Doesn’t equal self-sacrifice.
Contribution is only in balance when you’re contributing and being contributed to.
If you’re not being contributed to, you may be contributing to the wrong people.
But never fear being contributed to. Most people are just waiting for the call.
The trip is not official until you buy the ticket.
You can hold an intention for the trip. You can speculate on what it will be like when you get there. You can share with others that you will be going on a trip.
But until you’ve bought the ticket, there’s no commitment. No need to overcome obstacles, conflicts, or worries. No need to plan for when you’re away.
Even when starting with the end in mind, most people default to behaviors that don’t fulfill the outcome they’ve set out to accomplish. They stall, make excuses, and make themselves look busy. But they won’t buy the ticket.
I’m sure the metaphor isn’t lost on you.
If you’re going to launch a business in 90 days, buy the domain name.
If you’re going to enter a competition in seven months, register your attendance.
If you’re going to host an event in a year, book the venue.
Commit to the outcome. Buy the ticket. It will be easy to align your actions with the outcome when you’ve bought the ticket.
“I’m not good at managing my time.”
“I don’t know how to handle my money.”
“I’m bad at relationships.”
We tell ourselves many stories about life. These stories rule us.
Stories can be difficult to overcome. But typically, there’s only one thing standing in the way of overcoming them – a complete and thorough examination of our time, money, relationships, whatever subject we’re stuck on.
We stay in our stories because we’re too scared to look. We don’t want to look at our calendars because we don’t want to own up to double-booking constantly. We don’t want to look at our bills because we’re scared of how much we owe and have in our bank accounts. We don’t want to assess our own behaviors in relationships because we’d rather not be responsible for what didn’t work.
But clarity on where you stand now empowers you to make new decisions that could transform your life incrementally.
Are you stuck?
Consider:
What are you not facing up to?
The mystery of life is that even when all doors around you seem to be closing, at least one door is opening somewhere.
Identifying this one door may not be easy. It may require making a few phone calls, putting some feelers out there, and researching your options.
But the nos you get are far more telling of where you’re supposed to be than the yeses. We often like to think we have unlimited options when the truth is at any given moment there are probably only a few that represent any kind of opportunity.
As doors close in your face, always remember that closed doors are not rejection. They are merely indicative of choices that won’t serve you right now.
There’s a place where you belong. A place where you’re supposed to be right now. It’s not a punishment. It’s an opportunity to be present.
If you aren’t present to where you are, you will miss out on what’s in front of you.
So often we’re much too busy trying to get somewhere that we don’t appreciate the stations along the way.
Maybe the stations are the juice. Maybe if we focus too much on where we think we’re supposed to be, we’ll miss out on what life is trying to show us, give us, and bless us with now.
Learn to love where you are, who you are, and what you’re doing. Become present to it. Life isn’t happening later. It’s happening now.
Hey! I’m author, entrepreneur, and musician David Andrew Wiebe. Learn more >
