I read a line from Marcus Aurelius that I just can't shake...

“Am I afraid of death because I won’t be able to do this anymore?”

It haunts me...

When I first read it, I thought about my kids...the girls chasing their dance dreams...Bubba chasing baseball glory..

Most would call them long shots...people have laughed...

Our kids don’t care...they keep chasing anyway.

That kind of belief...the relentless, almost delusional kind...that’s freedom...

It’s alignment.

They don’t do it for applause...they do it because it matters.

Somewhere along the way, most adults lose that...

We start trading conviction for convenience...we chase what looks good instead of what feels right.

When I think about death...I don’t fear being gone...

I fear being out of alignment...I fear wasting time on things that don’t matter...with people who don’t mean it...doing work that drains instead of builds...

For me, alignment means checking four things every time I say yes:

1. Is it a win for everyone involved?

2. Does it align with my values?

3. Would future me be proud of this decision?

4. Does it give me energy or steal it?

If those answers aren’t clear to me...the answer should be no...

Because success without alignment is slow death...

So if you need a filter this week, try this:

Before you say yes, ask yourself...Would I still want to be doing this if I only had a year left?

If the answer’s no...you already know what to do.

Alignment is freedom disguised as discipline.

In business, alignment works the same way...I spend my days helping companies by aligning story, strategy, and relationships.

When those three are off...no tactic can fix it.

By Chris Errington