NOVEMBER 2023 – Success and showing up. The correlation between the two is hard to ignore. Even when we’re not at our ‘best’, simply making an attempt to rise to the challenge builds character and allows for the potential of something good to happen. Versus not even trying, ducking out of responsibility, and hiding from the world… That is a good recipe for regret and missed opportunity. As if you don’t try, you know what will happen, nothing. And believe me, I know how easy it is to get thrown off, but that is exactly when you need to tap into your inner resiliency and find a reason to go on. The benefits might not always be immediately clear, but in time, a life of bravery and commitment to your highest ideals will be so much more rewarding.
Meet the moment and you’ll be amazed at what can happen. Having another person in your life that can help tee up opportunities and encourage you is also super helpful and vice versa, where you can help them reach their potential. Most positive outcomes in our life come from repetition and a thousand small positive decisions that compound into a great long-term outcome. So also remember to show up for yourself each and every day and make little efforts towards your big goals, as that momentum will build in time and fuel you to work harder and make dedication come easier and easier.
This month I’ve been spending a lot of time on focusing my energies towards the goals that I want to make progress on the most. Reading more is one of those goals and I snagged a copy of Steven Pinker’s book, ‘Enlightenment Now’ to step up my knowledge-base on a number of topics. The landscape of the future is such fertile territory and his book dives into many topics of interest for me, such as the future of progress, happiness, reason, and what a good life means. There is A LOT in this book and like any book discussing what will come, it becomes a catalog of the sentiments of the time in which it was written/published (2018). I have a lot of respect for authors that take a shot at visualizing the future and extrapolating what the lessons and outcomes of the present moment will be. Hindsight is a powerful thing and it is forever humbling to realize how blind we are to the truth and the implications of each passing second.
Don’t give up and remember to keep showing up for yourself and others. The world needs your kindness, humility, and grace.
~ CS
