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Everyone wants success. People
talk about setting goals and positive thinking and getting
to the top. However, most of these same people never
really define what success means to them. Instead they
think only in terms of the next big promotion or the next
raise or climbing the corporate ladder, but few ever stop
to really look at where these goals are taking them.
World-renown motivational
speaker Zig Ziglar says that to define success, you should
stand on the goal line of life and look into the end zone.
What you want see there sets the parameters for your
definition of success.
In other words, ask most
people what they want from life, and they will say, “I
want to be happy.” That’s great, except for two
things: they seldom know with any certainty what happiness
actually means to them, and secondly, they never actually
plan to be happy.
Instead they fall into the
when-I-get-over-there-then-I’ll-be-happy syndrome. If
you look, you see these kinds of people every day—maybe
even when you look in the mirror. “When I get that
promotion, then I’ll be happy.” “When the kids are
back in school, and I can do this, then I’ll be
happy.” “When we get out of debt, then I’ll be
happy.”
Problem is, it doesn’t
work that way. If happiness is your goal; if having been
happy is something you really want to see in the end zone
of your life, then you have to start being happy today.
Not tomorrow, not in a week, not when “X”
happens—TODAY.
So, how do you do this?
First, you must seriously
ask yourself, what makes you happy? What makes you feel
alive and completely in touch with the essence of
yourself?
Maybe it’s hiking or
skateboarding or baseball or running. Maybe it’s
painting or music or writing or dance. Maybe it’s
something as simple as taking a cup of tea out to the
porch to watch a sunset.
Immediately you say, “I
don’t have time to do that stuff. I’m busy making a
living. I don’t have enough time as it is.” And then
you wonder why you aren’t happy.
If happiness is a goal you
have, then you must schedule time every day to do
something that makes you happy. As Annie Dillard, the
author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, said, “How we spend
our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
The question to you then,
is how are you spending your days? The reality is that
what you have right now is exactly what will be in that
end zone on your last day here. Is this what you want?
If so, congratulations! If
not, you can start right here, right now to make a new
ending. Decide today what will be in your end zone, and
then make the changes to get that in your life today. You
deserve it, but don’t put it off. You don’t have a
second to waste.
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About
The Author
Life
is meant to be lived—not just survived.
Find out how. Visit StaciStallings.com.
You’ll feel better for the experience! |
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