Just start small!
Many historians and scholars regard Leonardo da Vinci as the prime exemplar of the ‘Universal Genius’ or ‘Renaissance Man’, an individual of unquenchable curiosity and feverishly inventive imagination., He is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived. Leonardo da Vinci was also possibly the greatest painter of all time. He died just over five hundred years ago at age 67 on the 2nd of May, 1519. Leonardo da Vinci dabbled in many different fields. He was a dreamer. His surviving journals contain sketches and diagrams of fantastic devices such as flying machines and military tanks. Funny thing though. He NEVER published his discoveries and kept his journals secret. He also NEVER built any of the machines he envisioned. On his deathbed, he is said to have lamented that “he had offended against God and men by failing to practice his art as he should have done.”
“But he was a great painter” you may be saying to yourself. What you do with your life, and what you WANT to do with your life are two entirely different things. da Vinci was great at painting, but painting was his JOB. It was how he financed his livelihood. He may have been passionate about it and enjoyed doing it, but there was more to life that the man dreamed of doing. For whatever reason, he just never did the things he REALLY wanted to do. Regret is a terrible thing.
There are many reasons why people do what they do, and just as many reasons why they don’t. You can break the reasons down any way you choose, but I prefer to narrow them down to five.
The five reasons people don’t do things come from weakness–
- Ignorance
- Fear
- Indifference
- Laziness
- Spite (Or Hate if you prefer)
The five reasons people do things from strength–
- Wisdom
- Courage
- Caring
- Determination
- Love
We are not born strong. We grow strong by working on our strengths. It isn’t instant, it takes time but it will not happen unless we start. Starting is the key to going down the path of life that we wish to pursue. We have to do it ourselves, no one can do it for us, and it can be a truly terrifying thing to begin to do something you’ve never done before. It is the determination and courage that keeps us going. With each new success we gain the wisdom of knowing that we can do it. We did it before and we can do it again. In time we begin to enjoy and even love the little bumps in life’s road because we see them as challenges to overcome instead of obstacles blocking our path. You only get one life here on planet Earth, there are no do-overs or dress rehearsals. Life is meant to be lived! Instead of merely choosing to EXIST I urge you to experience LIFE, I urge you to LIVE. It is okay to dream, and dream BIG, but more importantly, YOU MUST START! Don’t be afraid to start small. Great things grow from modest beginnings. Baby steps are your friend, not a source of ridicule. Just do it. Ignore all the naysayers and negative know-it-alls. Their dreams have long since died and they can’t stand to see you succeed where they have failed, and. Now the only way they can feel good about themselves is by bringing you down. What they think of you says more about them than it does about you. You need to cut ties with all the negativity in your life. This goes for both things and people. If it’s not helping you to grow, it’s holding you back and poisoning your mind with negativity, fear, and doubt. You will never have a positive life if you have a negative mind.
When I first started http://www.InstantCoffeeWisdom.com on Sept 10th, 2017 I did it with one goal in mind. That goal was to prove that the life you wish to lead was within your grasp. It wasn’t going to be given to you, you had to work for it if you really wanted it, and it was there for the taking if you did. The first blog post was THE 52 WEEK CHALLENGE . The entire first year was spent producing weekly posts to show you ways to cut costs, save money, and budget. I focused on microeconomics , or personal finance in order to educate you to the larger issues. What good does it do to discuss index funds if you don’t even have two pennies to rub together? And how could you possibly even comprehend the national debt if you don’t know how to balance your own budget? The second year was spent focusing on macroeconomics, and explaining as well as demonstrating the interconnectivity of the three big no-nos of polite conversation: politics, religion and finance. By sharing my ideas, knowledge, and opinions, I not only encouraged you to improve your life, I also re-enforced my own goals and improved my life as well. I am not some ‘do as I say, not as I do’ hypocrite, I’m sharing my success stories with you and encouraging you to ignore the fake news and trust me when I tell you this is all for the best. If you have the privilege of living in America you have a charmed life. We currently have a great President who is doing everything in the best interest of the country, and putting America First. This is a land of endless opportunity and you can dream big. You can succeed easily if you are willing to do the work. Always remember American ends in “I CAN”!
If you only started reading my blog recently, I encourage you to begin reading at the beginning over the next few weeks while http://www.InstantCoffeeWisdom.com goes on hiatus during my summer vacation. This year I’m spending even more time at the beach, enjoying my new Jeep, and running my first half-marathon the Saturday after Labor Day. I hope you have an awesome rest of the Summer and as always, I wish you success and happiness!
Instant Coffee Wisdom 