A Short Reminder

“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.”

Henry Ford

Wow!  I’m tired.  I do not want to write.  I want to sleep.  But the time is getting shorter.  By now, I really need to write three blogs a day.  Right now I feel like I’m hitting a wall.  I just want to sleep.  I can’t write one more sentence.  Not one more word.

Why did I create this goal?

What’s the point?

Who’s going to notice or care?

When I was a schoolteacher I had this picture of Conan the Barbarian in my office.  In it, he’s on the top of a hill and enemies are coming at him from every side.  But he keeps fighting.  He keeps swinging his sword and defending his territory.  That’s what I have to do. I have to keep fighting until I can’t fight any more.  I have to keep swinging until I drop.  

Well, no.  I don’t have to.  I can stop.  I don’t have to do this.  I’m choosing to do it.  I’m imposing my own discipline.  Buddha said, “One who conquers himself is greater than another who conquers a thousand times a thousand on the battlefield.”  Self-mastery is so important.  Perhaps it’s one of the most important qualities of all for anyone who wants to make changes in his or her life.

I keep thinking that when all this is done, I’m going to be a stronger writer and a stronger human being.  That is the beauty of goals.  It’s not even in the accomplishment of t hem.  It’s in the honest attempt.  Obviously, I want to reach my goal.  I think I’m going to, though it looks impossible now.  But whether I do or not, I am better for having tried.

That’s all.  This was just a short reminder for you and for me. 

Get Started.  Keep Going.