Today could be the day that you meet someone that is going to change your life or your business.
Today could be the day that you receive information that is going to make a real difference to the way you think about your problems.
Today could be the day that you receive a contract that gets you to perform for millions of people.
Today could be the day that your child or loved one gives you an experience that is going to make you feel loved.
But you have to stop saying “no time”, “I’m busy”, “I’ve too much to do” or “I’ve to finish this first!”
Make time for the things that are truly important to YOU. Make time for the things that make you WHOLE. We don’t really “have” time, we “make” time for what we love and value.
Nobody would plan to grow tremendously because…
It would mean that they consciously choose to put themselves into Insane, Ridiculous, Painful, Illogical and Almost-Stupid situations. It is against our nature.
BUT THE VERY FEW THAT DO PUT THEMSELVES INTO IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS are often labelled by others as M.A.D. (people like Gandhi, Mandela, Martin Luther King, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, Obama etc.). M.A.D. is the need to “MAKE-A-DIFFERENCE”.
So are you mad at yourself for not playing at 100% all your life?
Are you avoiding discomfort, inconvenient and challenging situations so that you can easily cruise along in life? Are you distracting yourself with fun and easy-to-do things so that you can postpone the things that are life/world-changing?
TODAY IS THE DAY YOU CHOOSE TO LIVE AN AWAKENED LIFE.
CHOOSE: What you know deep in your heart, would truly MAKE-A-DIFFERENCE in your life, and the lives you want to impact.
CHOOSE. TODAY.
I hear a lot of people being honest about their shortcomings.
I call these our “bullshits“. Some say that they have always struggled with being assertive; that they are afraid of presenting; that they can’t wake up in the morning; they can’t stop binge-ing; that they can’t stop procrastinating; that they are afraid of failure… (you know the “Blah, Blah, Blah…”)
It seems that their whole life is about avoiding discomfort:
- evading opportunities to try something new;
- avoiding the risk of being embarrassed in front of people;
- not facing the truth that they enjoy the status quo like “well, life is not good, but it’s not painful”;
- avoiding the monster that they can’t stop doing pleasurable-meaningless-things.
Well, 2022 can be a year of unbelievable joy and satisfaction of being the person that we always knew or deeply yearned to be. Or, we could just sleep, bury our yearnings and cruise through our lives – AGAIN.
BE DETERMINED TO WAKE UP TO A DIFFERENT DAY.
What kind of difference do you want to make? What kind of difference do you need? What difference would truly make a difference?
The truth is, these are just “postponing” and “distracting” questions to stop you from changing—to complicate issues from the simple truth. Things will be the same if you don’t do something different tomorrow.
So start with the obvious.
Get up at a chosen time. Eat and exercise to make yourself feel great. Make appointments with people that would make a difference to your work or your personal development—choose people who will be honest with you but also see the greatness in you.
Go to places outside of your home and office, and give yourself time to reflect and envision.
That’s it, and repeat for one week.
We have a brand new year. So set your intentions now.
When you get down to it, it’s about trusting what your heart tells you to do.
Then learn from your experience, and choose to adapt your strategy. We all get smarter through our experience. It’s ok to do something different (of relevance to your intention and outcome) imperfectly.
Commit to an action now that brings you half a step closer to your intended outcome. Do it now!
FOLLOW THROUGH WITH DELAYED GRATIFICATION.
Started in Stanford University, delayed gratification is a 20-year research done by psychologists. The experiment was simple: put a marshmallow in front of four/five-year-olds and tell them that if they could wait for fifteen minutes or more before they eat it, they would get two or more marshmallows.
The children who were able to wait, they grew up with better academic grades, better overall health markers, higher cognitive and social skills. They ended up with professional jobs and the ability to manage stress effectively (higher resilience).
And how does delayed gratification look like in our world today?
Today we have smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, laptops, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Youtube. We have so many choices for good food and easy access to them right here in Singapore. What do you think?
I don’t know about you, but I can absolutely say this for myself: I would have gone much further in life (in terms of learning and teaching), if I had mastered delayed gratification earlier. I’m absolutely certain that I’d have been able to lengthen my projects, be more consistent in my efforts, not give up when I don’t get results straight away, hold off gratifying myself with food and buying things, say no to low priority social engagements.
So what does this mean for you?
How can you develop the patient, persistent and sustained-creativity muscles in your life so that you can make a larger contribution to life? I could safely say, if you don’t master delayed gratification, crafting a Mission Statement would sound impressive now but later become a painful disappointment or even an insult to yourself.
For 2022: What is your plan and how are you going to follow through with your daily routine?
What are the milestones that will prove that you are following through?
Choose, today. Be determined to wake up to a different day. Choose to live an Awakened Life.
Resources to help you get started:
Career Growth 4D
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“Who’s this better person you want to become?”
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