My wife and I recently went on a Spring Break trip to California. Our first stop was one of our favorite places in the world to visit, Coronado, California. We spent Easter weekend there before driving north about six hours to visit the Central Coast region of California. We toured the beautiful Hearst Castle in San Simeon and did a wine tasting at the Hearst Ranch Winery. After a couple of days in the Central Coast, we drove back down to San Diego and stayed for a few days at a hotel in Rancho Bernardo, where we briefly lived now almost 30 years ago. It was a great trip! We both needed the break, and we spent a lot of time resting, relaxing, and reminiscing. Even better, we spent a lot of time just talking, which is something that we don't always get to do with both of our busy professional lives.
During one of our deeper conversations, my wife asked me, "Who would you say are the five individuals who've had the most impact on your life?"
Her very thought-provoking question led me to ask one important clarifying question, "Do you mean impact on my personal life, professional life, or both?"
She responded, "Your life. Both. Your life is both your personal one and professional one."
Spoiler alert. I'm not going to share my list with you today. First, it was really hard for me to narrow my list to just five. I've been blessed with having known several individuals in my life who've made a significant impact on who I am today, including my family of course. And, as I've shared several times in these blog pages, I've been fortunate to have a number of individuals who've provided me with mentorship throughout both my personal and professional life. Second, because I had to limit my list to just five, I don't want to offend anyone for having left them off my list. Third, and perhaps most importantly, the list really wasn't the point of my wife's question. She just wanted me to think about all of the individuals in my life who've made a difference for me.
What was really nice about this exercise is that once I started to think about who would be on my list, I remembered a number of individuals who've made an impact on my life that I have forgotten over the years. I remembered a few teachers who always supported me and challenged me to be a better version of myself. I also remembered a few of my coaches, some of whom were also my teachers in school. As I reflected, there were some individuals in my life with whom I had relatively little contact with when you look at my life in total, yet these same individuals made such an incredible impact on the person who I've become today that it was hard not to consider them for my list.
I found this exercise to be very meaningful, and I think you will too. Think about all the individuals that you've encountered in your life and the impact that they have made on you. Just for the purposes of this exercise, include only the people who've you personally encountered. Leave out famous individuals who have inspired you - these individuals are important too, but I want you to focus on just the individuals you lived and who you encountered during your own life. Now try to limit the list to just five.
I hope you find this exercise to be as rewarding for you as I did. I want to thank my wife for asking the question and inspiring this blog post. She knows that she is on my list!
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