Be yourself, everyone else is taken
It may be almost impossible, but it can still be done.
It may be very difficult, but that doesn’t need to hold you back.
It may be something that no-one else you know has done before, but you can be the first.
So, don’t be daunted by the challenge, get excited.
It will cost you to live your best life.
To make decisions with the long-term in mind.
To continually learn.
To remain disciplined and focused.
To do the right thing, even when you don’t feel like it.
To work hard every day.
According to poet W. H. Auden,
You need not see what someone is doing
to know if it is his vocation,
you have only to watch his eye;
a cook mixing a sauce, a surgeon
making a primary incision,
a clerk completing a bill of lading,
wear the same rapt expression, forgetting
themselves in a function.
How beautiful it is,
that eye-on-the-object look.
Don’t just go through the motions.
Don’t just put your days on repeat.
Don’t settle for second best.
Keep challenging yourself.
You can keep learning.
You can keep pushing.
When you yell into a canyon, the words echo.
When you write online, there’s a very similar effect.
What you say lingers.
They can have a greater impact than originally intended.
Your opportunities aren’t behind you.
Your chances to change the world aren’t in the past.
Your best work needn’t have happened in days gone by.
They’re in the future.
They’re in the work you do today and tomorrow.
According to writer, Jon Gordon,
“Anything worthwhile takes time to build.
We all want success now, but that’s not how success works.”
A great forest takes decades to grow.
A great cathedral takes decades to construct.
A great career takes years to build.
If a billionaire lives without gratitude, is he truly rich?
If a genius lives without gratitude, is she truly smart?
If a gifted musician or athlete lives without gratitude, should we be envious of their lives?
Because if you can have everything that you want, but can’t be grateful, what have you really got?
I’ve seen children living in poverty who were grateful for the little that they have.
So much of our ability to be successful in life depends on these two simple elements.
Get to the start line, get to the finish line.
It can be difficult to get started.
Where do we begin?
What should we do first?
What direction do I head in?
I came across a great quote tonight:
“Make sure the fire inside you burns stronger than the fire around you.”
What a great reminder that it’s not the problems or obstacles in your life that need to define you.
It’s not the people around you who set limits on your standards of excellence.
And your level of success isn’t dependent upon your circumstances.
