The Tyranny Of The Next Thing

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There is a lie that humans tend to believe. That life will get better when we get the next thing. It could be the next job, the next house, the next car, the next big thing. The lie says that if only I could get this other thing, then my life will be much better.

Life is about moving forward and making progress. And true we have to keep aspiring and reaching out and getting the next thing. But when you are at it, don’t get caught up in the tyranny of the next thing that steals away the joy of the present and that postpones life’s delicacies to tomorrow.

Show Me The Way I Should Go

I wish life was a one way street.... coz people like me would not get lost. But life is like a jungle, with many trails made by those who have gone before us. Just like Robert Frost once said.. we get to a junction and wonder which way to go... and as much as we tell ourselves that if this road leads us nowhere, we shall come back and take the other road, we can never really go back there. It is never the same.

Teach a child on the way he should go and when he is old... he will not depart from it...

Thinking about this verse, I have come to learn that it is not really the path that you take or the path that you are on, on the outside, but rather, it is the path you are on within you. The journey of life is an internal journey manifested through a physical life. At the end of life, how will you describe your journey? What will you have become?

And so, as we journey through life, be it on a career path or on a business path, or on a family path, or on a leadership path, the essence of the journey is that we may not lose the path. That we may not lose ourselves.

The Future is Now

Don’t wait for the inevitable

If it’s something you want

Why say some day I’ll be able to

Or in a few years

If it’s something you believe

It’s inevitable and worthwhile

Try doing it now

Rather than later.

Of Pee and Poop

For some reason I have been feeling very guilty every time I flush my toilet. Using three to four liters of clean water to push pee and poop to the sewage drain, yet thousands of family in my continent can’t access clean water for basic use each day. I wish I felt nothing, but honestly it has been eating me up.

When my real estate dream materialize, I will build houses that have a tank that collects used water from the kitchen sink, hand washing sink and the laundry room, filter it and re-use the water to flush the toilet.

Meanwhile, I will have to figure out how to deal with this feeling, or I could recapture my childhood escapades of manure-ing the earth!

In the words of Lord Baden Powell “Let it not be said of you in shame when you are gone, that there was much beauty here before you came. Leave the world a better place than you found it”.

Options

Sometimes, the best approach is the willingness to make another approach. Give yourself some options.

Don't become so focused on the process that you fail to reach the goal. If what you're doing is not working, have the honesty and confidence to re-evaluate and adjust your approach.

A ship sailing across the sea is constantly getting pushed off course by the winds and the currents. To successfully reach the desired destination, the captain must continually adjust the ship's direction.

You cannot know in advance all the circumstances you'll encounter. Plan carefully, and then be ready to adjust your tactics as you move forward.

Remind yourself often exactly where you've decided to go. Commit to doing whatever it takes, and to adjust your efforts so they continue to align with your goal.

Be effectively persistent by being flexible and always mindful of what you've chosen to achieve. Though the path is not straight, you'll surely find a way to get there.