I’ve been following Patti Digh’s blog, 37Days for several years and I’m so excited to be part of The Circle Project retreat in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina next weekend. Her blog’s theme is about the choices we make in our lives if we were faced with 37 days left to live. A small group will gather next weekend at this retreat with Patti and David to share, learn, reflect and grow together. I can’t wait to also get a copy of her new book, Life is a Verb and embark on the adventurous drive on Friday from Raleigh to Ashville.

As always, the timing of this retreat is very appropriate. I do retreats well and have been to many from couples intimacy retreat in Escalen to an intentive Yoga retreat, to a women’s spiritual retreat to a creative writing retreat in to a communications retreat, etc. I know how to show-up, participate, eat meals with everyone, share awareness and develop weekend bonds with people you will never see again.

The part I don’t do well is the time before I leave for the retreat and the time after returning from the retreat. It always happens before I go, I decide there is no way I can go and figure out some sabotage tactic with a splash of guilt mixed in there. Whether it’s about money, time, busy schedule, distance, new project deadline, there is some pressing reason keeping me from going.

And sure enough for next weekend’s retreat, I tried to bail out of it. My mother has been very sick and her condition has taken a turn for the worst so we’ve all been on high alert and taken a bigger care taking role.  I didn’t want to travel far from her and yet believe the best way to care take my mom is to care take myself by going on this retreat.

Now my work begins as the days get closer to this retreat and I think about my life and my choices to live intentionally as though I only have 37 days left to live. What would I do? What would I leave behind for others? What will shift from this experience in my life and how will I incorporate it into my life?

I’m heads down trying to knock out my Time Management chapter of my book. I’ve procrastinated on it, tried to delegate it, been distracted on it, lost momentum on it and finally when I sent my first pass last week to Naomi, my coach, she wrote back, “sounds like it’s time to focus on your time management.”

We are handed the lessons we are ready to learn.  My life couldn’t be crazier right now and it’s time for me to put all the things I train about into practice and just walk my talk. I’m supposed to be the Time Management expert here and write something prolific, deep, insightful and powerful about this topic.

Plus, as I’m writing this chapter, I’m becoming more and more agiltated, anxious and just plain angry. Writing about how inside salespeople have such little control of their time upsets me- especially when there is a direct correlation to the way they manage their time and make quota. They are finally perceived as a vital part of the sales organization and with that comes new responsibilities and requests beyond their control.

They need to be heard, they need to rant about I say, they need some hard candy. Partly for comfort and lots of flavor- it calms the senses.

…And it’s all about time, how much you earn and how much you lose. Here’s a great “Clocks” video from ColdPlay