Bonjour, this is Cyril from Work Smarter: Live Better. In this video, I want to share a simple but powerful mindset I use in my personal life.
I am currently with my family in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. I’m not here for work. In fact, I haven’t done any work during the last week. I’m here for one and only one reason, to support my son Cameron who is representing Australia in the FIFA Under 17 football World Cup.
For my English and Australian friends, football means soccer.
We are supposed to leave tomorrow to go back to Australia. We only planned to stay in Brazil during the group stage. Australia lost their first game, drew their second one and their last game they were playing against Nigeria who are one of the best teams of the tournament.
What an evening! In short Australia showed their fighting spirit and won the match 2-1 after a nail-biting finish. Therefore, Australia have made it through to the next round.
Our flights to Australia are booked for tomorrow. I have already taken two weeks off to support the Aussie team. I have so many things to do on the business side. I should go back.
Not to mention Mirabelle, my youngest daughter who should go back to school.
Most Aussie parents are leaving today or tomorrow. We really should as well…
However, I really want to stay to support Cam and the Aussie team.
This is where this key mindset comes into play. When faced with tough decisions I use these four words ‘on your death bed’. On your death bed what would have been your decision? The answer is obvious. Stay.
So my wife TK and I have decided to re-organise our flights. We are staying to support Australia. And guess what? Australia are going to play against France. There is no way I can miss that!
And yes if you are wondering, for the first time in my life I will not be supporting France at football. I will be wearing my green and gold shirt and shouting ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi’. Instead of shouting “allez les bleus” I will be shouting “allez les jaunes!”
In addition to being excited about this, I am also feeling very grateful. Grateful about the work that I’m doing. Grateful of working with a great team and so many amazing clients. Grateful to have the flexibility to be working wherever in the world and make these kinds of decisions.
I think those two simple concepts are very important:
- for key decisions asking yourself ‘on my death bed what decision would I make?’
- to be grateful for what we have
This is this week’s Work Smarter: Live Better tip.
Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi.
Cyril
