you need to keep putting the sandbags on the wall to keep the wall from breaking. this is what we do in life – we keep putting more and more sandbags on the wall. we must not let the wall break, we must find more sandbags, we must never give up on this one task. if we can’t find more sandbags and we can’t keep fortifying the wall – then the wall will crack and break and everything will come tumbling down upon us. this is the most dire of events that leads to the most drastic life changes – the loss of your house, the loss of your job, the loss of your family, the loss of your hope, the loss of a life – these are the things that happen when we stop putting sandbags on the wall of life. you must always search for sandbags – this search never stops until the day you die. if you keep searching and you keep trying, you will find those sandbags and you will help keep the wall intact. yes, cracks will appear in the wall – this is life. but, you must never let the wall collapse altogether. you must do what you have to do to keep the wall up and to keep the sandbags coming. a perfect wall does not exist – everyone must find sandbags to stop the cracks from getting bigger. whether it is a financial burden that is causing the cracks or an emotional burden – you must not stop what you are doing – you must tolerate the people and events around you to keep the sandbags coming – you must put up with things you want to give up on – you must tolerate being around people that you don’t want to be around. you must be calm and patient and tolerant – for the sake of keeping the wall together. you must do these things and you must learn to live through these things. that is why they say life is hard – because we all have to do things that we don’t want to do in order to keep the sandbags coming to keep each of our own walls from tumbling down.
Category: success
lesson learned
every experience brings a lesson. that lesson can slowly creep into your mind or it might come in a flash. the key is to know the lesson learned. when you wake up one day and say i know the lesson i am suppose to learn from this experience – then all is good. you then know why you were put in this job or put in this situation – to learn this lesson. and once you have learned that lesson, your time has been well spent – even if the experience did not end in success. this experience was never going to end in the traditional definition of success. but in reality, you did succeed because a lesson was placed there for you to discover and learn from – and if you did discover that lesson and you did learn from that lesson – then you have accomplished your mission for the experience, event, job, etc. you can then take what you learned from that lesson and apply it to real life – to ultimately make you a better person – to make you understand yourself even more – to understand how to survive and thrive in this world – to help you interact with others in a better way. if you fail at something, then you were meant to fail – and the main goal was not failure or success – but did you learn the key lesson. don’t leave the failure behind until you have learned the key lesson and are ready to apply what you learned. only then will you realize that every experience has a meaning – and that understanding that meaning is the key to a happy and fulfilled life.
a reason
every person that is put into your life is there for a reason. you have to look at life this way to keep your mind on track. you have to understand that a person is put there to test you, to challenge you, to push you to go further, to help make you evolve, to put you in uncomfortable situations, you make you try your best, to prove yourself, to force you to do what you wouldn’t normally do. you must think this way – there is a reason that person is suddenly in your life – whether at work or in a social environment – there is a reason and it is a good reason. if you think this way, then you will not get frustrated and you will begin to see what you can learn from this person being there – from this person who does or says things differently than you – a person that you instantly want to dislike because they bring out your insecurities – they test your usual confidence. it is up to you to find out why they are put there and what you need to learn. they might be the catalyst to make a big change or they might just be there to help you reach your greatest heights. think this way – that there is a reason and it is for your benefit – and you will make progress and you will not be frustrated. i know it is a big task to open your mind to this concept – and you will have to force yourself to think this way – but it is the only way to move forward. think about this – you are placed into their life to help them as well – every interaction has a mutual reason.
look in the mirror
before you are about to do something, go look in the mirror. go find a bathroom and look in the mirror. when you look in the mirror, look deeper into your eye and look into your soul. there you will find the courage to do what you have to do in this world to stay alive, get ahead, push further, pass the test, create success, be confident. look in the mirror and be confident of yourself.
go the distance
if you have decided that you will do whatever it takes to be successful – then you must stick to that plan and go the distance. you must put yourself into uncomfortable situations – you must come out of your shell – you must open your mouth and start speaking – you must not think about being afraid to say what you need to say to get others to listen – you must not be quiet and shy – you must speak up and be heard – you must look into the mirror and know that you will just walk into that meeting and command attention – and when you do – you must be calm and clear and concise in your words and actions. but of all things you must do – it is the all encompassing idea of going the distance that you must maintain and even try to embrace. this is all that you can ask of yourself when all is said and done – you did what you needed to do so that you could live with yourself – regardless of the final result. this is why you are here on this earth – to go the distance. otherwise, what is the point to all of this thing we call life.
be relentless
i have found that you need to be relentless in life to get what you want. and even then it is not guaranteed that you will reach your goals. that is how hard it is to get to where you think you need to be. you have to be relentless in your actions to succeed. you have to be a robot that keeps the pressure always on. you have to not even think about it, you have to just do it – over and over and over. and then hopefully you wake up one day with a feeling of hope that you are getting closer – that being relentless is the only way to get there. you have to keep smiling and thinking the corner is coming – you will get to that corner and be able to look around to what is ahead. right now you just see a long road ahead – you don’t see anything in the distance – you only see endless road. you can’t stop because there is nothing to stop for – it would be pointless. so you have to keep going on and on – you have to be relentless in this pursuit of finding a glimmer in the distance to reach for – finding a corner to the road. it is the only way to live. it is a painful way to live and sometimes a boring way to live. but if you do stay relentless, if you do keep pushing no matter what – then you will reach a destination. they say that you never reach a destination and i can believe that. they say that the journey is the real destination, and i can believe that. but there is complete satisfaction in completing the task you are on now. it may not be the end of the journey, but it is a mindset to keep being relentless. you will reach mini-destinations and you will feel satisfaction. that is all we can hope for in life – to be satisfied. to say in that moment “i am satisfied” and “i did it”. and even if you don’t get satisfaction by not completing the task – the next best thing is being satisfied that you tried and that you were relentless. that is all you can ask for from yourself in life and you can find satisfaction with that result as well. we want to be satisfied and to be satisfied, we have to be relentless. if you are relentless, regardless of the result, you will be satisfied.
get out there
and make it happen –stop sitting around and talking about what you are going to do –this is what everyone does –they talk, talk, talk –STOP! Put your damn foot out there and run down the street and pick up the phone and do it. I know –cliche, cliche, cliche –but these damn things are right. Make it happen, you only live once. Why are you living if you are not doing what you think about doing, but you never do. Go for a run now and while you are running, think about what you are going to do today, this week, this year –and then do it.