The Power of Words
Starting Each Day With A Little Thinking...Settle
When we’re young we have splendid visions. Astronaut, President, MLB star, millionaire, travel the world. And the list goes on and on and on. Contrast this with where many are as they enter their 30’s, 40’s or 50’s — stuck in a job, fighting an expanding mid-section, and wondering where all their time and money goes. But most aren’t doing anything about the situation. They have settled.
Now mind you there is absolutely nothing wrong with settling. In fact, I’d argue that you must settle. However, that settling needs to be the result of a conscious choice. A choice of what you do, where you live, who you associate with, and — most importantly — who you are. To simply let the gravity of life take hold of you and force you to settle is not “good” settling.
With that in mind:
Why not fight life’s gravity and decide where you should settle?
As always, thanks for the time.
Foundation
No matter what you are building, you need a solid foundation if you want the entity to last. While almost everyone understands this, very few are willing to invest the time and effort to build a proper foundation. Instead, folks look for the quick and easy path to success:
- Earn $10,000 a month at home in two hours a day!
- Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!
- Get a raise from your boss by doing these three simple things!
I’d be amazed if there’s anyone reading this that doesn’t snicker a little bit when they read the above snippets. And the snicker’s probably for two reasons. First, you recognize the type of ad, see it regularly, and wonder who can believe such things. Second, you know that at some point in time you were seduced by such an ad. Maybe you didn’t “click through” but you thought about it.
We’re wired to look for the easy way. To take the shortcut. And it rarely works. What works is focusing on the fundamentals, repeatedly practicing/executing these fundamentals, using our failures as opportunities to learn, and making slow, steady progress. Without these solid foundational steps things won’t last.
With that in mind:
How are you building your foundation?
As always, thanks for the time.
Persevere
Sometimes things are just plain hard. You know what you want to do, you make the plan, you execute the plan, and yet things don’t go like you want them to go. Sometimes you need to revisit and re-question your assumptions to make sure that you’re on the right path for you. Often times you’ll conclude you are. It’s those times when you need to have faith and persevere. Sometimes it’s only after you go through that tough stretch that things start to improve. And, perhaps more importantly, if you don’t go persevere through those difficulties, there will always be the “what if” gremlin in the back of your mind.
With that in mind:
Would you rather have the short term pain of persevering or the long term haunting voices of the ‘what it’ gremlin?
As always, thanks for the time.
Choice
Perhaps the greatest gift and the greatest curse of our existence is our freedom of choice. On the one hand, we have the ability to decide on anything at anytime. If we are not happy with what we are doing or how things are going we are absolutely free to make the choice to change things. On the other hand, we are normally so caught up in our current state of being that we can not fathom the concept of change; and, while we know the choice to change is there, we can’t bring ourselves to take the first step. Knowing that we have the choice and are not taking it gnaws at us. Keeps us awake. Makes us wonder.
Ultimately it comes down to an issue of pain. Is the pain of staying in your current state more or less than the pain of going through a change. When we choose the latter, we come to understand just how important choice is.
With that in mind:
Which pain will you choose?
As always, thanks for the time.
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