Some journeys take us far from home. Some adventures lead us to our destiny. - C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien, Fellowship of the Rings
The journey motif is a ubiquitous theme throughout literature, and for good reason. It resonates because it is representative of life. As a construct, the journey motif is composed of a character, an origin, a destination, and a process of pursuing a destination. Throughout this process, the journey, the protagonist is presented with various trials and triumphs. In the end, characters are molded, and progress is made toward some desired goal. This is a paradigm that we can easily identify with, and it is often viewed as a metaphor that represents our experiences in life. It can be a guide.
For me, the journey metaphor is a motif that I have used in my thinking as I try to understand the idea of excellence. I know where I am right now. My goal is to stand at the end of my life and look back content that I have lived with a palpable sense of meaning, that my life has had a real purpose, and that I had a positive impact on those around me. So, if life is a journey, each day is a commitment to walking the path toward the destination and enjoying the adventures along the way.
While simple in concept, the reality is much more opaque. Sometimes the way is clear, and at other times the path is obscured by fog. There are days when the skies are blue, and travel is easy. But these are also times when we need to take shelter from the storm. Often, we find that the road is full of twists and turns and multiple paths to follow. Every journey needs tools to help guide the way. We need a map to provide us with an understanding of our route and key features of the landscape. And we need a compass to orient ourselves relative to the map.
As we think about the journey of life, the various twists and turns that we face on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis can be a confusing morass. And often we find ourselves walking on a path with our focus stuck on the road immediately in front of us without thought to the broader landscape or purpose of the journey. For me, I spent many years focused on the goal of completing my medical training. Then, when I accomplished my goal, I was left with the feeling that I had arrived at one of the waypoints on my journey with no idea of where to go next. Suddenly, my routine consisted of going to work, coming home, filling my sparse free time with parenting or some other enjoyable task: lather, rinse, repeat.
The Compass
I began thinking, that my perspective had become rather monolithic - work. While work is immensely important, I needed a paradigm by which I could understand the various areas of life and how to align them under a hierarchy of priorities. Enter, the excellence compass. This is my way of making sense of the different aspects of my life. The four points of the compass represent the various spheres of our lives. Let's look more closely.
North: Bigger Things
North is the standard reference point on the compass. Have you ever asked yourself why we always orient ourselves toward north? Throughout history, various civilizations have oriented maps in different cardinal directions on the compass to coincide with the direction of the rising sun or the flow of rivers, etc. But as navigation and exploration demanded repeatable reference points, the north star and the magnetic attraction of a compass to north have become the standard reference point. Regardless of the reason, north is always prominently marked on the compass and maps are oriented with north up. For us, this is emblematic of the fact that our North should be the thing that orients ourselves properly to the rest of life. This is our relationship with things that are bigger than us. Namely, it is our theology and our worldview.
Why is this important? A theology and worldview is a framework by which we view and approach the world. It answers the big questions in life. Who are we? Why are we here? What is the meaning and purpose of my existence? What is the basis of my morality? What constrains my behavior? A theology and worldview also teaches us that we are not ultimate. As an individual, we live in a hierarchy. Even the most libertarian among us have to admit that that we live in a system constrained by natural law that govern natural rights. We do well to understand the world and our place in it.
East: Relationship
As we depart from north, the next cardinal direction on our compass is East. After understanding our vertical alignment, we need to begin to understand our horizontal alignment. We live in a world filled with people. We will spend our entire life engaging with those around us. Relationships gives life meaning and purpose.
One of the most fundamental human desires is the quest for meaning - the feeling that in the vast landscape of history our existence and work matters. Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist, and holocaust survivor, reflecting on his experience as a prisoner in Auschwitz (the death, deprivation and suffering) concluded that meaning is not something that you extract from life, rather is found in asking yourself what life requires of you and faithfully living in accordance with that prescription.
This is often done in the context of relationships and in service of those around us, first with our family, then extending to friends and finally to all others that we may contact. We are not on this path alone. The people we meet are all on their parallel journeys. C.S. Lewis in his essay, The Weight of Glory, writes,
All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics.
Each person has their own trials and triumphs on the path to their destination. Living well with others is upholding one another on the journey, sharing each other's joys and bearing each other's burdens.
Relationships also matter because people matter. The existence of each and every person is not an inconsequential thing. Lewis continues,
There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
Living excellently and leaving a legacy involves engaging well in community. As we think back through history and the examples that history provides, we find that a legacy is not carved in stone without also being carved in the lives and hearts of people.
West: You
Across the horizon from East lies West. If East represents the people around us, then West represents us as individuals. A certain focus needs to be paid to ourselves as individuals to counterbalance our duties and engagement with others. This may sound strange given the importance of living well in relationship. But it is easy to over-emphasize or neglect either end of this spectrum.
Certainly, it is possible in a pseudo-narcissistic way for us to over-emphasize our global wellness in such a manner as to neglect or minimize other areas of life. And on the opposite end, it is possible to fall into a form of asceticism whereby we over-discipline our indulgences for the sake of some other purpose. Often, though, our approach is not as dramatic. We let the little things slip. We are more interested in what we are doing than engaging with those around us. Or rather than some big altruistic expression, our neglect of ourselves is rooted in an unbalanced focus on another point of the compass.
In order to be in best physical, mental and emotional condition to engage with other points on the compass, we need to pay a little attention to our own health and wellness. Maslow defined this as attention to a hierarchy of needs. The foundation begins with physiologic needs followed by safety and security.
This paradigm can be a helpful start. Am I sleeping enough? Am I paying attention to maintaining my health? Is my weight appropriate? Is my nutrition appropriately balanced? Am I getting the right number of calories and macronutrients? Am I getting regular exercise? Can I function in a manner that prevents injuries and supports my goals? Do I get time to appreciate the world around me? Do I get space to clear my head and think? Am I making effort to grow intellectually? Is my physical space comfortable and secure? Are my finances in order? All of these, and more, are good questions to ask as you seek to care well for yourself.
South: Output
The final point on the compass is south. For us this is our output, our work. It is comprised of the various things that consume our days and fill our task managers. This output can be categorized in to three broad buckets: Vocation, Avocation and Service.
Vocation
Our vocation is our job, jobs, or career. Whether you simply view work as a punch in/punch out task, or a long-term project of professional development, this is the work that we find ourselves doing for the betterment of others or an organization and for which we get paid. It is one of the primary outputs of our lives. The typical full-time job is 2080 hours per year. Assuming 8-hour days, this means that we will spend 71% of the days each year at work. But before we start talking about how much time we want to spend at work, we should establish that ultimately work is good and necessary, though not ultimate and the exclusive output of our lives as we will see in the next two buckets.
Avocation
The second bucket is our avocational activities. These are the things that we do that are for our own personal enjoyment or edification - our leisure activities, our hobbies. As we discussed in a previous post, just as important as our work is our rest. Resting well and engaging in productive activities during our rest times is extremely important. If done strategically and done well, our avocational activities can help us develop personally, make us a more well-rounded individual, and even make us more effective at our work.
Yet, we must stand guard that our avocational activities do not crowd out the other areas of our output. In his Strenuous Life speech, Theodore Roosevelt warns, "A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world." During the COVID pandemic, my wife and I did the COVID thing (albeit unintentionally): We got a dog, had a baby, and bought a camper. We began watching material on YouTube about camping to learn about our new method of vacationing. We have come to enjoy watching two different families who have given up a life of rootedness and have become full time RV'ers. While I envy their freedom and ability to travel, have adventures, and create incredible memories with their families, at the same time I can't help but think that somehow, something is missing in a life 100% committed to leisure. Now, I would be naïve to believe that the totality of their lives are expressed by their social media presence. But, as I watch their videos, I remind myself that just as all work and no leisure has bad consequences, all leisure and no work is a very unfulfilling and myopic approach to life.
Service
The final bucket is our service. These are the activities that you do for the good of another person, group, or organization and for which you do not get paid. They are the things that you do that you are not required to do, but for which you choose to dedicate your time and resources. Living a life of service and engaging in service, is a reminder of our place in relationship to our theology and worldview. It is also a reminder of our place in the world. Counter to our natural impulses, individually we are not the center of the universe. Life is not ultimately about us, our needs, and our desires. Service is a reminder that we are blessed with so much and that we should use what we have to bless those around us.
Balancing the points of the compass
We have talked previously about the idea of finding rest in work and balancing work and life priorities. This endeavor is extremely important if we are to live lives of excellence and not lives that are consumed by a single facet of our existence. Much has been said about the idea of finding balance. In one sense, I suppose balance can be a helpful metaphor. The term balance implies equity - particularly with regards to time. But balance neglects the idea that life won't always allow for equal allotment of time. And in life, there is a hierarchy of priorities that will require more time and attention to one area and less to another. This may change from season-to-season. We will likely not have parity in each of these endeavors from the perspective of time. But to live a well-balanced life, each are needs to have a significant place of importance in our lives. Engaging on all points of the compass... that's the adventure!
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