What’s Missing? 21 Days!

It is said in 21 days, you can make, or break, a habit. That’s 504 hours, 30,240 minutes, 1,814,400 seconds. No matter how you look at it, that’s a lot of life lived! What did you do with each hour, minute, or second if this statement is true? Can you account for the missing or wasted moments? Did you apply yourself all the time, or did you give yourself an inch here and there? Add enough inches they equal a foot and easily become a yard!

I’m just saying that you can do what you want if you set your mind to it!

If it’s doable, then you can achieve it. Have a goal? Establish your foundation and routine, and before you know it, you’ve achieved the said goal.

I know this to be true. I’ve slowly managed to become who and what I am because I take ownership of who I have become. From a week or so back, I’ve been thinking through this thought I had.

Let my way of doing life not confuse you.
It’s slowly developed through the years.
Change is slow. Habits are hard to make. And break.
Lord, help me not compare others to me, nor me to others.
You made me special. I’ve tried hard to “be the best me that me knows how.”

That last phrase is my thought today. It’s taken more than 21 days to become the “…best me that me knows how.”

Who Am I

I’m a reader, researcher, and thinker, left to my own devices. Remember those “thinking cap” days? I feel like that all the time! Put on my thinking cap, dig into a subject, and read voraciously. You must come out of your shell and interact with the world to stay like that. Test your thoughts and research against real life. Don’t be satisfied with only a single side to a story because I genuinely believe and have written about it often:

There are 40 sides to every story.

You can prove this by listening to 40 different witnesses to a single event from differing angles, and you’ll get a unique perspective from the angle of the story witnessed.

I love to interact with people. For a while, then I need to withdraw into an introverted shell and rebuild my strength for another event. Too much interaction, and I become weak and ineffective. My thinking, reading, and researching time is lost, and who I am is slowly tossed to the side as if kryptonite has invaded my space.

Give me unlimited funds and time; then, I would be a world traveler. Antarctica? Here I come! Keep me from the hot and torrid zones; let me have the cool and cold areas! Yes. More than 80% of the population lived within 10% above and below the equator. That means that I must go where it’s known to be hot to interact with more people. Wait! Maybe I’ll focus on the 20%, uh, 2% that live where the weather is more to my suiting.

Here’s My Thought

These past three weeks (21 days!) of downtime, vacation, R&R, or whatever you like to call them have shown me that I must start narrowing my focus as I age. Only so many years in my life remain for me to do what I want to do. Hence, I’m genuinely thankful for anything I get to do.

I want to present you with an exercise that you may choose to do or not. It all depends on you. For some, it’s the “old dog and new tricks” problem. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Are habits firmly entrenched that you can no longer change who you are to a better version? Is there something new you wish to attempt before time, money, health, and that anchor of negatives you keep dragging around prevent you from stepping out and doing something different?

Are you ready? Answer this question.

Do you know who you are?
Are you happy with who you’ve become?
What can you do to improve and change?
What will you do with what you know?

It’s in your hands. Do you need to relearn? Retrain? Retool? Do you need to go to school? Hire a coach? Look for a mentor? Some probably need some therapy work in order to undo those years of training, or genetic disposition!

Life Is Wasted Without Change

Without change we never become our true self. None of us are perfect. We are constantly changing. Sometimes for the better, and oft times not.

I love this quote attributed to Franklin, but it’s probably much older than him. The truth of these words has shown me a life path.

“Teach me, I’ll forget…
Show me, I’ll remember…
Involve me, I’ll understand.”
~Benjamin Franklin

Consider these avenues of thought from scripture:

• I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philippians 4:13 KJV)
• To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22 KJV)
• And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. (Jude 1:22-23 NKJV)

These are only a few. Research it for yourself. Think it through. Do something more. If you are going to be the best you that you know how, what must you do to better yourself? It’s really up to you.