We're Changing
Per usual it has been a bit since my last post. I suppose that what's sparked me to sit and write today isn't all of the adventures of which I've been blessed to be a part. And it's not the events and goals I hope to accomplish the rest of this year. It's not that I started a business or ran across the Grand Canyon or found myself in a lightning storm high on a mountain thinking I might die or somehow ended up committing to an international orienteering competition or that I finally ran an ultra-marathon again after 4 years away from the sport. It's not even that I began my paperwork last week to resign my active duty status in a year.
Well...it's some of that. But much like a book, the events themselves represent a theme of a larger story, the decisions people make and the way they change over time, not just what they do but the way they live their lives and why they have chosen that particular path. I recently watched an interesting TED talk where the speaker outlined data that supports that across all points in our life span, we grossly underestimate the amount of change we will personally undergo. In other words, we mistakingly think that the way we are today is not likely to change, that we somehow have arrived at our finished product.
And yet the truth is that we are all works in progress. Whether we chose to believe this or not, the data is clear. For those who pride themselves in having an open mind, fighting complacency and mediocracy, this is not so much a surprise. You entrepreneurs thrive in a changing environment. Maybe those who do the same thing their entire lives do not. But in any case, if we are always changing then I'd like to get to the business of paying attention to what it is we are changing into...
Here in the conversation we bring in the the concept of focus. What does it mean to have focus in a world as fast-paced as ours? For the most part, we can find any piece of information we wish, but we have to filter everything else to get there. If you can dream it, you can google it. So how do you focus in this world of constant entertainment and excitement. I don't think the answer will surprise you too much. You know what to say no to and what to say yes to... Some of those opportunities you say no to will be great opportunities, but you cannot say yes to everything and achieve a specific goal. You cannot live within 2 or 3 or 4 parallel lives, bouncing between what you believe to be the best from all the possible scenarios. You cannot. There is just you and there is just one life and one choice. You are not the internet.
But if you can dream it, you can probably go out and do it.
Don't make any excuses, just start moving your legs.
Jim Carrey recently said this in a commencement speech but I've long believed this was true about life. He said that you could make decisions based on fear or on love. Asking yourself this question provides amazing clarity for your own personal choices as well as when you are trying to understand the choices of others. It's a bit of a "black and white" question, however I think because we are asking about motivations, it leaves the room we need to be human. Because two people can make the same decision for completely different reasons while two people make a different decision for the same reason. So it's not the decision so much as why you chose it.
My simple reason for choosing love is that I know I would regret making life choices out of fear. It just doesn't bode well for happiness, honesty, intimacy, leadership, parenting, etc. It's not that we need to have our lives figured out, it's that we need to live in the present moment with the clarity that the choices we make now are made out of love and not fearing the unknown or fearing that we are weak and not good enough. My friends, just go for it. If you fail and if for some reason you must wear your failures for a time, wear them like a badge on your chest atop your loving heart. Don't assume that a life not completely planned out or perfect isn't worth living for it is just the opposite.
Living is change. Change is living. Choose to love it.
Well...it's some of that. But much like a book, the events themselves represent a theme of a larger story, the decisions people make and the way they change over time, not just what they do but the way they live their lives and why they have chosen that particular path. I recently watched an interesting TED talk where the speaker outlined data that supports that across all points in our life span, we grossly underestimate the amount of change we will personally undergo. In other words, we mistakingly think that the way we are today is not likely to change, that we somehow have arrived at our finished product.
And yet the truth is that we are all works in progress. Whether we chose to believe this or not, the data is clear. For those who pride themselves in having an open mind, fighting complacency and mediocracy, this is not so much a surprise. You entrepreneurs thrive in a changing environment. Maybe those who do the same thing their entire lives do not. But in any case, if we are always changing then I'd like to get to the business of paying attention to what it is we are changing into...
Here in the conversation we bring in the the concept of focus. What does it mean to have focus in a world as fast-paced as ours? For the most part, we can find any piece of information we wish, but we have to filter everything else to get there. If you can dream it, you can google it. So how do you focus in this world of constant entertainment and excitement. I don't think the answer will surprise you too much. You know what to say no to and what to say yes to... Some of those opportunities you say no to will be great opportunities, but you cannot say yes to everything and achieve a specific goal. You cannot live within 2 or 3 or 4 parallel lives, bouncing between what you believe to be the best from all the possible scenarios. You cannot. There is just you and there is just one life and one choice. You are not the internet.
But if you can dream it, you can probably go out and do it.
Don't make any excuses, just start moving your legs.
Jim Carrey recently said this in a commencement speech but I've long believed this was true about life. He said that you could make decisions based on fear or on love. Asking yourself this question provides amazing clarity for your own personal choices as well as when you are trying to understand the choices of others. It's a bit of a "black and white" question, however I think because we are asking about motivations, it leaves the room we need to be human. Because two people can make the same decision for completely different reasons while two people make a different decision for the same reason. So it's not the decision so much as why you chose it.
My simple reason for choosing love is that I know I would regret making life choices out of fear. It just doesn't bode well for happiness, honesty, intimacy, leadership, parenting, etc. It's not that we need to have our lives figured out, it's that we need to live in the present moment with the clarity that the choices we make now are made out of love and not fearing the unknown or fearing that we are weak and not good enough. My friends, just go for it. If you fail and if for some reason you must wear your failures for a time, wear them like a badge on your chest atop your loving heart. Don't assume that a life not completely planned out or perfect isn't worth living for it is just the opposite.
Living is change. Change is living. Choose to love it.
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