BELIEVING IN YOURSELF IS NOT AUTOMATIC
Thursday Nov. 7, 2013
Am I leaping to conclusions without sufficient empirical evidence?
An hour or two, saved once or twice a month by being efficient at some combination of things seems like a good idea. But what about squeezing an hour, or two, out of every day for investing in whatever is most important to you?
C’mon now, think about it – if you were an aspiring Olympic athlete you wouldn’t think twice – you would just do it?
Building.
Up to something.
Building up to something – preparing, getting ready, rehearsing, practice, practice, practice. When athletes train – wanting to be best in the world, they train without thoughts of anything else. Every day, every spare moment, spent practicing, thinking about practicing. Focused, determined, relentless, unswerving.
Easy concept to grasp, but could it – should it – work for other things?
Like housework? Homework? For that, I’d have to desire to be the best housekeeper in the world.
Not my ambition, but if I do that a little bit better, will there be more time for things I DO desire?
Course work? Sure, if the course work is golf-course work!
How much time are you spending on things that matter, matter most, fuel your drive, achieve your goals?
I’ve been asking myself that – around a number of personal and professional issues – about how I am doing at meeting/exceeding my goals, critiquing whether they were worthy goals in the first place, whether my goal-bar was set high enough. And whether a bar is the right measuring tool.
What are my goals, and what am I doing to meet them?
My goals aren’t money/titles/power related but more qualitative around: my own health (my own ability to stay alive and work toward those goals), family, lifestyle/health, helping people/the world in some way and translating those ‘I would like to do with my life …’ thoughts into actions that accomplish something. This has been on my mind a lot lately – for several reasons – or, rather, because of several ‘causes’, so here is cuz why:
Cuz ~ my general health and fitness isn’t getting better on its own. Getting weight off, getting ‘back in shape’ is something I used to take for granted. Now its just hard work. Very hard.
Cuz ~ charting new directions in life, work and play requires action-steps, action-words and … eventually, actions. I’ve been thinking too much and acting not enough.
Cuz ~ I have a milestone coming soon – 4,000 consecutive daily columns (today is #3,984) – which is giving me pause to think about a lot of things. On one hand, it’s just a number and another day of no particular significance. But … on the other hand, a reminder that I’ve been doing something meaningful for myself and for others without fail, day after day, and I’m starting to get really good at it. Questions of ‘what am I doing to raise my bar?’, ‘what next?’, ‘more of the same?’, ‘more of different?’, and ‘stop at some point?’. These roll around in my brain.
Simple math:
- suppose you need 6 hours for sleeping, 2 hours for personal hygiene, eating and reading the news, 1 hour for transportation = 9 hours. That leaves 13 hours to spend however you choose.
Simple choices:
- so, if you choose to sit, walk, run, jump, work, play, cook, clean, fly, sail …. or leap, you have lots of time for that.
Leaping is what I’m focused on most. Leaping to fewer unsupported conclusions. Leaping into to ‘new ways’ of doing the same old thing so it ain’t the same old thing. Leaping into new adventures with a win, be the best, make it the best, let nothing get in my way attitude. Leaping to my feet more to cheer more. Leaping across some divides where bridges were previously burned (by me of course) to fix what I can.
Leaping just because, or just ‘cuz?
Could be both. I hesitate to use terms like leap of faith – but maybe that IS it.
Believing in myself is fundamental to believing I can do it.
Believing I can do it, is critical to doing it.
Doing it, over and over, practicing over and over is essential to success – at anything, isn’t it?
Believing in yourself is not automatic.
It is a habit … you have to work at it.
Every day, practice, practice, practice.
Mark Kolke
291,460
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: -6C / 21F, early/dark when we walked – slippery, streets quiet in pre-rush hours, no encounters with critters, Gusta tried to paw a frozen bone from the ice without success but I’m sure she’d have feasted on it if I’d let her, because she wouldn’t give up .. I know that.
Comments Received:
Just let go! Nothing you can do to change yesterday but you can actually improve today! Thanks for writing, AG, Play del Carmen, Mex.
Everything in life is a risk Mark. Feel the fear and for it. Fear is our only building block. If you don’t have bad days you will never know how glorious a good day is.. So Mark count your blessing and stand in the light of what is good and true to your heart. Happy Wednesday!!!! Embrace this perfect day in the now, SR, White Rock, BC
Seeing the words "responsibility" and "accountability" in your musing made me question once again, "when did these two words exit from our frame of ethics?" If you look at the news coming out of this Nation's seat of government with all of the most recent questions being asked of our governing authority, you recognize that these two words no longer have any basis in American government. It is equal to the lack thereof in the prison system among the incarcerated when caught. They take no responsibility for their actions and therefore expect to not be held accountable for those same actions. It is an epidemic that I wish we could find the cure for because it leads to chaos and confusion. GW, Brady, Tx.
Great muse Mark, and like DP said yesterday, perfectly timed, like you were writing just to me! I’m tired of waiting in the terminal, I am departing right now. Thank you for the serving of life juice!, CG, Cape Town, South Africa … p.s.: Like you, I think it would be awesome to have someone to FLY with, but what the heck, solo can be good company too! Have a great day, it’s already mid afternoon here!
