There are a lot of new things you could try. There are plenty of dreams to explore. But today like all days you must choose to do one thing well. Not perfect, just well. You really don’t have to but if you do, you will figure out what you value. It is that simple. What we find important, we MAKE time for. We don’t sit around and wait for someone else to tell us what to do, we don’t dream about it, we don’t procrastinate, we put our hands to the plow and do it.
If you value a clean environment, then you will clean your house- no matter who made the mess. If you value escape into your mind- you might be a book reader. Maybe a meditator or just a fire gazer. Either way you make time for what is going on in that noggin even if it looks like nothing. I used to go for long walks. If fitness is your thang, you will find a way to move, to stay in shape. Doing one thing well is about making time to do it. It is putting it at the top of the list. Most things people want to do stay at the bottom of the list. They never make their desire a priority, but instead talk about what they wish they could do.
If you want a new value added to your life, you have to change. As much as most people hate or fear change, there is a way to painlessly do it. A way to become what you want without tearing open the cocoon of who you will become. Because once you do a thing you can become it.
Now I must warn you, doing this one thing is becoming it. This one thing has transformed some Americans into a shit show. It has also made some people rich. Others it has left friendless. The one thing you must do to change is become obsessed. You don’t have to all at once. Become obsessed with something can be a gradual experience. It generally starts out with an interest intellectually and/or emotionally. For example, look at how fast the American cult of Trumpism has spread. Most of these people started with a mild interest and somewhere along the lines put their soul into it. Even if they seem to have radically changed overnight, they didn’t. It was a slow and steady pace down a rabbit hole until reality only made sense through their lens. That is an extreme example, but speaks to the reality of obsession and our ability to change. These were normal people, now they fly a flag with a code phrase on it.
But that is the thing, that is how you add a value with action to your life. You become obsessed. You don’t just dip your toe in the water to test it, you do it to prepare to submerge in it. Every day you make more and more time for the thing you want. Eventually everything builds around it.
Okay, so let’s get to the hard part. Doing one thing well today. Doing one thing well, means you won’t do other things. Doing one thing is picking what you want to obsess over. Which means you won’t have time for other things. If it is writing, painting, dancing, acting, do something with it today- even if it is research. Then do it tomorrow when it becomes today. A slow pace is a great way to start before you run. If you continue to do the one thing well, then you might just become known for it. But that is not why you do it. You do it because you want to. You do it because it becomes something you have the power to do. Run 12 miles, paint a portrait, write a poem, inspire others, make people laugh, clean the fuck out a house, raise healthy kids, handle your finances, read and talk about what you read on another level, interview people, make robots or apps, and the list can go on forever of things you can choose to do well and actually enjoy doing. Enjoy your life and take advantage of getting better at something.
Later Gator 🐊
Nino.
Nino Olson 