Everyone Chases ROI. What About ROLI?

One of the most popular business buzzwords today is ROI. And for good reason. All of us want a good return on our investments.

So we look for ROI when we consider a new hire. We evaluate ROI when we invest in new software or hardware systems. We want great ROI when we consider any major capital expense. If we own our home, many of us consider ROI when considering some major home renovation. And we obviously want good ROI when it comes to our retirement fund or other financial investments.

ROLI?

But stop for a moment and consider how you are investing your most precious commodity. Your life. Let's talk for a moment about a term I've never heard anyone else use before: ROLI—the Return On (your) Life Investment.

It's Time to Think Bigger

Every day that passes is another day of gained experience and wisdom. It also one day closer to the end of our time on Earth. And when we do get to the end of our lives (if we are even fortunate enough to recognize that reality), all of us will want to know the same thing: Did I make my life count?

How do you measure such a thing? What sort of scorecard will you use?

To think well about those questions, we naturally run into other questions. What do you want in the short term? What do you want in the long-term? What is it going to take to get there? Are you on the right trajectory? What do you want to be remembered for—and how are you doing in pursuing that?

At some point, we will all wonder: did I invest my hours, days, weeks, months, and years in the best possible ways? And perhaps more to the point: Am I currently investing my life and resources in the best possible ways?

If not, it is not too late to change.

It is said that sometime around mid-life for most men, their focus will begin to shift from success to significance. Their goals begin to change from financially-driven to impact-driven. Bob Buford wrote an excellent book on this very topic, called Halftime: Moving from Success to Significance.

But why wait for mid life? To become the man or woman you want to be tomorrow, you have to start that journey today.

In the early 1990s, I had the honor of sitting at a table at a fund-raising dinner with a man named John Brabner-Smith. He was one of America's last great statesmen; he advised, I believe, every U.S. president—whether Democrat or Republican—from Harry S. Truman to George H.W. Bush.

After World War II, he was a member of the International Prosecution Section that helped prosecute war crimes committed during the war. He later either wrote, or played an enormous role in writing, the Constitution of the Philippines. A friend who knew him fairly well told me once that Dr. Brabner-Smith had also been heavily involved in the writing of the Japanese Constitution—but I haven't been able to verify that for sure. He did help prosecute the Al Capone gang in Illinois, and later became the founder of what is now the George Mason University law school.

He lived a remarkable life. Perhaps most amazing to me was the way he continued to run the race that had been set before him—his life—all the way to the end. The evening I met him, he was 92 years old. That night, he mentioned that President Bush had asked him to write an in-depth report on religion and politics in the Middle East. He said he was feeling pressure to wrap it up because he was leaving soon for a mission trip to eastern Europe with his church. At ninety-two!!

This was a man who did not coast. To hear what he was pursuing at 92 made a profound impact on me. I remember thinking that if I live to be 92, I want to keep running the race until the end. Today, I still have that same desire.

We have one life to live. How we invest it matters. Yes, ROI matters. But ROLI matters more.

What—or Who—are You Now Becoming?

When I was in college, I had a sign above my desk that said, "You will be what you are now becoming." It challenged me then. It still does today.

May I ask you what are you now becoming? At whatever stage of life you find yourself, what are your next steps?

The temptation, for far too many of us—especially as we age—is to settle into a pattern. To not continue to push the envelope and to seek personal growth and improvement. To not embrace new challenges or initiatives.

To overcome inertia, a force must be applied. A force will make something that is still start to move. That's where coaching can come in.

The coaching process will raise great questions, whatever your stage in life, so that we can reflect, act, and continue to grow as people. Sometimes a simple self-evaluation can help us recognize areas where we might feel stuck.

Consider a handful of diagnostic questions (and please note that we do not often ask yes or no questions, but there a few that can help diagnose areas worth further exploration).

• If you are married, how is your relationship with your spouse? (And would your spouse answer the same way you would?) In what ways could you improve it?

• If you have kids, how could your relationship(s) with them be better?

• What steps could you take to work on another important relationship in your life that needs serious attention but hasn't been getting it from you?

• If your spiritual life is important to you, what are you doing to keep growing? Or has your faith become stagnant?

• What are some ways that you sometimes find yourself feeling stuck?

• Professionally, is your career on the trajectory you had hoped for?

• Physically, what are you doing to be in the kind of shape you need to be in to do ______________? (We all may fill in that blank differently. One person might say to ski with the grandkids. Another might say to hike Mount Fuji. Another might say to simply be healthy.)

• What dreams do you have professionally that you have not yet pursued?

• What are some other kinds of dreams you'd like to pursue but aren't sure how to start?

• In your current moment in life, what are you doing to be making the kind of difference (however you define that) that you'd like to be making?

• If the saying "you will be what you are now becoming" is true, who (or what) are you now becoming? Are you content with that?

You have one life to invest, and make no mistake—you will invest it in something. Invest well.

The Surgent Test Drive

If you've never seriously looked at engaging a coach to help you in some area of your work or life, please consider our offer of one risk-free coaching session. This session will show you how the process works.

If, at the end, you do not believe the time was valuable, we will fully refund your money.