"That was a good day!"

I saw this quote the other day from Jamie Dimon.  It is an excellent quote to spotlight a specific part of QTR – Quality Time Remaining.  I always say that when we are out on an adventure, or we are on vacation, QTR is “easy”.  Life is good, and the days are excellent while spending time with family and friends under a palm tree drinking tropical drinks and feeling the trade winds in our hair.  But, what about when you are still working and the other 93% of the time you aren’t on vacation.  How do we live with daily QTR?  Here is the quote from Jamie Dimon:

“Everyone knows they’re going to die, but at one point it’s right here and you realize it’s true and it’s true maybe sooner than you think,” Dimon said.  “And so it’s nice to end every day by saying, ‘That was a good day.’  Every meeting, that was a good meeting.  Every week, that was a good week.” – Jamie Dimon – Human, Chase CEO

I am always looking for what is going to be my QTR moment, or my QTR moments of the day.  I want every day to meaningful.  I want to provide value to every person that I interact with on a daily basis.  If you can honestly say, “That was a good day”, or “that was a good meeting”, then you are living daily QTR. 

A while ago, I was endeavoring to come up with different ways to have myself think of how to make myself see that each day was precious, and to have myself create a valuable day each and every day.  What I came up with was setting a retirement date.  I set a retirement date of August 1, 2028.  The date is a bit arbitrary, and I may or may not actually retire on that date.  But, I started in the mortgage business on August 1, 1984, so August 1st seemed like a good day.  And Laura turns 65 in July 2028, so she will be eligible for Medicare insurance.    As of today, that means that I have 1,091 working days remaining.  I write the number of days remaining on my daily action list, along with the words, “Make it Count!”   I’m a bit surprised that I often get asked when am in going to retire?  When I tell the story about that date that I set, the first response I always get is, “you are a short timer, and you are counting the days until you are done.”  But, it is actually the opposite of that.  I only have 1,091 days to provide my craft and expertise to my clients and colleagues.  The days are valuable and are getting rarer every day.  Each day is precious.  How am I going to make each day meaningful and memorable?  How can I make a contribution to someone today. 

So, when I saw Jamie Dimon’s quote, I said, “Yep.  I want to end every day by saying, ‘That was a good day!’”  I wish you Quality Time Remaining – QTR!