Blame

This blog is one about improving yourself mentally, physically, relationally and in every way possible.

It’s about helping you think differently about the path you walk. To consider ideas and perspectives that encourage and uplift you, but also challenge you to do things differently. 

You will fail in your doing, however. All of us do. 

But who’s fault is it?

Where do you turn for answers and most importantly who do you blame?

While there may be environmental, economic and physical reasons why things don’t go your way, there is ever only one person to blame.

You. 

Your failure is no one else's fault. It is wholly your own. 

The sooner you embrace that truth, the sooner you’ll be ready to do something about it. 

To correct course and move forward. 

As long as you're stuck blaming everything and everyone else other than yourself, however, you’ll remain stuck and unable to gain traction. 

Too many spend their lives playing the blame game. Don’t let that be you. 

Take ownership of everything in your world. The good, the bad and most importantly the path forward. 
 

Fear of failure

There are a lot of things that can keep you from getting after it. 

Fear of failure is one such thing. 

It will cease you by the throat and leave you paralyzed if you let it. 

You don’t want to fail, and if trying means there is a greater than likely chance of failure, you might choose to not play the game. 

But that would mean wasting your time. 

If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.

Failure is part of the pathway to victory, because of what you learn in the process. 

It teaches you resolve, forms your character and strengthens you like nothing else can. 

Failure might seem like the enemy, but like discipline, it ends up being your best friend. 

One you couldn’t get along without. 

The grind

The grind gets a bad wrap. 

Most people think of it as a negative thing. 

In fact, most hate it. 

It’s hard, uncomfortable and that’s the point. 

Hard things make you grow and easy things don’t.  

So embrace the grind. 

Learn that it doesn’t matter how you feel. 

Don’t give up, push through it and see how your life changes.  

All the growth you seek is found in grinding it out.

10,000 Hours

Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the 10,000-hour rule. 

It's the idea that you have to put in 10,000 hours to become a master at something. 

The common understanding of this rule is rubbish and better still you know it. 

You know that no one masters anything simply by showing up. 

Said another way, it’s not the hours that count, it’s how you spend them. 

There’s a lot to be said for showing up. Most people won’t even take the easiest of steps towards victory. 

The problem comes when you stop at showing up. When you believe being there and going through the motions will get you where you want to go. 

It doesn’t work that way. 

You never achieve goals by accident. 

The only way to reach them is by working a plan. 

A plan intensely focused on the right things. 

Things like sacrifice, hard work, delayed gratification, and discipline. 

Things that while not enjoyable at the time, are laying the foundation for your future victory. 

Time

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. That’s the sound of time passing us by. 

It keeps rolling on. Never stopping to rest, or catch its breath. No, time just keeps chugging along. 

Depending on when you get up and how late you’re awake, your clock will count down somewhere between 43,000 to 86,000 seconds before your head hits the pillow tonight. 

What will you do with those seconds? 

Each one is an opportunity to do something worthwhile. 

Squeeze every ounce out of each one of those moments. Make each and every one of them count. 

Use them to move the ball downfield, to get things done, and most importantly to make yourself better. 

Be disciplined about it and you’ll reach the end of the day exhausted yet proud. 

Then get up and do it again tomorrow, and every day.