“Put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.”
– Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
I don’t believe this quote was created by Randy Pausch, but in
searching for the creator his name came up against it a few times.
I picked it this week because it’s a lesson learned for myself
and for clients I work with, continuously.
Very often we can look to help others often to the sacrifice
of ourselves. Yet if you’re not right, then no-one or nothing will be.
If you’re not right, how can anything else be?
e.g. your career/business, your relationships, your thinking…
Get yourself right first. Not last.
Take that time out.
Get that head space.
Have some fun to get your spirit back in the right zone.
Go to the gym.
Talk to someone.
How many of us put ‘me-focus’ into the ‘when i get this then I’ll look
after myself’ bracket? Not realising it’s that attitude that could be the very thing
truly holding us back.
By the way, Randy Pausch was an American professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and in August 2007 he was given a terminal diagnosis: “3 to 6 months of good health left”.
He gave an inspirational lecture titled “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams” on September 18, 2007, which became a popular YouTube video. If you haven’t seen that video yet, you can watch it below.