Day # 156 - Willingness

I’ve written on willingness before. The willingness to do whatever is necessary to achieve a goal will almost always ensure you don’t have to do everything necessary to achieve it. I work seven days a week. I have a full time job, run a small business, a large family, church, and I write this column, which may be the most challenging part of it all.

I am 39 years old and I have a great life. In many aspects, my life has been more successful than I could have expected, but I want more. I want meaning, as well as success. Sure, I want to make money and have nice stuff and security for my family, but that’s just not enough for me. If money was my only motivation, would I be writing this column? I don’t make money from it. It might pay off some day, but I would still do it even if I was sure it wouldn’t. Why? Because it is an exercise of will. I promised myself, and you, that I would spend a year without news and blog about the experience. The problem with that is that I don’t know how to write about what I am not doing. So, I write about my life and how this change is affecting me.

I recently killed my TV, which has given me more time to read. I’ve always been a reader, but now I can really tear through books. It’s amazing how you see the truth when you cut out the noise. I wasn’t a reader like I thought I was, like I wanted to be. I had to cut out the unproductive habit of watching news and noise to really kick my reading into overdrive. I had to be willing to make a radical change.

This is not to say I am no longer a hardcore capitalist. I am; to my very soul. I do not believe anything that I did not believe before beginning this project. My beliefs are the same. They are just more focused, more clearly defined; therefore they will better serve me.

You can accomplish anything, if you are willing to do whatever is necessary to reach your goal. You must be willing to change yourself, your situation, your life, and, especially your habits. Nothing is impossible unless you label it as such. Be willing to let go of those destructive little comforts, like complaining about every little inconvenience, like a line at Starbucks, or having to stop and gas up the car when you’re running late, or traffic, or filing, or whatever. There are things we all must do. Accept them and don’t give them any more mind than necessary. You must be willing to let go of the little attention-grabbing things. Let go of negative friends. Be willing to ignore the gossip and office chatter and instead, focus on your work – and then you’ll earn the promotion. Be willing to skip dessert – and then you’ll lose your love handles. Be willing to go through the pain of budgeting your money – and then you’ll stop worrying about paying the bills and saving for the future.

It all starts with willingness. Do you have the will? If you don’t, you have nothing.

- Adolfo
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