Not Much Time...Continued

How not to waste the most valuable thing you have

The forever-uncertain amount of time we have slips by fast. Often days, weeks, months, even years go by without us noticing. 

For most, the wakeup call comes at the 11th hour when life has already been lived and death is the only thing that stands with any certainty before them.

We have to avoid this outcome by any means necessary and instead make our objective be to find out who we actually want to become.

In Part 1 of this mini series I layed out the foundations to this idea, but the information I give you now will be knowledge which can be put to practical use.

You can check out Part 1 here:

https://www.greatman.com/p/not-much-time?r=1cn2wq

Find your Why

This is, without a doubt, the most important part of it all.

The gravitational pull the outside world has on us is immensely powerful. The thoughts, words, and actions of those around us have the potential to drastically sway us from our course (and that’s assuming we have our own course to follow).

If we don’t even have an inkling of an idea of who we are or who we wish to become we are subject to becoming the vessel of someone else's opinion.

Often, people come to the end of their life only to realize they were deviated from all they could be. Instead, their life was directed by the opinion of others.

So, how to counteract this?

First off, a vision is required that is weighty enough to be omnipresent in every aspect of your life. By this I mean that the idea you have of who you wish to become must be able to stand the test of time and circumstances.

No matter how much time has passed since the initial realization of the idea and no matter where you are or what you are doing, it must be able to stir the fire in your belly in a way that nothing else can.

The vision you will receive must come from the deepest form of desire and will often seem fantastical to most.

A hero of mine is the great author of the frontier, Louis L’Amour. 

If he would have expressed his vision to others it would have seemed impossible. Yet, he lived a life of pure adventure and creation.

“Spurred by an eager curiosity and desire to broaden his horizons, Mr. L’Amour left home at the age of fifteen and enjoyed a wide variety of jobs including, seaman, lumberjack, elephant handler, skinner of dead cattle, assessment miner, and officer on tank destroyers during World War II. During his “yondering” days he also circled the world on a freighter, sailed a dhow on the Red Sea, was shipwrecked in the West Indies, and stranded in the Mojave Desert. He has won fifty-one of his fifty-nine fights as a professional boxer and worked as a journalist and lecturer.”

Later becoming a writer, he sold over 200 million copies of his books which were translated into 20 different languages and adapted into at least 30 different movies.

Try that on for size…

In fact, take any significant human from history and you will see clearly that they were driven by something completely foreign to most, something that takes them beyond the expectations of family, friends, or culture. 

This “something”, a vision of what’s possible, delivers them to greatness.

But, time and effort is required to realize your vision. In my personal experience a basic knowledge of impressive historical figures, stories (fiction or nonfiction) of great people, and an understanding that time is finite makes the process of finding your Why, your vision, much easier.

You’ll know you’ve hit the mark once every other thought of what you might do with your life pales in comparison to the single, ultimate idea you have conceived.

Developing the vision

What’s the point of all of this?

It’s to live a fulfilling life by receiving and pursuing the vision which allows you to become the person you wish to be.

For example, here’s the type of person I want to be:

A person who can withstand any trial, a person who carves the path of their own life, a person who embodies the virtues they uphold, a person who is capable, a person who is dangerous, a person who loves wholly and completely, a person who serves as a beacon of light and truth, a person who conquers himself…

Now, if you notice, all of the highest pursuits fall into two major categories: Pursuits of character and pursuits of ability.

These major categories are bound together and often intertwine in obvious ways, but separating them allows us to get into the details of what our vision of self must encompass.

Character comes first and foremost. 

You can have all the skills in the world, but if you are not actively in pursuit of becoming a good person (good in the truest sense of the word) then it’s all for naught. 

Nothing is as important as becoming a person who strives toward good character.

A high quality character comes from another realm, it truly is otherworldly. It reaches towards a world much better than this. Yet, its development, the growth of the soul, occurs here and now, in this world.

And, this is where ability comes into play…

The skills you acquire and the experiences required to obtain them allow the proper room needed for character growth.

This is the long way of saying that your vision of self must be created on the basis of two different planes of thought: A level of thought that aims toward something higher…Right thought, right words, right action (Character); and another level of thought that acts within this world. One that seeks to achieve, learn, build, create, and experience (Ability).

The combination of the two is unbelievably powerful.

So, while you hold this vision of yourself in your mind, ensure that they (you) possess the character and abilities you desire. 

And, ask yourself: How does this person operate in the world? What skills do they have? What do they believe? What have they accomplished and what do they aim to accomplish?

Once you answer all of those questions and have this developed idea ingrained in your mind it all becomes much simpler…

You now know who you wish to become. You know which qualities, skills, and character traits you want to possess. Now, all that’s left is that you do the thing the person you want to be would do.

I know…easier said than done, but if that’s truly what you want, you’ll do it.

Execution

Everyone’s Why will lead them to a different How.

When you take your own path in life there’s no telling where you’ll go, all that matters is that you stay the course. Yet, you need an internal compass to aid you in advancing on the path.

To assemble your compass you need a basic outline of things you wish to accomplish and the timeline in which you will accomplish them.

And no, I’m not talking about creating a vision board with a photoshopped picture of you standing next to a Ferrari and a G350 Gulfstream that will manifest itself in your possession in 5 years…

I’m talking about outlining what you can do here and now to set yourself up for success. Create a list of skills you want to learn, where you can learn them, and a general (or specific) timeframe in which you will learn them.

The skills you choose to learn should be meant to advance you in the direction of becoming who you wish to be.

Once your outline is completed, don’t delay. Start immediately.

“A man who dares to waste one hour of life has not discovered the value of time.”

-Charles Darwin

This is what I recommend you do in order to make continuous progress:

• Have a list of things you want to get done everyday

• Document every minor and major accomplishment

• Set an obtainable objective every day

• Constantly reflect on what you’re doing to figure out what you can do better

• Write down your thoughts of the day: What did you achieve? What did you overcome? What could you have done better?

• When you’re discouraged take a look at your list of accomplishments…How far have you come?

This is as far as I can take you for now…

As your vision is developed, your path, your How, will become clearer to you. The skills and experiences you pursue will lead you down avenues you never previously thought possible

“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.”

-Rumi

This topic is vast and impossible to comprehend in its entirety within an article. Navigating this topic is like exploring a mountain, it takes time to get a clear view of every aspect.

I’ll break it down further in future articles…