Heroes don’t often break through barriers in one push. They tap away at a roadblock until it crumbles. There are often numerous small failures before there is one huge victory. You have to be willing to put in the effort and continue tapping away at that wall.
Your assignment today is to push yourself. Don’t be happy with where you are. Test your limits, even if you do it timidly. Rewrite your big presentation one more time to make it even better. Spend an extra fifteen minutes at the gym. Interview for a new job that will really push your limits. Go just a little bit too far out on the ledge and see what the view is like.
DAY
257
“None of us really pushes hard enough.”
— Fran Tarkenton
Dave was a successful entrepreneur. Within three short years he built his business from a workshop in his basement to a million-dollar enterprise. When asked about the methods he used to rocket to success, Dave smiled and gave a three-word answer:
“Reality Check Day.”
The interviewer looked at him suspiciously, but Dave went on to explain that he chose one day a week as Reality Check Day. He spent thirty minutes first thing in the morning on Reality Check Day (sually Monday), and he went through his calendar for the previous week. He wrote in his journal about his victories and also made a list of where he didn’t push hard enough. Then he took five minutes to close his eyes and concentrate on his breathing. He came up with short mantras, like “come hope,” “come innovation,” and “come God” to accompany his breathing technique. When Dave was finished with this exercise, he launched into the week with renewed energy and a resolve to push harder. It was an extremely successful technique and easy to do.
You may have already guessed your assignment. It is to give Reality Check Day a try for at least two months. Every Monday practice what Dave suggested and see if, at the end of the second month, you find you pushed a little harder and created a little more success in your life. Almost no one pushes hard enough, but you can become the exception one week at a time by incorporating this new habit.
DAY
258
“Every morning I wake up saying, I’m still alive; a miracle. And so I keep on pushing.”
— Jacques Cousteau
If you are reading this, you were successful in at least one thing today: you’re still alive. Congratulations! Now, what are you going to do with that miracle you were just handed? Are you going to waste it, or are you going to use it up and find out about its full potential?
You are a living, breathing miracle every day you spend on this earth. It’s time to celebrate that fact. Take your life and seize its potential today. It is a tragedy to let the hours of your life slip by without incorporating some effort into the gift you have been given. If someone handed you a brand new invention, something that is so unique that you are the only one in the world who gets to use it, would you leave it on your couch untouched?
Are you even a little bit curious about what you are capable of doing? Think of yourself as that brand new invention. What can you discover about your talents and strengths? How can you test your limits? Are there any things you can do to improve your efficiency and productivity? Use up this life you’ve been given right now. Test it. There’s no reason to save up your efforts for another day. That day may never come. Keep pushing, and you will be surprised by the capabilities of the invention you were given.
DAY
259
“If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, will answer you: I am here to live out loud.”
— Emile Zola
Why are you here? What did you come to this world to do? Some people say they didn’t ask to be born into this world. It’s not their fault they’re here. They take a “just visiting” attitude and the stance of a bored teenager on a family trip who refuses to enjoy the scenery. Are you like that?
You can certainly choose that route in life. What will it get you at the end of the day? Probably a healthy dose of resentment, boredom, wishful thinking, sadness, and maybe a little anger. You have every right to choose that, but it’s not your only option.
What would it be like if you took on Emile Zola’s idea and decided that you are here on earth to live out loud? What does that mean to you? What would that get you? Most likely it would provide you with a heavy helping of contentment, joy, exhilaration, intrigue, and wonder.
You get to make the choices about what you are going to do in this world. Your choices create your path. Describe what you will do if you choose to live out loud. Draw a picture of your life if you refuse to apologize for who you are and if you openly pursue your dreams. What would happen if you didn’t whisper your dreams in dark rooms? Instead, choose to bring your desire for achievement into the sunlight and actively live it and work it. Live out loud today. Don’t be afraid.
DAY
260
“I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble. The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
— Helen Keller
Helen Keller reveals a very big secret in these few sentences. It’s an exciting revelation if you give yourself a moment to think about it. The world is really moved along by lots of tiny pushes from ordinary people. If you want to accomplish great things, you have to take on humble tasks like they were the most important jobs in the world. Great people do not do one big and wonderful thing and then call it a day. If you take a microscope to the lives of your heroes, you will find that they actually did thousands of little things very well in order to achieve success.
Pick one of your heroes and look closely at their life. Read a biography about them or collect as much information as you can find on the Internet. Make a list of all of the smaller goals they accomplished in order to reach great heights of success. No one made a single big shove to greatness. Noble achievements are the results of numerous tiny pushes up the mountain.
Draw a picture of a mountain and write one of your biggest goals for success at the top. Next, write down as many smaller goals as you can think of that will push you up that mountain toward your highest achievement. This is your new check list. Feel free to gaze up at the summit often, but concentrate your work on the smaller tasks along the way. You will get there if you accomplish the humble tasks as if they were great and noble.
DAY