Kicking the Can Down the Street

Life is about action. It’s that simple, yet that hard.  If you want big change, it starts with little things. 

We as humans have a natural desire to take the path of least resistance. Our innate reaction is to choose immediate pleasure over any kind of uncomfortableness.  Rather than make our bed right now, we’d rather just enjoy the moment and worry about it later. Rather than return this phone call we need to, we’ll just push save on the voicemail and worry about it later. Rather than solving a major career decision, we’ll go grab drinks with some friends and worry about it later.  Examples are easy to come by…

It’s crazy what we do.  We will substitute just a few seconds of pleasure for hours of anguish…if it means we don’t have to deal with it right now.  Rather than just returning the phone call mentioned above, we will push it aside for just a few moments of relief, followed by hours of anguish until the call is finally made. We won’t stop stressing it until it’s done. 

Think about all your decisions throughout your day. Virtually every one has a payoff, now or later? I can tell you from vast personal experience(I mean vast

), the opposite side of pleasure is pain. Pleasure is not happiness. A matter of fact, in most cases they are actually non-correlated.  When we instead tackle things immediately, we feel a sense of accomplishment that adds to our tank of happiness. 

Not dealing with life as it unfolds, kicking the can down the street so to speak, is not a long term solution for a life of happiness. When we do tackle these things immediately, when we take care of business, it’s amazing how much easier life gets.  It’s amazing how we grow and find freedom.

Life is hard. It’s relentless. We are always having to do things we don’t want to do, in that moment.  That’s what you signed up for in this game of life. Don’t look for shortcuts or ways to manipulate this game.  It can kill you.  Literally.

Don’t let the little things take you down. The little victories are what build to major victories.  Start living this week.

WEEKLY ACTION

Take action. Just do life on life’s terms this week.  Make your bed in the morning. Take the clothes out of the dryer now. Call everyone back when appropriate.  If you feel sad because of a lost relationship, welcome the sadness and feel it.  Don’t just go grab a drink or pop a pill, which seems to be societal norm these days. Feel the pain of life because without, there’d be no such thing as happiness (thank you CS Lewis). Everything would just be average right?

You can build your strength of discipline by executing the small the things. If you do this all week, you’ll find the more challenging decisions, with bigger pay offs, will seem easier to handle with your growing confidence.  There is maybe no better way to build confidence than through discipline. Start driving life instead of having it drive you.…dropping the mic…

Make it a great week.

– Matt

Daily Fundamentals 

Do something incredible

Give something incredible 

Create something incredible 

Klarity. Live Simple