While I was with my family last week we were fortunate to see who we think will be the next rising star on the music scene: Rapper Capper ERP (or RCERP for short). Maybe doesn’t flow off the tongue…yet. You wait and see though. Her beats were fresh, rhymes were on point and delivery purposeful.
And she’s only 8.
Perhaps the majority of the rhymes were made up words for the purposes of, well, rhyming. BUT if words like “zonkey” and “truthiness” just made it into the Webster’s dictionary (go head, look them up) this year I’m sure that “quam” and “vazam” are right on their heels for 2021.
Out of left field, my 8 year old daughter created this musical mogul: Rapper Capper ERP (she happened to have a hat on and then added ERP, the initials of her name).
My wife and I were in tears laughing. That was fine…until her brothers tried to bring her down a few notches with very articulated reviews like: “Ella- that’s dumb”
Rapper Capper was born. And the whole family experienced her. Because we were able to spend uninterrupted, quality time together for a few days…in a row.
When my wife and I first got married we (read that as “I”) were very particular with our finances. We had a whole envelope system with actual cash in each one. We would get a paycheck and then divvy up cash into a grocery, personal, date, bills, etc. The rest went into a savings fund for when something unexpected came up (car repairs). Every penny accounted for. If an envelope was empty we had to wait until the next paycheck.
I was a dream to live with. My wife loved the system……………..
One day she gave me the “we need to talk” statement. That never went well. “Marc, I understand the system. And it has worked. I am curious to know – what do you find value in? Like, where do your priorities lie?” I replied with something like making sure we were secure and could support ourselves and she was taken care of (let the record reflect, at no point have I made more money than my wife so really I’m just a dead weight manager and she is doing just fine taking care of herself…hopefully she doesn’t read this and come to the realization of “yeah, why am I still keeping you around????”
She responded, “Here’s what I prioritize and value: I’m all for saving money but if we just save, save, save but never do anything together – what good is that savings for?” She went on to explain that no matter where we were financially, every single year it had to be a priority that we spend time away (didn’t have to be anywhere extravagant or tropical, just out of our house and away from our jobs) for at least a week, every year. Unplug.
Honestly, that was hard for me to rap my head around. But as the years continue to go on (16 in marriage with a much smarter person than I) that decision has become a family priority. Circumstances, situations cannot take precedence.
But doesn’t that happen so often? We have a value or a priority but it gets squeezed out because of……work, COVID, sickness, stress, kids, life. I have been thinking through trying to look at health on a broader scale through an acronym SEMM with a mentor that I talk to consistently. It was his brain child and I have adapted it: Sleep, Eat, Move, Manage. What I’m talking about is step 1 of manage: Write down your priorities and what you value. A little bit further down is saying “no” to something that doesn’t fall in line with your values or priorities.
I had every single reason as to why I couldn’t get away for a week with my family: kids would miss school, Governor Baker was making more statements about COVID – what if that impacts the gym? I need to be there for any members, questions, the coaches. We had a couple of new people in class. How can I leave them right now? We just got a new rescue dog. How will he react to us being gone after he’s only been here for 2 weeks?
I had a really good friend tell me a long time ago – Look Marc, you aren’t that important.
My wife and I have a priority and we value getting away for a week with the family. As much as I value and prioritize my work, my business – that certainly is big part of who I am – it isn’t my top priority.
If all the things that started to seep in and supersede my true priorities – uninterrupted time with my family – I would have never discovered Rapper Capper ERP.
What do you value? What do you prioritize?
Value it. Prioritize it. It’s more important than what is distracting you from it.