A Letter from Chris Suarez
WHAT ARE YOU OVERLOOKING?
We are all overlooking something in our lives.
Do you know what it is?
Do you know how to determine what is being overlooked?
What does it tell us about ourselves when we figure out what we are overlooking?
By definition, “overlook” means “to fail to notice, observe, see, or spot.”
In most cases, it means we are failing to notice one thing, while we focus on something else. We are literally looking over one thing to see another. But what are we looking at? Something seemingly bigger? Something more seemingly attractive? Something seemingly more exciting? Maybe something seemingly more important?
But what if that “something” we are overlooking is actually some one?
If some one feels overlooked, they feel less valued. They feel less important.
We have all been in a conversation with someone before and can identify the moment they disengage with our conversation and begin to think about, pay attention to, or even engage with something or someone else. They begin to look to the right or to the left of us. They look just slightly past us. Their eyes gaze just above our head. In effect, we are being overlooked. And it doesn’t feel great. There is a mental or physical distraction that causes them to look past what was right in front of them - you - and focus on something off into the distance. This happens more often than we might think. It happens to all of us in life.
It’s certainly easy for all of us to be distracted today. But over time we can chronically begin to overlook what is most important.
Our eyes develop around what we are focused on the most. They become trained and conditioned to see what they are looking for and to see what they look at most. The danger here is that we spend 6 or 8 or 10 hours a day working at a job or building a business. Our eyes suddenly become trained to look for anything related to that goal or mission. We look at the business constantly and we begin to overlook other areas of our life that are equally or more important. We can do this in all areas of our life.
Have you overlooked your health - looking past the bike to see the couch just down the hallway.
Have you overlooked your children lately - looking past the drawing they are excited to show you to see your own email or text from a workmate?
Have you overlooked your current clients - looking past their needs to see the next potential customer.
Have you overlooked your life - looking past your current situation focused on a better one in the future.
I have shared that we all have six foundational pillars that our lives are built on top of. If we are not careful we will easily overlook one or two or three of these - looking past or “over” them because in most cases we don’t see the foundation of anything. We focus on what’s pretty and in front of us. Those six pillars are our:
Career
Relationships
Wealth
Personal Development
Health
Spirituality
Which of these are we overlooking right now. We are all overlooking something in our lives.
Think about something in your Career you might be overlooking right now. Perhaps its an activity we don’t like to do so we have skipped it the past few weeks or months. Perhaps it’s a partnership you have been putting off.
Think about a Relationship in your life that you might be overlooking right now. Perhaps it’s alone time with your spouse. Maybe it’s getting interested in something that means a lot to your children - even if it’s a video game, trending fashion, or the latest TikTok video.
Think about what in your Wealth building strategy you might be overlooking right now. Have you been avoiding working on your net worth tracker or committing to that family budget? Have you not committed to investing in real estate?
Think about what you may be overlooking in your Personal Development right now. Perhaps it’s developing a broader emotional intelligence. Perhaps it's committing to being more curious by researching a new topic or reading a new book. Perhaps it’s a mentorship you could begin to open up to.
Think about what area of your Health you have been overlooking. Is it not being aware of what you are really putting in your body? Is our work day or even family controlling our time before we get some movement in to start the day?
Think about what area of your Spirituality you have been overlooking. Perhaps it’s allowing the physical and financial parts of our life to take over and crowd out what is most important.
First, you are not alone. We are all overlooking something in our lives.
Our eyes are gazing to the left, drifting to the right, focused on something just past what is right in front of us. This week spend some time writing down what is most important to you in each pillar of your life. Commit to focus on that one thing so as not to have what really matters overlooked.
Chris