Chasing the Carrot on a Stick

COURTESY NOTE: This is one of those days when I write about something other than business.

Have you ever been in a K-Mart during a “flashing blue light special?” The sad circus begins when an employee rolls out a chrome cart with a rotating blue light on a pole about 8 feet high. A voice on the intercom says, “Attention K-Mart shoppers,” and then tells you know how lucky you are to be in the store right now. They're about to offer an unadvertised special. Just follow the flashing blue light.

Watching those poor people follow that light is profoundly sad to me. It's the reason I quit shopping at K-Mart.

Our world is full of flashing blue lights that cause us to lose our focus and forget the reason we're here. Is there a blue light in your life right now?

Blue lights often arrive as an adversary that begs to be defeated.

No, I'm not talking about the war in Iraq. I'm talking about you and the distractions that cause you to forget your real purpose.

Have you allowed the merely urgent to replace the truly important?

I've made this memo short to help you justify taking a few minutes from your crazy schedule to just sit and think about what life is really all about.

Do it now. For yourself, and the people you love.

The world will wait.

Roy H. Williams