This website is about putting your dream into action. I created it to help me make changes in my own life and share what I learn with others so that they make changes as well. The reason is because change is hard. Really hard. One of the biggest challenges comes from telling ourselves that we are going to [INSERT AMAZING THING HERE] just as soon as [INSERT EXCUSE HERE]. It doesn’t work that way. If you don’t make the change now, you are not going to make the change. Telling yourself that you will begin living a certain way in the future rarely works because it lacks firepower. If it had firepower, you would live that way TODAY.
How many times have you told yourself that you are going to live a certain way? How many times have you let yourself off the hook because now is not a good time to start? Or because starting tomorrow will be just fine? If you aren’t living the way you want to live, there is a reason. It’s not an accident. Your old strategies are not working, whatever those strategies are. Think objectively about why those strategies are not working and then develop a better strategy. The new strategy might not work, but the old strategy wasn’t working, so what do you have to lose?
I have a vision of how I want to live my life, but unfortunately I keep putting it off. I have made progress this year, but the gap between the way I want to live and how I am actually living is still too large for my satisfaction. I have created a simple list that I am going to try to focus on and live by.
TODAY I’m going to…
…focus.
…simplify.
…exercise.
…learn.
…finish something.
That’s it. My list could be huge, but I intentionally tried to keep it simple. My list isn’t a comprehensive list of how I want to live each day. It’s a simple list of things that I think deserve more of my attention. These are all areas where I think I need improvement. If you create a list of how you want to live today, it could be much different.
Let’s look a little closer at what I have chosen:
…focus. Many times I feel distracted, far more than I used to. I used to be able to sit down with long books and plow right through them. I still read a lot (probably more than ever), but it is scattered and distracted. I jump from topic to topic (on the Internet, of course). It isn’t unusual for me to watch TV, then surf the web, then watch TV, and keep going back and forth, even when the computer is in a different room from the TV. When I’m on the web, I have numerous tabs open with all sorts of articles and things that I want to read. It’s a little crazy. I am going to consciously work on my ability to focus on one thing at a time.
…simplify. Simplification fits well with focus. My attention is scattered in too many directions, so I need to simplify and reduce the objects of my attention. I need to reduce the number of things that occupy my time. I need to reduce the number of possessions that occupy my space.
…exercise. This one doesn’t really require explanation. I have been meaning to exercise for so many years now that it is ridiculous. That’s why I am going to start exercising just as soon as… Just kidding. I will exercise today. 
…learn. People who know me well might be surprised to see learning on my list. I have an insatiable curiosity, and I am constantly learning about a wide variety of topics, so why would I put this? I want to be more deliberate about learning things that will help me reach my dreams and goals. I need to focus and simplify my learning.
…finish something. I explained this one yesterday.
So those are the things that I’m going to remind myself to live by every day. At least for now. It could always change in the future. It will probably be challenging as hell, but it should also be very rewarding.
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