Refuse to Settle. Make your days count !!!
Musings from a
Recliner – 0530 hrs – 17 Feb 2019.
~ Lally
Virk.
‘Random thoughts’…………..!!!
'Die Empty' – Refuse to settle. Make your days count.
“Embrace the importance of now, and refuse to allow the lull
of comfort, fear, familiarity, and ego to prevent you from taking action on
your ambitions. The cost of inaction is vast. Don’t go to your grave with your
best work inside of you. Choose to 'die empty'.”
The most valuable land in the world is not Manhattan, or
Buckingham Palace or the gold mines of Africa or the oil fields of Saudi
Arabia. The most valuable land in the world is the graveyard. In the graveyard
are buried all the ‘unwritten novels, never launched businesses, un-reconciled
relationships, unrealized dreams’ and all the other things that people thought,
“I’ll get around that tomorrow….but sadly ran out of tomorrows”.
“Don’t go to your grave with your best work inside of you.
Choose to die empty.”
Dying Empty does not entail burning oneself out due to
overwork. It’s not the same as getting everything done today. It’s not the same
as ‘there’s no tomorrow’.
In his commencement address to the Stanford University class
of 2005, the late Apple Co-founder Steve jobs told the students, “I have looked
in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my
life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer
has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something’.
Most of us live with the stubborn idea that we’ll always
have tomorrow to do our most important and valuable work. We fill our days with
frantic activity, bouncing from task to task, scrambling to make deadlines and
chase the next promotion. But by the end of each day we’re often left asking
ourselves “did the work I did today really matter?” We feel the ticking of the
clock, but we’re stuck in first gear, unsure of the path forward and without a
road map to guide us.
Here’s the hard truth: sooner or later we will run out of all our tomorrows, so how we choose to spend today is significant. Each day that we
postpone difficult tasks and succumb to the clutter that chokes creativity,
discipline, and innovation results in a net deficit to our organizations,
ourselves and to the world.
It’s not about slaving over a project or living on a
whim—it’s about embracing the idea that time is finite and making the unique
contribution to the world that only you can make. It’s about finding your
‘sweet spot’…..I’m sure golfers would understand this terminology better. The
three critical elements of finding your ‘sweet spot’ are the convergence of
passion, talent and money. The last being important because if you have passion
and talent but no money, all you have is a hobby. If you have passion and money
but no talent, you fail. And if you have talent and money but no passion,
you’ll be bored.
Wildly successful executives, philanthropists and thought
leaders operate in their “sweet spots.” Remember, if you really want to
discover your ‘sweet spot’ you need to get really hangry……no I haven’t spelt
that wrong !!
Passion” has its roots in the Latin word pati, which means
“to suffer or endure.” Therefore, at the root of passion is suffering. This is
a far cry from the way we casually toss around the word in our day-to-day
conversations. Instead of asking “What would bring me enjoyment?” which is how
many people think about following their passion, we should instead ask “What
work am I willing to suffer for today?” Great work requires suffering for
something beyond yourself. It’s created when you bend your life around a
mission and spend yourself on something you deem worthy of your best effort.
Have you discovered your worthwhile cause ? What is your worthwhile cause?
When people begin to experience the lull of mediocrity, they
often question whether they are in the right job. They wonder if there might be
another one out there that would better suit them, and that might give them the
thrill they once experienced before things went south. They may even act on
that impulse, hopping to another job or company, and subsequently find that
everything is better for a while. The newness is back, and that craved-for
sense of challenge has returned. Problem solved? Actually, no. In many of these
situations the job hopper is right back in crisis within a matter of months.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with their new job; it’s because they
changed their external situation without changing their mind-set and methods.
They were trying to solve an internal problem by changing their external
circumstances, which rarely works. You have to begin by finding alignment
internally, then question your work environment.
Emptying yourself of your best work isn’t just about
checking off tasks on your to-do list; it’s about making steady, critical
progress each day on the projects that matter, in all areas of life.
You should cultivate the mind-set and the methods you need
to sustain your enthusiasm, push through mental barriers, and unleash your best
work each day.
To countermand ego, you must adopt a posture of
adaptability. This means being in a state of continual learning and openness to
correction.
An ounce of preventative discipline today is worth a pound
of corrective action later. If assumptions weren’t challenged, innovation would
cease.
No one charts a course for mediocrity, yet it is still a
destination of choice.
The love of comfort is often the enemy of greatness.
People sell their souls by running away from the battles
they know they should be fighting.
Talking of battles.....well for me, 2018 was possibly the
toughest year of my life…..it challenged me and pushed me in so many directions.
It made me re-address life itself. It taught me so many lessons. It made me
realize that I am stronger than I thought I was. Yet it taught me that I am not
enough. It taught me that my life is what I make of it and it taught me that,
much as people would like to believe, happiness is not in one’s control. It
further strengthened my belief that there are no ‘tomorrows’. Life is now, life
is here….life is this ‘moment’. As we entered a new year, I breathed a sigh of
relief and release.
There comes a time when you begin to realize that the ‘money
you are earning is costing you more than you can afford’. That is the time you
need to start investing in yourself. You need to ensure that the ‘return on
investment’ is worth your time. You need to always keep in mind that you are
far more expansive than the margins of your resume.
How would you act differently tomorrow if you knew that your
actions and attitude on that one day were going to be a permanent testament to
your life?
Today, ensconced on this recliner when I reflect on my life
gone by, and look at the trajectory my life took ….uphill or downhill is for
the world to judge…. I realise that advertently or inadvertently, knowingly or
unknowingly I ensured one thing. I will not ‘die empty’.
I also do realize that it was my genetics that always loaded
the gun….but it was a decisive mind that pulled the trigger.
Yes, the game is not over as yet because I do know that the
roads are made for journeys and not destinations…….
Remember not all those who wander are lost.
Die with memories, not dreams. 🤔🏌🌴⚔
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