Life Lesson 01: Don't Do Nothing (or The Bias for Action)

 Life is all about choices.  You have the choice to be in motion or to stay static, and this applies to all aspects of your life.  While it may seem that situations will necessitate both, it is important to discern what to action is required.  I have tried to error on the side of action and carry that bias through all aspects of my life.  I have found that momentum is all that it is cracked up to be, both for good and for bad. 

 Once you make that tough decision, things start to fall into place and momentum carries the day.  Conversely, each time you hesitate and fail to act, it gets harder and harder to get those gears cranking.  The beauty of this is that you are the master of your fate, you are in charge.  Steel yourself and dare to take that plunge – who knows how that momentum will permeate into other areas of your life.  What starts off as a personal decision to wake up an hour earlier to get in that workout, could lead to the confidence to file the paperwork to turn your side hustle from dream to reality.  Finally booking that trip to the country you’ve longed to visit turns could be the motivation to get yourself into your desired states of physical, intellectual, and mental well-being. 

 Now, I’m not here to say that making one decision will alter the trajectory of your life, but day by day, choice by choice, deciding to take control and choose is a powerful force that will lead to you being master of your own destiny, to the point that you desire.  While planning, preparation, and practice are all important, they amount to nothing without execution. 

 Dig into your memory from high school physics class – remember Newton’s second law?   It states that, in the absence of an external force, objects in motion tend to stay in motion and that objects in rest tend to stay at rest.  That object is you – anything and everything including your health, your career, your dating life, your business – and that external force is your decision, your action to move your life in your desired direction.  In the overall scheme of life, motion (and progress) needs to be maintained. 

 Quite simply put, “I guess it comes down to a simple choice, really.  Get busy living or get busy dying.”  (Andy Dufrene from Shawshank Redemption)

 

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