One word for this ….DOPE! You’ve inspired me to post a blog about joy. Coincidentally it was written about a year ago to date. Maybe it should have been titled, "Joy=Pain".
I sensed it today too…I saw the sky, when I was driving from the track, and it was burnt orange again and there were swirls of pink. Sometimes there is no explanation for these feelings; all you can do is say WOOOOOOOOW!
This is the first month of the rest of my life. I’ve killed the old me literally and I’ve been reborn. I’ve done more in this one month then I have in previous years. I’ve witnessed the sky in its rarest form. I’ve ran a Palos Verdes hill in 20 minutes 25 seconds, I’m launching a dream, and I’m really living on purpose. I’ve also learned to submit which is all discipline. It’s taken me close to 29 years to wrestle that part of me. When I use the word submit, I’m talking about giving your all to a particular task that you don’t want to do. I’m building a project at work that I detested from the very beginning. I didn’t understand any part of it, not one piece and I had no desire to do it. I even plotted and planned earlier this year to leave the company just in time before its roll out.
And yet, I stayed knowing it was coming. I procrastinated, and then some more, still not understanding any detailed piece. Then finally the word was given, I had to have it done by a set time. But how was I going to get myself to do it? I talked to myself day and night and said you have no choice but to just do it. So I did the only thing I could do…I started. And I didn’t understand what the hell I was doing at first, but I thought just maybe I could wrestle with one piece of it at a time, one small victory to keep me going. As of today, I finally understand big chunks of it. I’m starting to connect the dots. Looking back, I remember when I ran 3 miles last year and could barely pick up my legs. Both folks I was running with finished well before me, and it took me over an hour to finish. I still remember how humbling that felt. I ran 2 miles uphill in 20 minutes…that’s crazy.
I never knew that it was possible to really detest doing something and yet by just doing it, like really just submitting and attacking it, something magical happens. You start to respect the task at hand, and while you keep attacking it, it slowly starts to become something that’s manageable; it begins to submit to you. And possibly, you begin to master your greatest fear or the thing you loathed the most. And when you master something through hard work there is joy, there is pride…there is a sense of accomplishment and self worth that fills one with purpose.
Now I understand why Russell S. says to start with a broom and sweep the ground like a master sweeper. Who the hell are we to always dictate what tasks will be laid out for us? I mean really, we do not know all that a business entails, all that this life entails. That is where I was defeated in the past. Most of us stop when it hurts a little, or when we don’t understand, or when we don’t like the task at hand. And you know what I found about this project at work? Everyday it becomes easier. Sure there are technical docs and codes galore I don’t understand. And I still don’t like reading through all the jargon and crap that holds my attention for about 15 seconds if I’m lucky. Every time I read a document it’s like starting at the bottom of the hill. But I tell myself, if I can master what I don’t like in order to reach my goal then I will master myself and success will be inevitable. Doing what I love is easy and effortless. But what about filing legal docs? Balancing budgets and payroll? Reading technical code for the website? What about all those things we have to learn and do in order to be great? Most of us let the hill get in the way of our finish line. We want it to be easy. We want it to be a fun ride the whole way which it can be once you submit. The joy comes after the work or maybe during it. Where there is no work there is no joy. I FINALLY UNDERSTAND THIS IS THE ROAD TO HAPPINESS!!! You can get cars, homes, and toys galore, but I can almost guarantee there is no joy. And we wonder why folks don’t have happiness. Ever wonder why we buy happiness and inspiration in a pill, a bottle or in the form of a car.
It’s right there in front of us…we just have to pick up that broom! When u reach the top of the hill no one in the world can take that away from you. You become a master of you. We have to become what we think is impossible, we have to do what is hard as hell in order to grow but more importantly in order to be happy. Then we see who we are, we know what we are made of and we witness the miracle of becoming something from nothing.
That’s why Shon said, “F your b-day”, he said, “When u run that biz, you’ll be working on your birthday because people will want to get paid and they’ll be depending on you.” I finally realize that happiness=working, and if you want to be ridiculously happy, then you’ll have to work ridiculously.
Shak
100.
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