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Today's
Meditation:
I'll
never know what kinds of things I might have become good
at if I had simply persisted in trying them. But
life is about choices, and I've made the choice many times
to give something up in favor of something else.
Those things that I have kept at invariably become much
easier for me simply due to persistence-- almost anyone can
run five miles if they persist in running half a mile when
they start, and then persist in adding to that distance at
regular intervals.
As
we run more, our bodies get used to the act of
running. Our hearts pump blood more strongly and
more efficiently, and our lungs are able to distribute
oxygen better. Our power to run increases, and after
a month or so, a five-mile run is easier for us than that
first half-mile run was.
Unfortunately,
though, most people feel the discomfort of that first run
or two, and they quit before they ever give themselves the
power to accomplish more; they quit before their power
increases.
Writers
grow by writing, runners grow through running, and
salespeople grow from selling. The more we do
something, the better we get at it and the easier it
becomes for us. That temptation to give up is simply
an aversion to the discomfort of the beginner-- we wish to
avoid the doubts and worries that something may not work
out for us, and we think that life's much easier if we
avoid the risk of failing. But that
"easier" can be seen also as "much less
rich," so we have to be careful whenever we decide
not to persist in our efforts, lest we rob ourselves of
the opportunity of increasing our power to do things that
we truly want to do.
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