Allow the Goodness

Whatever you allow to hold you back will hold you back. Whatever you allow to push you forward will push you forward.

There are many factors, circumstances and influences that will flow through your life. Whether each one is a liability or an asset is, for the most part, up to you.

Great disappointments and tragedies can arise out of seemingly perfect situations. And magnificent achievements can come from desperate, seemingly hopeless conditions.

What matters most is not the nature of your situation. What matters most is what you take from it and what you do with it.

Even in places and pursuits where others may have failed, you have the opportunity to succeed. Even those factors that may have held others back can be your motivation to move forward.

Many things may seem inevitable, and yet most things are really not. No matter what life may send your way, choose to use it in a positive, productive and valuable manner.

Allow the goodness, the abundance, the joy, and they will be.

What You Can Do and What You Cannot Do

There are some things that you can control, and there are other things that you cannot. There are things that you can change, and there are other things that you must simply learn to live with.

By accepting what you cannot do, you free up much time and energy that can be devoted to what you can do. By being at peace with the things you cannot change, you give yourself more power and effectiveness over the areas where you can indeed make a difference.

You could waste your time and energy complaining that the ocean is too deep and wide. Or you could figure out how to sail across it.

You could fall back on the excuse that the mountains are too high to get past. Or you could climb your way over and through them.

It’s great to be well aware of what you can do. And it’s even better to also acknowledge and accept what you cannot do.

For that gives you the ability to put all your energy and resources into efforts that will truly make a positive difference. Accept what you cannot do, and you’ll find great success in doing what you can.

The Best You Can Do

Do you do your best each day? Yes, you do. Because at the end of the day, when all is said and done, whatever you’ve accomplished, that’s the best you were able do. Is it good enough? That’s for you to decide.

Do you live up to your expectations? Yes, you do. Because whatever you expect of yourself, is exactly what you’ll get from life.

Are you living the life you truly want? Yes, you are. Because if you truly wanted anything else, you would find a way to have it.

What is the best you can do? What do you expect from yourself? What do you want from life? These things are completely under your control. You decide what is your best. You decide what to expect. And that is what you get.

Less Than Perfect

Things will never be perfect. Sometimes they will never even be close. Yet that is no reason to hide away from life, no reason to curse your predicament. On the contrary, it is every reason to rise up and go forth with renewed determination.

If you wait for conditions to be perfect, you won’t ever get much done. If you refuse to go ahead unless you can be guaranteed of a sure thing, you’ll never get very far.

It’s great to aim toward perfection, yet to arrive at perfection you must cross through a lot of imperfection. To get everything just right, you must be willing to deal with things going wrong.

Take this day, this moment, with all its flaws, and make the very most of it. Rather than complaining about what you don’t have or where you’d rather be, make full use of where you are, of what you do have.

Aim toward perfection while also accepting the reality of what is. And excellence will surely result.

Enjoy the Good Things

The more you enjoy the good, positive things, the less you’ll be tempted by the negative, destructive things. If you’ve just had a good, balanced, enjoyable nutritious meal you won’t be easily tempted to eat junk food. When you truly enjoy fresh air and exercise, you won’t be tempted to seek pleasure in substance abuse.

A key part of positive living is enjoying the truly good things in life. Such fulfillment leaves little room for negative, destructive influences to take hold. Yet if you’re reluctantly following a nutritious diet or grudgingly following an exercise routine, you’re asking for trouble. Such an attitude attracts destructive temptations.

So when you do the right thing, enjoy it! When you take positive actions, enjoy them. After all, they are leading you toward positive results. Why would you possibly want to begrudge them? Pat yourself on the back. Truly enjoy the fact that you’re making positive progress, and the negative temptations will have no power over you.

Start Now

The sooner you start, the more you can accomplish. The more quickly you get going, the faster you will reach the goal.

Time will work for you when you make use of it as it comes. But the days and hours that you waste can never be reclaimed.

The moments that you fill with positive, productive and focused effort can continue to reward you for years to come. The earlier you start to build something of value, the more of it you’ll be able to create.

It may seem in this moment that the easiest choice is to put your efforts off until later. In reality, though, that choice only makes things more difficult for you.

In the long run, the easiest way to achieve is to get started now. For the sooner you start, the less time you’ll have to spend catching up.

Do you want to get the highest return for the time and effort you invest? The way to do that is to start right now.

What Will It Take?

What will it take to get where you really want to go? To have the things you really want to have? To be the person you really want to be?

What will it take?

It will take work. Hard work. Late nights. Frustration. Sacrifice. Discipline. Effort. 

Disappointment. Discomfort. It will take your total commitment. It will take the best that you have to give.

If you think that sounds tough, consider the alternative. Regret. Wondering what you could have done if only you had given it your best shot. The waste of a life half lived, and you can’t go back.

So the choice is up to you: an easy path with a heartbreaking destination, or a challenging path with a destination of fulfillment and joy.

Any way you cut it, life is difficult. But is that really so bad? It is in the challenges that we grow. It is in overcoming the difficulties that we find our greatest accomplishments. Face life head-on, deal with the challenges as they come. Accept that life is difficult, quit wishing or pretending that it is easy, and you will then be free to live with joy and purpose and fulfillment.