Susan, and I love to experience travel. (We’ve written about it before.)

Notice, I didn’t say we love to travel (although we do), I said we love to experience travel. From travel, we glean new thoughts. These become permanent thoughts, which turn into experiencing life differently.

Here’s an example of something we learned while traveling, pre-pandemic: the United Kingdom is known for vehicles driven on the “wrong” side of the road (from an American tourist’s perspective, this can be rather scary!) All motor vehicles make their way down country lanes, boulevards, motorways and small courts by driving on the left side of the street. American tourists often shake their heads and say “wrong.” It’s not a matter of right or wrong, but of working or not working – for the UK, it works. It’s actually worked for centuries, for all vehicles - long before automobiles came around.

Maybe it’s more accurate to say almost all vehicles in London.

You see, located just outside the Savoy Hotel on the Northbank of the River Thames in London is this quirky little court that reminds westerners of home. One HAS to drive and park on the right side of the street. There is no choice and hasn’t been since 1889! We visited it while on a trip to England and France a few years back.

Here’s an edited explanation by Rory Macfarlane, Press Office, Savoy Hotel, London:

It just made sense. Over a century later, it still does. The construction of the court made it simple to deliver passengers with ease.

It’s a very different thing for Londoners to experience. In a sense, it’s a pattern interrupt.

The harried pace of life seldom allows us to do things in our life differently than what we’ve always done. The first quarter of every year appears to allow us the choice of change.

In fact, it is the annual representation of the monthly changes that happen daily.

Like the architect of The Savoy Hotel, we must choose to evaluate the construction, simplicity and delivery of our lives daily, monthly and then annually.

And make no mistake, every single failed “planning” attempt of yours in the past MUST today be celebrated as successful forward motion. Failing forward affords great resiliency to our lives, if we’ll let it. To do so, is to drive down the side of the street that “works”, even though it’s different.

So, how does it work in our lives? Let’s break down The Savoy Hotel Questions:

1. What's the construction of your life?

Every person’s life has a flow to it, and it’s not always positive. As a business coach I see many examples of behavior that ought to change. That’s my job to observe and comment. One such example is when a person defaults to saying “no” to almost every new request made by others. I’m not kidding, these types of people are all around us. You, in fact, may be one of those people. My response to that behavior? “Change lanes, buddy.” I regularly challenge clients to a two-week period of saying “yes” to everything, beginning with the request of their family members and then moving on to their work. Two weeks, that’s it. This gives them a chance to think about why they default to “No.” It may be for “no” good reason but inconvenience, which is generally selfish. It’s actually quite amazing. And it works. One particular former client comes to mind. “I did what you said and my spouse has been blown away!”

One answer at a time.

In our own lives, Susan and I regularly look at forcing a “Savoy” way of life upon ourselves. We normally look for conversations and aha moments of understanding that move us to “yes” moments.

For example, some friends told us how they biked across Europe on a Barge and Bike Tour. Their stories were so cool. We said “yes” right away, even though we knew it meant regular training on our old bikes and a pretty big financial investment. (We hadn’t been riding our bikes much back then, and we were 60!) We said, “yes” anyway and then asked others to join us on the trip. Wow, pain to gain and SO worth it!

It’s a decision we must make. Should you stay or should you go? The Clash asked the question - answer it yourself.

U-turn and re-construct your life, one “yes” decision at a time.

2. What's the simplicity of your life?

Often U-turns in our life seem so complicated.

We can make them complicated due to our own head-trash. But they’re not.

Deviations from the norm a can be simple - but they are NOT easy in execution. Remember when I said, the start of the year is the annual representation of the monthly changes that happen daily.

We say “yes”… then we D.I.N (Do It Now).

Let’s start with the simplicity of spending a two-and-a-half-day weekend at the start of each year to review where your family and your careers are headed. Susan and I started this simple annual review 38 years ago. It’s amazing.

Here’s what we do each time we meet: We don’t care about watches, cell phones, or rabbit trails. We leave space for God’s creative Hand to guide us. Here’s how:

• We go to a nice hotel for the weekend. After we check-in, we start by brainstorming an outline focused on six areas: family, health, finances, travel, home improvements and personal goals. This helps us stay structured while discussing the different areas of our life that are important to us. By the way - we never say NO to items during the brainstorming stage. There will be be plenty of time to cross out pipe dreams.
• The next day is devoted to equal parts quality time together and planning. This helps keep the weekend fun, as well as purposeful. We take the previous night’s categories and compare them to last year’s priorities - we celebrate what we accomplished and what we still need to focus on for this year. I always recommend going to a fancy dinner to end the night well.
• On the last day, we start with a Bible Study together, then dive into the the actionable steps we can take to move our plan forward. We finalize the current year’s document, assign items to each other, and end the weekend feeling organized, refreshed, and ready for what’s next.

We are simply ready to tackle the year in front of us, solving simple problems, accomplishing plans, laughing and loving. We are a team.

3. What's the delivery of your life?

Like the cabbies of horse drawn carriages pulling up to the Savoy Hotel in the late 19th century, safely delivering people to the curb, who are you helping?

What tools are you using to do so? What books are you recommending people read? When do you go out of your way to meet someone and encourage them?

I was approached recently by different individuals to meet and listen to their hopes and dreams – to possibly comment on them and maybe even give coaching advice.

Before I tell you more, allow me to explain that meeting with people and helping them achieve goals, solve problems and gain better lives is what I do to make a living. It’s my job, my company. I coach clients. At the end of each year, I fire clients who don’t listen, or who are not lifetime learners. I am an intense coach, a driven man and someone who made a decision, years ago, to NOT care more for people’s solutions more than they care themselves.

It's a bit brutal. And it works. Some clients have been with me a couple decades or more, because they truly care about the direction of their lives.

Now, back to the persons asking for help. I say “yes” to them. For one visit – normally on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I set aside one hour - but no more. We meet at a coffee shop and I listen. I’ll ask questions and typically offer only one comment or observation near the end of the hour.

As Susan says*, “They just want to be listened to.”* And so, I listen. I open the carriage door and deliver them to the curb, when it’s over.

In other instances, I see people at church or in my community and share quiet conversations with them about their lives. I know that they are not necessarily friends, and that fact doesn’t stop me from being friendly and encouraging them.

Susan and I have volunteered for years in non-profit ministries, helping as we can. We stand ready to help marriages in trouble and we’ve conducted Bible studies over the years. In other words, we make ourselves ready to “deliver” hope to people who need the love of Christ in their lives. All the time maintaining our boundaries and realizing that we are only people who point the direction to the One who Saves.

So… when doors open for you, are you on the wrong side of the vehicle of your life? Does it seem awkward and somewhat unnerving to face certain questions? Does the “delivery of your life” involve how you deal with some real difficult people?

You don’t have to do everything. But it would be wise for you to do one thing. A great resource for your life is Gary Keller’s book “The One Thing”. Get it.

Going through life takes a long time, down a lot of long roads – often on streets that may make you think of the court adjacent to The Savoy Hotel.

Resources for walking the Savoy Way through life:

• Book: The One Thing. I mentioned this above, but want to reiterate how this book has helped me reorient my actions over the years. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with all the things you could be doing or want to be doing. Finding my “One Thing” has proven invaluable.
• Daily Devotional: My Utmost for His Highest. Consider growing your spiritual life each day. This is a book you can purchase, but also a website with daily devotions listed totally free. I have enjoyed this classic for decades and have greatly benefited from Oswald Chambers’ biblical wisdom.
• Plan Your Year: Download the template. This is the framework Susan and I use each year to plan out our goals and priorities. Try out this template - I think you’ll be surprised how easy it is to stay on track when you know exactly where you’re going. Please share this with others!

Choose to evaluate the construction, simplicity, and delivery of your lives daily, monthly, and annually.

More later,

Dennis Mansfield

550 E. 52nd St., Garden City, Idaho 83714
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