At the end of it all, everyone wants to be able to say that they lived their life, they loved their life and that their life mattered.
This is called success and significance.
Thing is, no one wants to pay the price.
This thing called sacrifice.
We are faced with the challenge each day of making decisions. We want a better future, but we don’t understand that the future is made up of today.
What choices are we making? What habits are we forming? Are we aware about the discipline our desired future requires of us?
Why are we not making those choices?
This is the time given to us by God to grow and balance our lives as we are mostly at home with family. And yet we are distracted, tilted off and ultimately – tired. Thanks to technology and and endless slew of entertainment.
I have learned recently that having 1 major goal a year for growth is something we should all have. Mine has always been to sleep and wake up early. I haven’t had a lot of success in this goal but I am making progress with the little decisions I’m making and changing in my schedule.
You see, change MUST happen before growth can occur. If you are not willing to change anything in your schedule and daily choices, it is impossible for growth to take place.
For me, that meant cutting short my entertainment time, delegating more work that I love doing to others and deciding to be in bed by 10pm so I can be asleep by 11pm.
I’ll try to push it back further to be in bed by 9pm but for now this works swimmingly for me.
I also want to get back into the habit of writing here at least once a week to benefit you – my readers (and the rest of the world who can read this). That can only happen if I choose to jog my mind in the morning with a 30 minute walk and sit down on my computer opening nothing but my blog.
One big thing that is fueling my desire to grow and change this year is reading books for personal growth. I’m starting with John Maxwell’s The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth. This has helped me get up everyday with renewed purpose and desire to grow and improve.
“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for the people you meet and the books you read.” – Charlie Jones
Read books instead of spending time on entertainment.
It is a discipline that requires sacrifice sure – but it’s a worthy one.
Before you reach success and significance, you have to first get into the habit of sacrificing quick hits of dopamine – doing the easy and fun for the hard and fulfilling.
Building a life that will matter looks a lot like this:
Sacrifice -> Success -> Significance
I hope this entry has added value to you today.
