Where we start and where we think we will go, is unlikely the path that we follow. Meaning we can have a plan from Point A to Point B but as Mike Tyson said everyone has a plan until they get punched. Then it is thrown out the window. I think plans are often overrated and what’s more important is the next step, not the destination.
To humans, decisions are important. Without them, we feel trapped. We also put too much stock on the decisions we make. The world doesn’t stop spinning because we can’t decide what we want to eat for lunch. This is not to say we shouldn’t put care into the decisions we make. But we can also just decide and then do it again.
Pick a path, and stick to it. But if it isn’t working there is no reason why you have to stick with it if it isn’t working.
I mean, someone will. Because when you look at the number of people who will compare to the 8 billion people in the world, it’s safe to say that almost no one will read this post.
Even the most popular work, whether it’s a Kardashian endorsement or the next Marvel movie, most people still won’t participate.
We feel like we deserve our work to be seen just because we took the time to make it. But that isn’t how art works. Popularity has no correlation with hard work. When we can divorce the two, we can decide to make art because we feel the desire to.
Rather than trying to make a list of “Ins” and “Outs,” instead focus on what streak you want to begin. The amazing thing about streaks is that once you have made the decision to start, after a while, you keep going because you don’t want to break it.
Wisdom can be found in learning from experience. It can also be found in listening to someone who has been down those roads.
The crux is that we are too busy thinking of the next thing to say rather than listening to the person who is trying to help us.
We often overcomplicate going to the gym. “What exercise do I start with? I need a plan and new shoes.”
Art is the same thing. Been delaying starting a podcast writing a novel, or painting your masterpiece?
What we need to do is simply begin. And then we can worry about how we are going to finish.
Often, we trick ourselves into believing that if we add another feature to our lives, then we can be complete. That’s the industrial consumer mentality.
I wonder, however, what we do with less.
Less access to the internet, less TV and email subscriptions, less time on our phone, less commuting, less sitting around waiting, less talking, less junk food…
What could we do with that extra time and energy?
New year, new goals.
I imagine many people picking a goal to get into shape or to spend more time with a family.
Perhaps think about a goal with a new set of parameters.
Instead of engineering our lives to resemble a factory, perhaps the answer is to do less.
Our lives cannot resemble the hustle of industrialists, but too often, we think if we could make them as efficient as an assembly line, then our troubles would be over.
We think in terms of someone losing their temper and hitting someone. But violence comes in many forms. Psychological violence, physical violence, financial violence, spiritual violence…
When we enslave people into so much debt and anchor them to a job–how is that anything other than violence?
If the choice is to work or starve–how is that even a choice?
There are a lot of ways to contribute to a culture than just for a paycheck. In fact, there are many more valuable ways to spend our time. But that is something that isn’t even a topic of conversation in our culture today. Because it is assumed that you need a job to be productive. Yet, deep down, many of us know that to be productive doesn’t mean working a job.
It has nothing to do with money value or net worth.
I think one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves today in our culture is that we somehow convince ourselves that if we are not getting paid, then it isn’t valuable.
Money is a unit of measure with a bias toward flowing to those with it and to those who control the means of production.
You can work hard and make money. But it is also true (and far more likely) that you can work hard and not make very much.
Worth has nothing to do with the measure of money. Worth has everything to do with what you are doing to contribute to the community, or what you make, or who you help…so many ways to measure this instead of magical digits on a screen.
Josh Allred's Blog 