The Call You Must Answer

“The universe is not short on wake-up calls. We’re just quick to hit the snooze button.”    Brené Brown

     What a night. You really enjoyed yourself this evening. You just got back to your luxurious hotel room and it’s time to go to bed. You need to go to bed because you have more activities planned for tomorrow. You are on vacation and you want to make the most of it so you pick up the phone and set a wake-up call. You deliberately set that wake-up call to ensure you take action and get out of the bed on time in the morning. Without that wake-up call you would most likely oversleep and miss your scheduled morning activity that you are looking forward to experiencing. Without that wake-up call you risk not getting as much out of your vacation experience as you desire and more importantly deserve. Wake-up calls are important events in your life and you should do everything in your power to answer them while you still have the opportunity to do so. 

     In the vacation example you set the wake-up call and took the action to get out of bed.  However, how many times has life given you a wake-up call that you didn’t expect? Just as important when you received that wake-up call, how many times did you take the appropriate action once you received it? Yes it’s easy to see the correlation between getting a wake-up call and getting out of bed on time to start your day but the correlation between the appropriate actions for unplanned wake-up calls is a little more difficult. Because the wake-up call is unplanned you most likely haven’t thought about the action you are going to take when it comes. This can often times lead to you taking an action that doesn’t make the most of the situation.

     First let’s all agree, life is going to hand you some wake-up calls that you didn’t plan. However just because you didn’t plan them doesn’t mean you can’t take the appropriate action when they come. Thankfully there are actions you can actually take now that will make the wake-up call unnecessary in the first place. Life is a journey and your actions will dictate the path that you follow on that journey. Action is unavoidable if you want to live a good life. You are going to have to take action and because you have been given this great opportunity at life you should make the effort to take the right actions.

     So what are these unplanned wake-up calls and what actions do you need to take when they come? Let’s walk through some examples to help answer that question. You might also see some actions that you can take now if one of the wake-up calls looks like they could happen to you.

Your wake-up call

• You have been at your job for 12 years and things are going seemingly well. You have never received a bad rating. You have climbed the ranks and achieved good success. Then one day you are told that your job is being eliminated and you have 60 days to find another job in the company or you will be terminated. You are devastated. You don’t have a plan. You didn’t see this coming. This is your wake-up call.

Your action to take

• Never take your job for granted. Just as easily as you were hired you can be terminated. Therefore you should protect yourself by taking the following actions. Get a side hustle. You need a side hustle to use as a bridge until you get your next job or as an option to go full time in the event you lose your job. It goes without saying that you need to save for a rainy day or a few months of rainy days. Make yourself so valuable the company will have a hard time letting you go. This often means doing things outside of your normal responsibilities that brings value to your company. Even if you are eventually let go you will have experience above and beyond your role that will make it easy to move to the next one.

Your wake-up call

• You have been working hard. You work long hours and find yourself feeling stressed. This has been causing you to miss meals and when you do eat, you have been eating for convenience. You also have been playing hard. You’ve had a few drinks a much more frequent occasion. You go to the closet to put on your pants for work and they are too tight. You can’t wear them today. You have obviously gained some unexpected girth. This is your wake-up call.

Your action to take

• Get control of your nutritional intake. Plan to eat the right things at the right time. Everything that tastes good isn’t packed with nutrients. The more nutrient deficient food you eat the more opportunity you give your body to put on extra weight. Increase your activity levels. The more active you have the better. This could be as easy as creating a stand up desk or going for a long walk at lunch. You don’t always need a personal trainer especially if you are eating highly nutritious meals.

Your wake-up call

• You have been dating for years. Yet you never seem to be able to find “the one”. You meet someone new and things are going great. This new person is showing signs of possibly being “the one”. You let this person inside your inner circle. You give them the keys to your castle. One day you get a call from a stranger who says they are dating the new person also. You don’t want to believe it but when you find out it is true you are angry. You break up with the new person and now have to start all over again. This is your wake-up call.

Your action to take

• You need to take responsibility for the results you are getting in your relationships. This is a difficult task because of your own inner ego. You have all the evidence in the world that you are attracting the wrong people in your life. You need to explore why. What are your beliefs about relationships? What are your beliefs about love? How open are you to new and different things? You may not be able to figure this out alone so be open to getting coaching. You cannot take the blame for the actions others are taking but you can take responsibility for the people you are attracting into your life.

Your wake-up call

• You have been acquiring material things throughout your life. The more you seem to make the more you seem to spend. Because of your earnings you are able to easily get credit to finance any large purchases. You go for a drive this weekend and see a new house you want to purchase. You leave a deposit with the realtor and you contact your bank for financing. The bank denies your financing because you are over extended. This is your wake-up call.

Your action to take

• You need to ask yourself why you are acquiring so many material things. What are you looking to achieve? Why is important to you to drive the latest car? Why is important to you to have a new outfit each time you go out on the town? Why is important to you to have an assortment of watches to wear? Why is important to you to have the finest leather couch in a room you never sit in? Knowing the answers to these questions will help you see that you don’t need those material things. You will learn that you need and/or desire the feeling you get when you initially acquire those material things. Unfortunately that feeling doesn’t last and that’s why you end up back at the store to acquire more. Taking this action will make you realize you need to focus more on the feeling than the material things. With that knowledge I’m sure you will find yourself spending more time and effort on experiences than acquiring new things.

     These are just a few examples of wake-up calls many of you have or will receive. Your responsibility is to increase your awareness so that you never miss a wake-up call. There is no doubt one will come because life is full of surprises. However because you are aware you will pause and take the time to plan the right actions to take after receiving the wake-up call. Those actions are important because they will help improve your life. The right actions can help remove the root cause that allowed the wake-up call and keep it from returning. Removing root cause takes effort. You must really take the time to reflect on the situation to find out how you got there in the first place. However that effort will be well worth it because removing root cause is where the magic happens. Let this serve as your reminder to beef up your awareness. The next time something happens that just doesn’t seem to feel right, ask yourself if this is a wake-up call. If the answer is yes, you now have a great opportunity to make some improvements in your life. You have the opportunity to take great action. Good luck on your upcoming actions and as always I wish you the best and enjoy the journey.

With gratitude,

Drew