Stop Meandering, Start Wrestling

It's better to wrestle with what you value than meander through life. 

Our options are slim pickens. Either we embody our deeply held values, or not. If we choose "not," we will die knowing we didn't make an effort to live out our core values. As a result of her work with people preparing to die, Elisabeth Kubler-Ross established the top five regrets of the dying. The number one regret was this: I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 

I have two primary core values. They are 1) cultivating a relationship with God, and 2) fusing my God-given talents with serving others. 

What are your core values?

I've found living out my core values does not magically happen without conscious effort. Daily, I must remind myself what my core values are, why they're important to me, and then decide where to invest my time and energy for the day based on those two areas. Without this ongoing reminder, I meander. Get caught up in the agendas of others. Waste the day scrolling through Facebook or watching a television show I'm not even sure I like. The concept of a routine remembrance is echoed in the writings of 1000s of motivational, leadership, and inspirational authors. That is, the motivation to live out our core values, our purpose, must be cultivated on a day to day basis.

I realized I was spending too much time mindlessly watching a screen and not enough time typing on one. Too much time letting my mind wonder aimlessly and not enough time in focused meditation.

What are you spending too much time on? What aren't you spending enough time on?

I went through a process of internal wrestling in order to complete this very post. The thought to give it up and forget about it crossed my mind repeatedly. Writer's block came up again and again. I kept writing. Just one more word is what I told myself as I continued pressing my fingers into the keyboard.

This day, I choose to live out my core values. I choose to live them out even if it means engaging in an internal wrestling match. What do you choose?

The less we engage in this internal wrestling match, the less inspired we become. The alluring part of this entire concept is that the more we engage in the internal wrestling match of  living out our core values, the more we raise our levels of motivational energy. What can you do right now, this moment, to engage? Here's to staying engaged.


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