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Don’t wait until it’s too late to do all of things that you want to do with your life.
To start that podcast.
To travel to Europe (or if you’re from Europe, to travel to Australia).
To plant that garden.
To restore that relationship.
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Professional athletes train incessantly to get better.
World-class musicians are always practicing, practicing, practicing.
Soldiers are consistently doing drills or carefully simulated combat missions to further develop their skills.
Why?
To get better.
I’m an optimist, so I believe that no matter the situation, the best is almost always yet to come.
However, such a statement needs to come with an important caveat.
The best is yet to come, but only if you put in the work.
Only if you don’t rest on the laurels of past successes.
You can’t be half pregnant.
You can’t half start a business.
A cafe isn’t half open.
Swimming halfway across the English Channel isn’t memorable.
Like many other teenage boys, my 13-year-old, is absurdly forgetful.
Before we leave for school every morning, there is a checklist to go through.
“Do you have your bag?” “Yep.”
“Do you have your laptop?” “Yep.”
“Do you have your blazer?” “Yep.”
“Do you have your sports uniform?” “Oh.” Followed by the sound of footsteps to his bedroom.
“What have I got to be grateful for?” the grouch mumbles under his breath.
He looks and waits for everything to go perfectly so that he has a reason to be happy and then perhaps he will be grateful.
But it doesn’t work that way.
Instead of waiting for something to make you happy so that you can be grateful, be grateful first.
Even on the worst of days, I can list a handful of things that make me smile and that allow me to look to the heavens with thanks.
I don’t know what you were born to do.
I don’t know what you are passionate about.
I don’t know what comes easily for you.
I don’t know what you seem destined for greatness in.
When you fall down… get up and go again.
When you make a mistake… learn from it and go again.
When an idea doesn’t quite work… keep tweaking it and go again.
When you feel like giving up… keep persisting and go again.
Professor Clay Christensen once said, “A good life is not one that is free from struggle, but one in which people have the tools to overcome what life throws at them.”
He said this in the context of parents who mistakenly protect their kids from life’s inevitable difficulties, but it has obvious wider permutations.
The reality is that there are struggles in life, so we must aim to overcome them, not avoid them.
It’s winter now here in Melbourne and that means the fireplace starts to get a serious workout.
Most days at this time of year, I put fresh firewood in and start another fire to keep our house nice and warm.
I wish that yesterday’s wood would get the job done, but it’s gone now and has to be replaced.
It’s similar to our motivation levels.
