Do you remember the smart kid in the class? You know, the one who knew all the answers. The one with the great parents. The one with the money. The one who had great friends. The one who had it made.
Have you ever thought “If only I could have this” or “If this wasn’t in my life”? Do you want to know how the smart kid in the class came to having it all the things that he wanted? He never thought those thoughts.
Sitting on the sidelines and watching seems to be the common pastime of most human beings today. We sit and watch our life pass us by. We are paralyzed by our fear of the unknown and will do anything to avoid things that are new and foreign. (I think these are called excuses.) The lives of other people are more interesting to most of them than the life that is unfolding right in front of their eyes. Does anyone else see this as a problem?
Personally, there have been many times in my life where I should have done things that I didn’t. I wish I would have stuck with playing the piano. I wish I would have made more friends. I wish I would have gotten better grades. I wish I would have not wasted so much of my time doing things that didn’t matter.
The number one regret of anyone that I have asked always starts out “Well, I wish I would have -fill in the blank-”
There have been many times in my life that I have felt stuck in a certain state of being. Trapped by what I later learned to be fear that was based on nothing logical. It was only me telling myself that this is the way that things are, and I just have to accept that and move on with my life. To be blunt, I believe that this way of thinking is lies, based on falsehood, and sprinkled with deceit. Lies that I have told myself to be true.
I have put limitations on myself that are based on nothing but what I think that I can achieve. It’s as Theodore Roosevelt said “If you think you can or can’t do something, you are always right.” This isn’t a bunch of mumbo jumbo, feel good nonsense. This is a true fact that so many of lose sight of, myself included.
To often have I stopped myself from achieving something great. This is common problem that people face. To achieve something great doesn’t mean that you have to change the world. Greatness comes from the ability to change ourselves for the better. I truly believe that those of us who think they are great, become great.
Growth and Achievement
Right now, I can think of at least 10 things that I want to change or do better in my life. So what’s stopping me from making those changes or achieving those goals. Simple answer. Me. So what’s stopping you from achieving your goals and ambitions, however big or small they may be? Another simple answer. You. Many times we feel victim to circumstance, or to the will or influence of other people in our lives. It doesn’t have to, and neither should it be, this way.
The people that I wish I was more like all have certain characteristics in common. These characteristics are the basis of all of our personal growth and achievements. There are three values that my “heroes” have in common.
- Simplicity
- Action
- Persistence
All of the successful people in my life embody these characteristics. The more successful the person, the better they are at applying these values. These three values can be applied to almost any area of life. If you want to see huge growth in an area of your life, apply these three principles to it.
Application of the Three Values
Putting these values into motion is the hardest part of the process. The more you do it the better you become at it. This can be applied to whatever you are wanting to change or improve. It can be applied to skills, relationships, business, music, productivity, time management, and what I think to be most important; love.
The ability to apply these principles is something that your growth in any area of life depends on. Sure, you can go for complex solutions, lazy answers, and half-hearted efforts, but is that really the kind of person that you want to be? Is that the kind of person that you want to be known as? Or do you want to be the person that people look up to? The choice is yours to make. If you want to coast through life, go ahead. Nobody is stopping you, because it is a choice that you are making.
The more that I live and experience life, the more that I see the things that I think are important, often aren’t. The things that I should have paid attention to, I didn’t. This made me upset and frustrated for awhile, because I knew that I could never go back and change those events. I could never actually accomplish my lists of “I wish I would have” because they were only relevant to the past.
Take at look at the last two sentences that I wrote. Therein lies the answer to my problem (simple, wasn’t it?). I could never go back and do things differently. If I can never go back and change things that are in my past, then why should I let it dictate what I do with my life now? Live, Learn, Love. Live the life you were given as best you can. Learn from your mistakes. Love regardless.
After I got past my past (nice play on words, eh?), I was able to think about how I want the future of my life to turn out. Where do I want to go? What do I want to do? etc. These all brought up a question that had to be answered before any of the other answers became a reality. How am I going to get there? What can I do to ensure that I get there, and live a fuller life along the way? There are many things that lead to a full life, and I am sure that I will be figuring these things out until the day that I die; but, I know that there are things that I have learned that can be applied now that will lead me in the direction of my hopes and dreams. The three main values that I can apply to my life are: Simplicity, Action, and Persistence.
I invite you to apply these principles to your life and see what wonderful changes may come about. The next articles that I write will deal with each of these core values, and give you practical ways to implement them in your life. Don’t be afraid of change, it’s how we grow and learn in the world that we live in.
