Inspiring quote series #1 from https://personalexcellence.co/blog/101-most-inspiring-quotes-of-all-time/.
That’s strange. I didn’t see a fire when I drove by. I saw the cloud of smoke in the rear-view mirror. Wait! That’s me! Our cursed car was sick again and was now a smoke machine. It decorated the gorgeous landscape with a putrid blackness like a giant reverse cigarette on wheels.
What’s more and as usual, we were in remote Costa Rica where mechanics are scarce—good ones almost fictional—and civilization was sparse. The most practical thing would have been to keep driving. I didn’t need to be ASE certified to know my ability to move forward was going to be compromised shortly. I need help!
Yet, I stopped. I was appalled at the fact that I was the source of this toxic plume—or at least its owner.
Likewise, everything I have done and every decision I have made has culminated in what I am doing now. I am writing a blog in this moment. That day, I was driving in Costa Rica in that horrific car that Laura and I had voluntarily bought. Right now, I can trace the exact decisions and events that got us to live in Costa Rica and that moment.
You are reading this right now because you made decisions and acted in ways that brought you to this website.
Are you happy in life? Are you satisfied? For your sake, I truly hope so.
Yet, you may see a plume of black smoke in your rear view mirror. As you look back, maybe you are dissatisfied with what you are doing and your own identity in this moment, and you see the black trail of your past is the indisputable reason why. If at some point you had pulled over to make sure that your soon-to-be-past future was smoke-free, you’d be fulfilled now. Eventually, the vapor trail would be a distant memory.
Unfortunately, every moment becomes the past in an instant. How can you control a fleeting moment? You have to decide to pull over and find the source of the plume yourself or get an outside perspective. You need to shake it up. You need a defining moment in life to pause your thought process and fix your engine so that it stops bringing toxicity to you and the others in your path.
I proclaim to you that starting anything is always the biggest step. But it doesn’t have to be that hard. One way to get started is to make the change smaller. Say you will give yourself 12 months to officially arrive to your new life, whatever you want it to be. So one month is 1/12th of the change, or 8%. That’s not so much, right?
And tell you what—if you had to hire someone to execute your change for you, what would your instructions for them be over the next month? Write out, by week what you would have them do to get through 8% of the change.
What have we done? Well, we’ve shrunk the change to begin with. Now your goal is 8%. And by writing a plan for someone else, you are taking the focus off of you and lowering the emotional stakes.
And here’s a bonus. In AA, people quit by thinking that their only task is to get through today. Plato once said “The beginning is the most important part of the work.” If you execute on your first 8% in a month, the fact that you started is a huge multiplier. What you’ve really done is gotten through at least a third of the process!
We needed a mechanic. All you need is you—and maybe some positive friends here and there. Stop the cycle of today’s bad moments creating a regretful past.
There’s a party on the other side.
“The consequences of today are determined by the actions of the past. To change your future, alter your decisions today.” ~ Anonymous