this is how you win the daily game.

i made a list. i got it done. score 1 for me.

the sad reality here is, however, that there's nothing fulfilling about a life of completed chores. not at the end.

i want the big, juicy life with a grand finale.

first we must see the little games we're playing and then we have to kick our imagination in to high gear to figure out what our big games are.

hiring a virtual assistant is the next step for me. housekeepers keep our household running smoothly but a virtual assistant will free me up even more to focus on the big games in life, like my family and our personal development business that's given us untold freedoms and luxuries.

now those are games worthy of this short time we have in this life.

so my question for you is this: what would your day look like if money was not an issue and you had no chores. how would you spend your time? what would you do? what would you create?