I have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is, you can’t have it all. The good news is, when you give up an insistence on having it all, you’re way more likely to get what you really want.
We live in an age of, “I want it all, and I want it easy,” yet when we pursue those twin objectives, we often end up with little more than a bag full of wishful thinking. With that in mind, I have an important question for you. What are you willing to sacrifice?
Now, before the idea of sacrificing sends you running the other way, let me give it a little different spin. Another way of asking “What am I willing to sacrifice” is “What choices am I willing to make in order to get there?” In many ways, sacrifice is really about nothing more than choices and priorities. It’s about saying, “Sure I would like to have that, but this is more important to me right now.”
Are you willing to choose long-term gain over immediate gratification? Are you willing to choose a productive use of your time over yet another hour watching TV? Are you willing to tone down your spending to create the financial breathing room so you can pursue a new career? Are you willing to choose the temporary discomfort of making a career change over the “comfortable discomfort” of going to a familiar job that doesn’t fit, day after day and year after year?
You can create the life you want. The future is your canvas and your paintbrush is choice. So when you’re faced with that immediate gratification that doesn’t lead you towards your dreams, or that option about how to spend your time, ask yourself, “What is most important to me?”
Give up having it all so you can have what you really want.
After years as a professional malcontent, Curt Rosengren discovered the power of passion. As a speaker, author, and coach, Rosengren helps people create careers that energize and inspire them. His book 101 Ways to Get Wild About Work and his E-book The Occupational Adventure Guide offer people tools for turning dreams into reality. Rosengren's blog, The M.A.P. Maker , explores how to craft a life of meaning, abundance, and passion.
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Vincent 1:40AM May 30, 2009