Sunday Thoughts 💭

    Sunday Funday.

    Another week in the books. Time really flies when you’re having fun. Same question I ask every single week- what have you accomplished? We’re now four weeks into the new year, and at this point you’re either taking strides towards your goals, or you’re cooked. They say that forming any habit takes a 3 by 3 by 3 trajectory. 3 days to make it a habit, 3 weeks to make it a plan, and 3 months to make it a permanent change. I suppose I buy into that notion. The idea of change being subtle, yet intense, should be the goal for anybody who is looking to improve themselves in some capacity. The ability to take small actions, small steps, and compound them towards a greater goal is the key to success. I truly vouch for the power of compound action. I have seen it at work in my own life, and the results re astronomical. Little by little, brick by brick, the tiniest of actions can build up to a mountain of success. The littlest of forces can be applied religiously, every single day, to move mountains at the end. It really boils down to be consistent and showing up, every single day.

    I like to use Sunday’s to more or less reflect on the week that has passed. I believe that reflection is a crucial part to any plan, to make sure you are able to build forward from it. It’s important to analyze what went well, what did not, and what you can improve on as well. Everything is relative to one’s goals which they have set forth themselves. One of the biggest mistakes we tend to make when striving for our goals, is to try and move mountains right away. We see the summit before us, and we attempt to climb it right from the gate. One of the worst strategies we can ever employ when attempting to achieve all which we set out to achieve. This often leaves us frustrated and defeated, settling in to simply accept that what we are aiming for is impossible. It’s a terrible habit, one that we’re all guilty of doing ever now and then. Which is why building a plan is one of the most important aspects we can perform when striving to achieve new goals.

Failing to plan is planning to fail.

    Consistency is another building block- one which many people struggle with as well. I used to be guilty of the same thing, when I started off chasing my own goals. Running would be a great example. When running, I would always try to go out and perform a 10km run, every single day. The reality is, 10km for a beginner is sometimes too much of a task to accomplish. What would often happen, is I would fail. I would not be able to complete my 10km challenge, and slowly but surely, I would abandon it. I would dread the thought of having to wake up, every single day, and suffer the same defeat, over and over again. I believe it was Napoleon Bonaparte who once say, to die is nothing, but to live defeated every single day is worse. Something along those lines. Anyways, the point being, I was defeated. 10km a day as a beginner is way too much of a challenge. And when things get tough, we tend to give up on our goals. We tend to surrender to the difficulties and challenges we face, and simply abandon the reasons for which we began with. The secret to it all, is to keep on going at it, every single day, in smaller chunks. To chip away at the mountain, one single rock at a time. Instead of running 10km every single day, something which I was not prepared nor capable of performing, I would have been better off to run 5km a day instead. 5km every single day, slowly building up my strength and endurance to the point where I would be able to perform my 10km run in the near future instead. The simple task of showing up, day in and day out, to perform a smaller dose of action, to build up to a greater result. Once again, we as humans have a tendency to lack patience in much of what we wish to accomplish. We always wish to find shortcuts, find strategies, to speed up the journey. Driving down a highway? Take a shortcut here. On your way to Grandmas? Take this road instead. Cooking something in 20 minutes? Turn up the heat and save time! Always zigging and zagging. Always racing against the clock.

    The human mind is a funny one. We have been programmed to believe that Time is Money. The age-old saying, which has been drilled into our heads. Time is Money! Save Time, Save Money. While it is a noble concept, and one that tends to be true in most cases- I still advocate that taking your time with things can be the right way to go. What happened to good-ole suffering? What happened to dragging things out and doing them right? In a world today where everything is quick and easy- perhaps long and hard is the new way to go? When building ourselves or building our goals, perhaps taking a shortcut is not the advice we should be seeking. Perhaps, we should be taking the long way home, in order to make sure we take care of everything we must towards our goals. That applies to everything- from fitness, to building a business. Taking your time to check off every single box, dragging things out, being matriculate with every single action. Building every single action up, brick by brick. Everybody loves the end results, no question about it. When you play hockey, everybody dreams about lifting up the Stanley Cup. The goal is to reach the end of the line, and celebrate your victory. But what if the victory is simply a token? What is the victory isn’t even the most important part? I guarantee, when you look back on the journey, it isn’t the destination which rings the dearest. It’s the path you had to take to get there in the first place. It’s the blood, sweat and tears you spilled, on your way to glory. That is the true measurement of what it takes to be successful. That is the real memories which you hold dear.

    Overall, life is a journey. A never-ending, winding road, full of bumps and bruises. It zigs, it zags, it splits and it converges. It’s a non-stop road under construction, with a million different turns to take. Much like Time and History itself, it’s always being written. I think one of the main things in which we as humans are guilty of today, more than ever, is always trying to find out what’s at the end of the road. What happens when we finally reach the end, where there is no more road to travel. What then? The satisfaction of knowing that we made it the whole way? A golden celebration, where we get to sit back and marvel at our achievements? What is the road is the destination. What is the journey is the prize? Perhaps it’s not the end-game which we are meant to celebrate- perhaps it’s the concrete which we walk on where the true victory lies.

    All this to say, slow down. Enjoy the suffering. Enjoy the bruises. Enjoy the pain. One day, you may look back on it all, and miss it. We only get one journey- why not drag it out as long as you can?

        May God have mercy on us all,

                    Amen.