Growing up, I always wanted a pet. I remember always running next door to my neighbors house, a kind and much too sweet older lady, who happened to have a black cat. I was fascinated by the grace, elegance and playfulness that the cat had. So, I planned a way to get a cat of my own. Instead of a cat, I got stories of all the cats my mom had in her earlier years and fish.
Now, fish are in a category of their own. You can’t walk them or really play with them but what I failed to see was that those fish each had personalities and unique traits of their own.
This is often the case with many who strive to accomplish anything. We only see the good in the things we want, and if what we get isn’t what we wanted, we overlook the lessons and opportunities of what we’ve received.
Avoiding insanity
We tend to do the same things over and over again, expecting for things to change because we have faith that they will. If anything, this thought process is an insult to what having faith means. Einstein described insanity as doing the same things over and over while expecting a different result.
The routines we fall prey to now, will either strengthen or destroy us over time. If we constantly allow ourselves to think that now isn’t the best time to aim for our goals, then we simply never will.
[Tweet “The routines we fall prey to now, will either strengthen or destroy us over time.”]
We weren’t created to live a life of hopeful wishing. Even by evolutionary standards we should be constantly shifting towards something better. Yet every day we sit around, complaining about how hard life is, how much we have to do and all the obstacles we face in getting to a better place.
Life isn’t about being rich, it’s about making a difference right where you are, with the talents you have. If we don’t use our talents, they will be lost and we’ll end up dying long before the day placed in the papers.
Discipline determines the victor
One of the many Bruce Lee quotes that I’ve grown fond of goes “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Often, we get stuck in this mindset that we have to be good at everything in order to be truly successful, and when we discover that we aren’t, we develop jealousy, anger and resentment.
We fail to see the hours of dedication that the successor has placed into their skill. In our world of everything happening all at once, we’ve forgotten that greatness comes from daily, consistent practice.
From dieting, fitness and New Years resolutions, we give excuses to give up and throw in the towel, never truly giving anything a chance to yield any results. All because we lack vision, drive and the determination to live for something bigger than ourselves.
The best way to achieve a large goal is to break it into smaller, digestible pieces. If your goal is to write a book, start by writing a paragraph or sentence a day. If your goal is to run a marathon, start a routine to run a minimum distance every day and build on that distance over time.
Regardless of your goal, find something you can start with and consistently keep working until that goal has been achieved. Then find another goal and repeat.
Each choice we make today sets the tone for what we may experience tomorrow.
Onward!
Faith requires more than just wishing something will happen. It requires action and perseverance and in return, we are rewarded with an experience that shapes us into better people.
Strive to live a life that isn’t the definition of insanity. Strive to be different, dare to be amazing and create more good.
