From “Do the Work” by Steven Pressfield:
At least twice a week, I pause in the rush of work and have a meeting with myself. (If I were part of a team, I’d call a team meeting.) I ask myself, again, of the project; “What is this damn thing about?”
Do you know why you are doing what you are doing today?
What is the desired end result?
What is it about?
If you want to lead a successful and fulfilling life that makes a committed impact, I can guarantee you this:
There is a mental labor threshold you will get to cross.
That moment you are writing out your vision and you want to quit.
The moment you don’t know where to start and you have to choose if you will start anyways.
The moment you know you need to write about something and you can’t seem to put the pen to the page.
The moment you long to risk yet can’t seem to conjure up the courage.
Either you will cross it and push through, or you will find yourself obsessed with the easy side of the threshold – jealous of those who chose to take another step.
Is focus something I choose? Or is it something I must be born with?
What do you think?
Gallups Strenthsfinder has one of their “talents” as “focus.” And I have seen some people who seem to naturally have incredible focus.
But, my question is this: Am I justified in not having focus based on whether or not it comes naturally?
I don’t think so.
I definitely wouldn’t describe myself as a person who naturally has focus. Yet, there have been times that I have chosen to be incredibly focused.
For me, it always comes down to how compelling and clear my vision is.
Because when I was pursuing my wife in hopes she would let me take her to dinner when we first met, I had world-class focus. My vision was crystal clear.
What do you think?
We all experience disappointment at some points in our lives.
So, what are some thoughts to handle it in the most resourceful way possible?
It is important to know that disappointment is not a bad thing. It could mean a number of things. It could mean that your expectations were not met. It could also mean that you went for something bigger than yourself and missed it. Or it could mean that someone else let you down.
No matter what, disappointment is not a “bad” thing. What if we were able to look at disappointment without judging it? What resource could it provide?
I think there are 2 primary ways to go with this:
1. From now on, set clear expectations with yourself and others. This doesn’t mean you won’t be let down, but it significantly decreases the chances.
2. Keep taking risks. I think when we are going after the life we dream of, disappointment can be paralyzing at times. We must reconnect with the “why” behind our dreams and then find a way to get back on track.
What do you think? Feel free to share thoughts or questions in the comments section.
We are always setting the world up in a particular way.
And often we are disconnected from just how we are setting the world up.
For example, if I consistently avoid conflicts, I am setting up the world in a way that conflict is scary. And I am setting up the world in a way that deep relationships aren’t meaningful to me (since deep relationships are forged through conflict). I’m setting things up and communicating to others that they aren’t worth me getting out of my comfort zone to love them and work through issues. Etc.
And along with that, we are setting the world up to relate to ourselves in a certain way. In the example about conflict, if I avoid it, I’m setting up things in such a way that I am weak, cannot hold my own, allowing my fear to guide me rather than my love.
We are always setting the world up in a certain way. And that system is creating results.
If I don’t like the results, I’ve got to make some shifts in the system.
