“Every morning when we wake up, we are confronted with a choice: another day just like the last, or a clean slate to start all over.” – Mark Sanborn, Author.
A new day has begun. The choice is yours. Is it up on the treadmill? Hopefully yes, or at least some form of exercise – but what about the treadmill of life? You know the one that is moving you forward, sometimes very fast and even up difficult hills, but it’s the same one that is taking you to nowhere, because your life is simply about running in place.
Every day just like the last.
It doesn’t take much to get trapped on that treadmill. Every day will present its challenges and you are running hard to stay ahead, but still stuck right where you are because you have neglected the one thing that will most certainly make the difference in your life, hands down, if you put some time and attention into it.
That difference is you. Change is inevitable, growth is optional.
Remember life is not meant to impress you, only to test you. You must take charge to be impressive to yourself and to others. It’s hard to love, serve and care unless you do so for yourself first. It’s starting from the inside-out. The distance between ordinary and extraordinary is so small, and the deciding factor is how much you desire to grow.
Activities as simple as exercise, reading 10 pages of a book, having a calendar plan for your day, your work, your family time, paying attention to what you put in your body, (and eventually your brain since you are what you eat), and finding even one person with whom to share a laugh, a smile, to inspire, or to lend a helping hand today – on purpose, intentional, with the sole focus of making the day happen – instead of the day happening to you.
Even one of the activities just mentioned, done consistently over time, will start you on the path toward growth, forward motion, not remaining stuck where you are. Your day and your life are defined by your daily agenda. Adding even one activity, focusing on one daily discipline each day can change the trajectory of your life and no doubt the lives of those around you. You change and others around you can see and feel it too, it becomes inspiration in motion. Energy, synergy, a spark to light a fire.
It’s far from an overnight success, nothing in life worth having ever is, but it’s all about progress. Make the smallest, incremental change and feel like you have made progress that day and you feel great. Feeling great, despite all of life’s daily challenges will help you see the silver lining in every day and that is in your control.
And I know you are asking, so what happens if I do this and my day doesn’t go as planned? What if the day falls far short of my expectations, despite my focus on me, on change, on growth? What if it is still a “bad” day?
That’s an easy one. Wake up tomorrow with a clean slate… and start all over again.
Until next time, thanks for taking the time.
Mark
Mark Brodinsky, Author, Blogger, Speaker, Financial Services
Author: The #1 Amazon Best-Seller: It Takes 2. Surviving Breast Cancer: A Spouse’s Story
(http://www.spouses-story.com/)
Feedback, comments, suggestions – email: markbrodinsky@gmail.com
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I needed to hear this today. Thanks!
Anytime Barb.