I feel that it is important to say that all of this is a work in progress. Not trying to make any excuses, but it is by design. There is a proverb that says the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time to plant it is today. As one can clearly see, this website is not nearly as beautiful (or functional) as it could be but it is better than it was yesterday, and that is improvement. I think this holds true for most things in life as well. It is easy to compare ourselves to those around us and think that we are spinning our wheels while everyone else is winning at life. Instead of being covertly (or overtly) envious of those around you, be happy with their success, and instead of comparing yourself to them, compare yourself to your past self. Are you better off than you were yesterday? If not, why not? What can you do today that you hadn't done in the past that your future self would be proud of? For me, it is putting some thoughts down on something I am working towards creating. It's not much but I do get a smug sense of accomplishment by it and it's tangible.
I had a good conversation with my dad yesterday when I told him that I was doing twenty push ups a day in order to justify joining a gym. In the past, I would buy a membership then invariably stop going for whatever excuse I could come up with. Now, I am forcing myself to earn the right to buy a membership once I can commit to doing a set of push ups everyday.
He told me a story about how when he was in college, he went to see Rocky and was amazed by the one-armed push ups Sylvester Stallone did in the movie. He decided he would make a goal to do one arm push ups just like he did. Since they are not easy, he would start with regular push ups, then advance to one arm push ups with knees on the ground eventually culminating into real, full-on badass Stallone one armed push ups.
Now since I am a skeptical judgmental asshole, I looked at my 61 year old dad I had to ask if he ever even did one. Of course he had. He had set his mind to it and put in the work to accomplish it. I was impressed and felt bad for even doubting at this point that he had achieved what he set out to do. I was happy that he shared that with me and decided that would be my new goal. Now that I have put my goal into text, I am accountable and am taking the steps to do it. Today isn't the day I will be able to do a one armed push up because I haven't yet put all the work in, but I am closer than I was yesterday. Someday down the line, I hope that my future self can tell my kid about the time that I set out to do one armed push ups as well.
Whether it's one armed pushups, or creating a business, I am learning to earn.