Life would be much easier if it were handed to you on a silver platter, wouldn’t it? Life would be much easier if you didn’t have to worry about doing better or becoming better so you could live a happier, more fulfilling life, as well as get more, bigger, and better stuff. Life would be perfect, wouldn’t it? That’s not the way things work though, IS it?
The thing that I have learned about life (and have had a lot of fun with) is that it is important to challenge myself. I was that kid at lunchtime that you could challenge to eat anything and I would. I was the kid that challenged the girls to jump rope contests and won. I was the kid that lost in the school spelling bee on the word “pivot”. I challenged myself the next year to be my school representative, and I was.
Can you remember any challenges that you faced as a child and came out victorious? Or any games that you could not get the hang of at first but continued trying until you got the hang of it? I bet that you can. What makes you and me different from anyone else? It could be that we have learned to challenge ourselves to do better than we have done.
DADDY KNOWS BEST
As the title of this section suggests, I am going to get a bit personal here. I give my dad credit for a lot of the things that I write about. He drilled some thoughts and ideas into my head that I continually tried to find ways around. Now that I am a father I catch myself saying the same things to my son. Who knew that would happen?
“There are only so many hours in the day,” Daddy would say. “What you do with them is up to you but you have plenty of time to do almost anything you want every day. So, break down the twenty-four hours that you have been given and use them wisely.” Daddy was in the military for years. Before joining he worked the farm with his mother. He truly understands the importance of using all of the daylight that you can possibly use in order to make the most of each day. In the case of the military, your life and the lives of your group may depend upon it. In the case of the farm, the opportunity to eat full meals year round depended upon it. The truth of the matter is that the twenty-four hour rule applies to all of us. Whether you are a parent, teacher, doctor, contractor, or businessperson, we have twenty-four hours in our day. We can use those twenty-four hours for work, rest, meals, relaxation, and, most importantly, to improve ourselves.
Daddy also said that he spent time alone each day thinking. He told me that I “must become a better person today than I was yesterday, and do a better job today than I did yesterday”. To him, and me, this time spent in silent thought is one of the most critical times of the day (besides eating, that is. Who doesn’t like to eat a good meal?). This article is not about planning your days. It is about becoming better as a person, and developing you. Don’t think that you have to learn some method of daily planning right this minute. What I do want is for you to begin thinking about how precious your time is and how unique and wonderful you are. This article is about how you can use your time more effectively and efficiently by understanding the twenty-four hour rule, and how you can improve upon yourself with the good yesterday, better today rule.
THIRSTY? I AM!
Many people feel that it’s so important to be on the top of the list, to be in first place. And, it is important to strive to be your personal best. The problem arrives when it costs you your personality and your perspective on your life. I played football in high school. There were times during practice when it would be so hot that you could see players continually look over to the water hoping and praying for a drink. When the coach finally allowed a break in practice for the team to rehydrate the first players over to the water were the ones who had worked the least during practice. The hardest working players may take another snap or work another short drill before heading over to the water. It was not that they were not thirsty but it was that they wanted to improve their skills on the field. Because of those extra efforts here and there their stamina and conditioning had improved more than most other players.
This is not to say that the hardest working players were always the starters. That was definitely not the story. And so it is with our lives. We may not be the starters but our hard work and effort will pay off in some area of our life if we remain committed to those extra efforts when others are running directly to the water (sometimes faster than they were running during their drills). Understand that it is okay to be different as long as you are among the best. The best may not always be the starters on the field but they are the best because they always give their best. They want to be more and they WILL become more.
GETTING TIRED OF SETTING GOALS
If you are like I was when I first began learning about success, you have heard time and time again about the importance of setting goals. You may even be tired of setting goals. Here is a different way of looking at goal setting. Think of each goal you want to achieve as a challenge. I like martial arts. It makes sense, then, that I also like fighting games. Two of my favorite games in high school were Tekken and Street Fighter. I would arrive at the movie theater ten minutes early just so I could spend some time playing these games in the theater’s arcade. Almost always, at some point during my game, someone would want to play against me.
When the victim, I mean player, inserted his coins into the machine and mashed the start button an announcement would flash across the screen “New Challenger”. The new player chose his character and the fight would begin. There are three things that go into these fights: your skill level and techniques; the challenger’s skill level and techniques; and, the clock. These three things are similar to the same challenges of each goal that you set: know yourself and what you can do; know your challenge; and, give yourself a time to defeat your challenge. The time spent before the challenge is meant for improving your game, your preparation time. The time spent during the game will allow you to improve your skills, and help you to better understand what your next counter move is. The time after the game is spent improving your skills, based on what you have learned during the challenge. What (or who) is your next challenge? Get into the game and hit start. Remember the timer doesn’t start and the game doesn’t begin until YOU hit “start.”
YOUR CHALLENGE (YES, I CHALLENGE YOU)
You will find it much more entertaining and fun to challenge yourself. At times, you may turn the challenge into procrastination. Don’t go there! Remember how much you learned as a child by challenging yourself. You tested your limits (and those of your care keeper’s). You tested the limits on your bike trying to ride faster and jump the curb higher. You kept playing a game until you beat it, and you kept competing until you beat that person who seemed to always best you (my dad). You kept trying to build a better fort or make a more difficult trick shot or color an even prettier picture than the last. You remember that feeling of accomplishment, don’t you? Now, USE it. Go do something to become better and to do a better job today than you did yesterday. Spend some time thinking about how to better use your twenty-four hours. Give that extra effort before taking a break. Step up to the challenge and hit “START”.
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– Fortune
Tags: action, challenge yourself, drive, fitness, food, fortunes, improve yourself, motivation, set goals
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