What Are You Going to Do About It?
What do you want? Is there something that you want to be? Is there something that you want to achieve? You can, but chances are it won’t be easy. Chances are even better that you will give up. I give up a hundred times a day until I remind myself of the “what if” that got me started in the first place. It’s much easier to tell myself that I can’t achieve something and throw in the towel than it is to keep failing. Unless, of course, I’m not failing.
I’ve never been a huge fan of self help mumbo jumbo, nor am I a fan of the “God will bless you with immense riches and happiness” prosperity gospel. I have typically been more in favor of changing your mindset and mental/spiritual transformation through meditation and self-discipline. Interestingly though, the people that I have often thought of as a bit cooky, e.g. Esther Hicks and Louise Hay, espouse beliefs similar to my own with a difference in semantics. Yes, I think the whole non-physical being Abraham stuff is a bit spooky, but I do believe that there is something within us that guides us and gives us wisdom, drive, and direction. I just choose to call it God or self. At any rate, there are sometimes worthwhile words that encourage us to press on. I thank my buddy JWB for sending me this video which is helpful in giving a new perspective on attaining our goals.
We are creatures that are constantly in pursuit of instant gratification. I want it all and I want it now. I want to be a successful writer and every time I submit a story that I think is good, but don’t get it published I throw in the towel. For some reason though, I pick it right back up and go at it again. Just like Richardson says in this video, if I give 100% each time I fall a little short, then I am not really failing. Each time I sit down at this computer and start typing, I must be getting a little better at writing. So, if I give 100% each time I come to the keyboard, then that 100% will be better than the previous day’s 100% If I keep writing every day, I can’t help but get better and after 365 days of regular practice, well, who knows what will happen? The same goes for you. Got something you want to achieve? Got a goal for your life? Is something calling you from within to become or do something? Well, what are you going to do about it?
Apophatica 
August 31, 2014 at 12:46 am
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”
— Nelson Mandela
August 31, 2014 at 9:00 am
Just watched the video, and very much agree with those principles. To this day, I have on my desk at work a book entitled “Mental Toughness, which I read years ago in preparing to coach 13u feeder baseball. At that time I read many books (“Heads Up Baseball” is another excellent example, and remains on my desk at home) regarding how baseball is a game designed around failure. When I have talked to young players, I have emphasized that how we handle the inevitable “failure” of making more outs than hits at the plate translates into life lessons such as the gentleman speaks of in this video. So we would talk process vs outcome, and focus on what we could control vs areas of concern, and emphasize effort vs results. I remember once patting Tawfic on the back as he came back to the bench after having grounded out to 2nd base. He shrugged and somewhat deflatedly said he just made an out. I said something like yes , but that doesn’t tell anywhere near the whole story of the quality at bat you just had: leading off the game, you saw 7 pitches , fouling off the last two after having taken the first five to run the count full , and then hit a solid 2 hop smash headed up the middle for a leadoff single, but the 2nd baseman made a nice backhanded snare and fired across his body to barely beat you at 1st. I still remember the look in his eyes as he pondered that perspective. Over the years I have also been influenced by PCA (Positive Coaching Alliance) and tried to impart to parents that ultimately our focus as adults being involved in youth sports should be to leave a positive imprint regarding these related life lessons. All good! Thanks for sharing this. I will watch it with Sandra and the boys. JL
August 31, 2014 at 6:05 pm
Good stuff. I had heard the Jordan quote before and have shared that with the boys. I get caught up in the instant gratification sometimes by seeing the golden ring in front of me and not looking at the bigger picture. Taking time to see the bigger picture and how much more there can be is something i am working on. When Tracey was in the midst of her battle with cancer Psalms 121:1-3 is what gave her encouragement.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
When that is the God we have with us how can we not get up and keep getting up and giving it all we have.
September 3, 2014 at 12:57 pm
Thanks so much for sharing that, Jon! You’re absolutely right. We all need to be in the mindset that getting up and going again is our only option. When we think rolling over and giving up is an option it starts to sound very enticing.
September 4, 2014 at 7:12 am
I cite to a couple baseball books, whereas Jon quotes from Psalms. Therein lies yet another example of the wide gap in depth between myself and Mr Shima! 🙂
So to continue, for my part, along the more trivial path, B’s title (“What are you going to do about it?”) also reminded me of that great scene (while kneeling in church, of all places) from The Untouchables movie where Sean Connery admonishes Kevin Kostner (Elliott Ness) similarly after having passionately explained the “Chicago way” of taking on Al Capone.
I vaguely remember his question / plea…
“Well, what are you prepared to do?!”