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I want to achieve a lot of things. I want to be remembered for something great. I want to leave a legacy for my family that they can be proud of. But what am I doing to secure them? Nothing. Everyday I talk about doing something great. And every day passes with me doing nothing. I have determined that this is the battle. I believe that this can be contributed to one thing; that being a lack of establishing the actual goals. I can say I am going to do X, but I have nothing to remind me of my commitment. I have nothing to look towards. Nothing staring back at me, wondering if I have what it takes. I have committed to may things before and some of those are still taking place, but others have failed.

These goals do not have be to profound in nature. They surely will not be complex. But they will be things that I want to achieve. Please note that these are not “bucket list” items. Or merely things that I want to do in life. But rather, things that I want to accomplish because they provide passion. 

So without further ado, here is my list of goals:

Graduate from college (B.S. Government).

Become debt free.

Retire with $1,000,000 in savings.

Write a book. (Fiction/Non-Fiction, it doesn’t matter).

Become physically fit/healthy.

Own my own business.

Pursue the arts (Painting/Photography)

Learn to code.

I challenge you to establish your own goals. And devise a plan that will allow you to achieve them. 

“Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal” – Elbert Hubbard

 

Today our society moves at thousand miles an hour. Information is produced and consumed almost instantaneously. Anything we need to know can be found on a device that is probably within arms reach. Search engines are developing new ways to provide us with the knowledge we seek even faster. Or take every fast-food place on the planet. These establishment refine their procedures to create faster results, so you can spend less time waiting. Or the express lanes at the local grocery stores. Computer registers that allow us to get in and get out without having to be bothered by the lines that may have only a few people in them. 

But have these “convenience” caused us to lose the ability to slow down? Or to take it further to understand that the process does not happen overnight. I know that we want instant results. That is why the health industry sells billions. Because we want instant wonder pills to give us what we want. No longer do we work for the things we want. If we can’t buy it now or have a procedure done, it is not worth our time. The time that we invest in the things we want has been lost. And its not even the time we invest but the time we spend relaxing. Gone are the days of old. Gone are the afternoons spent sitting on the porch enjoying a conversation. Gone are the leisurely walks in the park. And long gone are the days of silence. 

We need to slow down and just enjoy life at this moment. Enjoy the company of those we call friends. Watch our children play before their to old or to cool to spend time playing with you. Put down what you’re doing and go out. Take the world in as it should be, in the quite of the day. 

Go relax!

-Matt Eveland

 

There are 24 hours in a day. 8 of those are consumed by work. another 8 are taken by sleep. And well the other 8 seem to disappear. When you bring it down in to this basic level, it is difficult to understand why you don’t have time for whatever. Yes, life is busy at times. And often outside factors tend to control most of our time. But what I am wondering is this, even if you allowed for you time, would you still feel overwhelmed? Would there be something else forcing you to attend to it? Would that deadline still require you to work later than you normally would? 

I don’t claim to have all the answers. Shoot, I don’t claim even to know what I’m talking about. But what I do do is this, I think. I think about how things could be if given the right circumstances. I think about what would happen if everyone would care just a little bit. And I wonder what I could do if I valued my time better.

Minutes tick by as I talk about committing. The day turns to night and what I wanted to accomplish is still sitting in draft form. The days turn to weeks and my resume is still blank. Weeks eventually turn to months and I still find that I’m seeking to change things. Months past and form years of me wishing how things could have been. And you know what, there will become a day where I look back and wonder what would have been if I had just found the time.

What problems could I have fixed if I took the few minutes to think about the solution? How much happier would those around me be if I took the time to relax and spend it enjoying their company? I think it’s time to refocus my efforts on what matters. And find time to enjoy the things and those around me. 

I can sit back and wait for the universe to align and provide me that magical opportunity to make it or I can decide my own fate and seek out opportunity. What simply matters is my willingness to do. Am I willing to leave the comfort of familiarity for the unknown in hopes that the decisions I have made will be the right one? Am I willing to settle for mediocrity knowing that there could have been more? Ultimately, am I willing to live the rest of my life wondering what could have been had I just stepped out of the known. Over the next few weeks I am going to do things that I have never done before. I will either succeed or fail along the way, but I won’t know unless I try. I have ambitions to design and build, to learn and grow. But just how far am I willing to go to see the dreams come alive?

It is so easy to become complacent. But for what? If I don’t like my current situation, why am I willing to settle? And to what length will I go to at achieve what I want? I can sit here and talk about doing. Or ponder ideas of making something work. But unless I am willing to put “pen to paper” nothing will happen. I get that everything takes risk. And in order to achieve I must be willing to sacrifice what I have now for what I want in the future.

Like I said over the next few weeks I will make changes in my life towards what I want. No longer will I sit idly by and let chance decide my fate. If any one will be responsible for my successes or failures it will be me.  A responsibility that I whole accept.  

What are your goals? What are you willing to give up to achieve your goals?

Have you every wanted to do something and never made work? Had time just slipped away from you and the next thing you know, years had gone by. Well why? What caused you to put off your goals? Did you find that your day was filled with too much stuff? That work was too daunting or stressful and zapped all your motivation to do? Is your family life hectic from day to day in such a way that all your time is taken attending to certain matters?  

But is it? 

How much of our time is wasted doing so much of the mundane activities that we have lost sight of what our desires or goals are? Think about it. We spend time at are jobs getting worked up over matters that honesty don’t matter. We stress financial matters simply because we have spent more than we make. Or to look at it another way, we spend out time consumed with nonsense. Time is spent in the car s we travel to and fro. Time is spent on the internet looking up whatever it is we do. Hours are spent updating status or getting upset because we didn’t get the invite. 

But why? 

If none of it really matters in the end, why do we put off what we desire simply to be? If our time is so costly, why is it that we neglect spending time doing the things we enjoy? We need to manage our priorities better and allot the bulk of our time to the good times spent with our family or enjoying our hobbies. 

So step away from the computer, put down the gadget, and spend that time doing, enjoying life before its too late.

-Matt

Well it has been a few days since I have written something. And of the past few days I have been thinking a lot about commitment and fear of failure.

So here is what I have gotten so far:

I often wonder what would happen if I committed to the things I want to do. How would my life be? Would I find fulfillment in the things I do? 

Honestly, what’s holding me back? Is it my own preconceived fear of failure? Am I afraid to leave my comfort? In the end, is the failure so extreme that all will be completely lost. I was listening to a podcast recently and the host was talking about a similar situation. They suggested “that the worst any given situation would become would be him sleeping on his in-laws couch eating their food while he looks to rebuild his life. ” (Johnny B Truant and Joel Runyon.)

How true is this? Very true. My family wants me to succeed. And if I happen to fail, they will support me. So why am I still failing to commit? It basically comes down to me. I must act. I must commit to something. If I am going to be successful under my own terms, I have to step away from the known and into the unknown. And even then, is the the unknown really the unknown? Maybe I fear what I can not control. Is the business that I start going to be successful? Are the products that I am creating desired? And you know what, even these questions are relatively known. If I create a product that no one likes, I am bound to fail. If the business does not create repeat customers I am going to fail. 

So over the course of the next few weeks I am going to commit to several things. Eventually, they will be posted here. The idea is to motivate. Motivate you and I to commit to something and to go through the process together. 

Here are two questions you should ask yourself;

What are you willing to commit too? and, What fears cause you to second guess your own commitment? 

http://biggerbetterstrongerfaster.com/3/ – “How To Play The “Worst Case Scenario” To Put Your Problems In Their Place.”

“Bad people will fail because you ask too much of them. Good people will successed because you have given them enough.”

Man this whole writing thing is difficult. Sure, I knew coming into it that it would be difficult coming up with things to talk about on a regular basis. But so far so good. I have started to become more active on twitter, @matteveland, so follow me if you would like too. I also created a page where I am going to start posting photos that I have taken. I figure if I enjoy them you may as well.

-Matt

Today I spent the afternoon walking about the city. We checked out a few shop and even had lunch. It was a great day over all. One thing did strike me however. This one thing was to just relax. I didn’t have a care in the world this afternoon. Nothing could have been better. I wonder why it can be like this all the time. 

Why do the events of life seem to take such a toll on our happiness? It’s not as if the world is out seeking our demise. So what makes us get so caught up in the things that surround us that we look sight of what we enjoy?

I hear a lot about sphere of concern/influence and only try to control what we can. Some even go a step further and suggest that ever event is a direct result of our actions. I don’t see this as true. Sure you can change your immediate surroundings. and you can influence those you interact with. But there are somethings that are naturally going to fight the system. Actually, there are those things that are the system. I mean, the institutions that we have created in our society, workplaces, and even homes impact our environment and attitudes more than we tend to think. These areas work in such as was that rules and regulations begin to dictate everything that we do.

There is no longer room for creativity. Your opinion becomes moot. Eventually, the very institution that you have accepted, voids you of all worth. But yet people are full of ideas and creativity. People have given us what we have today and they still continue to progress into the future. Almost as if the universe was separating the world into those that work and those that create. And those that work allow those to create. 

There needs to be a balance. I would love to create. I would love to explore the world and experience all that it has to offer. But I need to survive, I need to support my family.

So, I will continue to do is play both sides. I will work until I no longer have too. And I will create until thats all I become. 

-Matt