The weeks, months, and years seem to fly by don’t they?
Earlier this month I arrived at (yet again) another birthday. A group of us friends who all had birthdays in May took a trip out to the Black Hills to celebrate another year in the books. We golfed, hiked, hot tubbed, laughed, and had a music playlist on repeat all weekend long that consisted of just 6 songs. Along with being able to recite those lyrics backwards the trip was extremely memorable.
After another birthday came and went I kept returning to a question that I’ve asked myself through the years. In a way it seems to become more relevant with each one.
Am I Where I Want To Be?
It’s a question that holds a lot of value because it can be looked at in completely opposite ways. There can be certain areas where we are exactly where we want to be - possibly in our relationship, our job, our residence, or how far we are from the nearest ice cream parlor. In other areas we are so far from where we want to be that we can’t put it into words. Perhaps it’s in our career, our circle of influence, financially, or how far we are from the nearest ice cream parlor.
When this question is asked and I reflect on it the answer in nearly all areas is no. I’m not sure where the wiring came from but I am just anxious to learn, to grow, and to be better. However, as I’ve wrote in previous posts such as How Can We Become More Present and One Thing We Should Feel Every Day, becoming more aware and enabling myself to enjoy a present state has also become extremely important to me. Being able to get in the moment and stay there is something I’ve cultivated and fully embraced.
So, how does one know that they aren’t where they want to be, but still be able to embrace right now?
We need to enjoy where we are on the way to where we are going.
It’s in a present state of mind. It’s in the approach to our days. It’s in our routines. When we have goals and aspirations we want to achieve in life they often seem like big, lofty, almost unattainable goals. The key to achieving those lifelong goals is to break them down into small steps. The decisions we make daily will impact our long term goals. Will this get me closer to my goal? Will these actions I take make me better, keep me the same, or set me farther back?
I’d like you to take just a few minutes and watch the short video below (the direct message starts at 1:52 in if you’d like to fast forward)
Thoughts?
This message has stuck with me for years because it reminds me of the heroes and role models that I look up to in my own life. Whether it be our parents, grandparents, a sports star, a musician, a teacher, a business owner, or our manager - we all have someone that we look up to. We all have someone that we aspire to be. We often think of these role models as old, wise, the greatest, flawless, or even perfect. Even though most of them would argue they are far from those things - how did they attain such an influence on us?
They’ve worked - continuously - every single day. They put in long hours. They worked until their fingers were cut and bruised. They failed over and over again. They learned from each of those failures. They put in the daily work and continued to better themselves. We admire them because they are the best. What does it take to be the best? Practice, failure, lessons learned, improvement, practice, failure, lessons learned, growth, and practice.
Did I mention practice?
We can be a hero, we can be a role model, and we can be that person that somebody looks up to. It is done with inner work. A leader isn’t a title that the world gives to us, it’s an offering that we give to the world. If we put in the work, take action, and make decisions that better ourselves we will keep growing and we will keep getting better. It’s in our daily habits. It’s in the simple actions we take where we move the needle toward our goals.
The best thing we have to offer is the best version of ourselves. Lets continue to be, work on, and chase that version every single day.
Are you where you want to be? Keep working, keep failing, keep learning, and keep growing - we’ll eventually get to where we want to be. And when we get there?
We’ll find something new to chase.
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