"Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying."

(click to connect to this scene)

Recently, I was having a discussion with someone about making decisions and they used a quote that I had forgotten about from one of the best movies ever, The Shawshank Redemption. The line of course is, “It comes down to a simple choice, get busy living or get busy dying.” Whew, that’s is like cold water being splashed in your face! Sometimes, so many years and circumstances pass us by, we forget how short and precious life truly is. Then something jars us, presenting the opportunity for us to reexamine our life. However, most of the time unfortunately, it’s some sobering event like death, financial loss, illness or unemployment, etc..

The Scene. Our Scene.

This particular scene is profound on several levels. Andy Dufresne, Tim Robbins character, dreams about a life in Mexico and how asks ‘Red’, Morgan Freeman, “Do you know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life; a place that’s warm with no memories.” Now if that doesn’t speak volumes! Further into the conversation, Red looks longingly on and says, “I don’t think I could make it on the outside Andy. I’ve been in here most of my life.” Andy of course ends with, “It comes down to a simple choice, get busy living or get busy dying.” SPLASH! (What I liked most was after Andy says this he immediately stands up.) My, how less than three minutes can encourage us to flip through the pages of our life and see it for what it’s worth. I highly encourage you to watch the whole clip; it’s a gift.

Choices.

We ALL have choices in life. We can choose differently or we can accept what is right in front of us and remain as is. We can be so scared that it paralyzes us and we simply accept living in the institution and get busy dying. Or, we can get busy living by taking inventory of our life, our work or business, our relationships and make the necessary changes to breath greater meaning into our lives; making it what it was meant to be.

So today …

Small Business People|Entrepreneurs|Dreamers.

• Get busy nurturing those clients or get busy preparing for leaner times.
• Get busy  knowing our client’s needs or get busy find a new revenue stream.
• Get busy grooming and appreciating our employees for greatness or get busy with a revolving door and lack of loyalty.
• Get busy quieting the voices of the naysayers and get busy proving them wrong.
• Get busy learning new ways to market our business or get busy working twice as hard.
• Get busy finding answers or get busy making more excuses.
• Get busy brainstorming on how to keep our business relevant or get busy closing shop.
• Get busy looking at all the opportunity that surrounds us or get busy throwing in the towel.
• Get busy seizing trends or get busy complaining we’re always one step behind.
• Get busy mastering our sail or get busy seeing our ship sail right on past.
• Get busy getting busy or get busy spinning our wheels.
• Get busy changing the world with our passions or get busy letting others passions rule us.
• Get busy making  our dreamsa reality or get busy trying to lasso the moon.
• Get busy implementing our dreams or get busy trying to get our heads out the clouds.

My Friends.

• Get busy looking at our life exactly as it is honestly, or get busy continuing to be in denial, staying right where we are.

Question. Are you busy living or are you busy dying?

I have no idea to this day what those two Italian ladies were singing about. Truth is, I don’t want to know. Some things are best left unsaid. I like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and makes your heart ache because of it. Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding in The Shawshank Redemption