Are you letting life just happen to you?
The other day, I found myself at work, and every few minutes I would check my email. No reason really which I could think of at the time.
- Do a little work.
- Check email.
- Do more work.
- Refresh email again.
Not a fun day really. If you’re an office worker too, maybe you’ve had days like this before.
Heck maybe you don’t work in an office but you find yourself checking your smartphone quite often throughout the day.
As I was checking email for the gazillionth time that day, something occurred to me.
I was waiting for something to happen. Some email that would come along and offer an opportunity which would change my life in some small way.
Some entertaining news at which to chuckle.
Perhaps an email from a friend.
Or maybe a really cool job just out of the blue.
A cat video.
Anything.
Now you may be saying “Well Rob we all get bored. Maybe that’s all it was.”
And that could be true. Sure we all have days like that.
That day was different, though – I knew I was just waiting for life to happen to me. It hit me like a ton of bricks.
Have you ever felt that way?
“If something would just come along and really shake things up for me, make my life cool, then I’d be …”
Maybe you have an idea you want to market to the internet masses but you’re afraid to do it. So you’re waiting for someone to come along and either 1) do it for you or 2) tell you how great your idea is and pet your feelings.
The truth of the matter is we all need to happen to our lives, not the other way around.
In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. – Abraham Lincoln
So there I was checking email over and over and I realized … I was avoiding doing the things that I would say I sincerely wanted in my life, while at the same time, letting day after day pass by, doing nothing about them whatsoever.
Think about that for a second.
Talk about wasting time, right?
If you find yourself in a similar boat, let me hopefully encourage you with this.
Find your 20 seconds of Courage to take a step, however small, in the direction you need to go.
- Need to lose weight? Eat one meal today that is better for you than the others.
- Need to exercise? Take a short walk today in the fresh air.
- Dream of starting a business? Do one small thing today that you’ve never, ever done for it.
Start to breathe life into whatever it is that you’ve been wanting to do. Little by little you’ll see that business grow … or you’ll feel better from exercising and want to do more … or the weight will start coming off and you’ll need new pants.
Small changes. Consistent changes. Everyday.
Don’t let life happen to you. Happen to it every day.