The Transition of Power
“The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” – President Barack Obama’s Inauguration Speech
Free to pursue our true measure of happiness. What exactly is happiness? The all knowing Wiki describes it as: ‘a state of mind or feeling such as contentment, satisfaction, pleasure, or joy’. State of mind or feeling – it can be either – but I’m understanding now that even the feeling must be a result of a happy state of mind. It’s impossible not to.
Read recently that happiness is not – and should not – be a destination we’re trying to get to. I used to think it was. Nothing was ever good enough – even things I used to love to do didn’t do it for me anymore. (depression, anyone?
Happiness was some exotic unknown destination I was trying to every which way to discover. And through all the great books I poured through, I discovered one central theme was evident: happiness is not in the destination – it is entirely in the journey we take in life.
Ok – so how can we improve our journey? State of mind. You’ve heard it before: live in the moment. Be aware. You may not want to hear it, but understand that’s just stubborness and selfishness. Negativity breeds more negativity – it feeds on itself once we let it in. Flip the switch.
“The words you speak, the thoughts you think, the food you eat and the actions you take (daily) are defining your destiny.” ~Robin Sharma
If every day you do the same things that leave you content in mediocrity – then every day you’ve accomplished nothing more than being mediocre. Deep down nobody wants that. People want to be recognized – it’s human nature. But in order to be recognized we have to strive for excellence in whatever it is that we do.
The New Hustle is hustling harder. Aiming higher. Achieving more. This is the movement we need to spread. I’ve said it before – if everyone improves themselves they’ll inspire others to do the same – it’s contagious. Same way Micheal Jordan inspired Lebron James. Same as Tiger has influenced a generation of golfers. Everybody wants to be great – so why not take the action necessary to get there, daily?
Just takes daily small improvements, awareness and hard work to maintain your best game. I’ll leave you with MLK Jr. III, who was as gifted as he was passionate.
“If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” ~MLK Jr. III
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