Start Smart

Your position in life is a the accumulated results of your choices.

Actions do have consequences. Where you are is based on the trajectory you set for yourself years ago through choices that led to a sequence of actions especially those you chose to repeat over time.

Where you are going to be ten years from now is based on the actions you are taking today. The old wisdom says that the best time to start was ten or twenty years ago, and the next best time is right now. Whatever it is, do it today. Do it now.

You start by aiming for huge unrealistic outcomes. You set your sights beyond what your eyes can see and as far as your imagination can take you. Then start by taking one minuscule step in that direction, then another one the next day, and the next.

Ten years later things are going to look completely different.

But whatever you do, never aim for the easy path. Easy is always downstream where all the things that flow from above come to finally rest in the lakes of stagnation. The only way up the mountain is upstream, going against the current with intensity and intention.

Resistance is the mark of progress. The more effort it takes you to get to where you’re going, the stronger you’ll be as you advance in your journey.

Funny enough, your goal should never be your goal but the transformation into the type of person who can reach it.

The miracle of the human being is the ability to adapt to whatever circumstances or constraints that beset us, or favorably that we set for ourselves.

The last component of a worthy life is to completely detach yourself from the results. What matters the most is the process. This is the part where you have all the fun. It’s actually pointless and meaningless once you’ve reached the summit, in fact it’s downright depressing and lonely. You’ll enjoy the view for sometime, but inadvertently you’ll start asking yourself, ‘now what?’

Some of us keep living our entire lives down there at the base of the mountain or lower in the valley of insignificance. Some of us spend their whole lives climbing and falling down the same mountain. But some of us, climb one mountain after the other and they become a legend.

Getting to the top of one game is a tremendous task, but the lessons learned along the way will no doubt transfer over to the journey of climbing the next big mountain. Having that under your belt makes how far you go in life is just a matter of how much time you do have in life. Something that you can never fully control.

It’s a curious thing that people get hung over the thought of a long life irrespective of the quality of such a life. History and myth both teach us that a well lived life, even if cut abruptly short, is a hundred fold more valuable than a long wasted uneventful life.

So, don’t be scared of perishing in your endeavor, let go of the cowardly notion of staying alive in the abyss of oblivion. You go out there and plant your flag on as many mountains as you possibly can climb and make your life worth it. For you, you won’t regret having done everything that you can to make the world a better place for yourself and your loved ones, and for them, they will forever remember you as the one who set the example for a life well lived.

If you’re in a place where nothing makes sense and no joy can penetrate your heart, it’s because you’re not where you’re supposed to be. Your place is out there on that mountain. Grab your gear and get the hell out there now.