Good morning, and happy Friday! I hope your day is off to a great start.
I was listening to a motivational speaker not long ago who made a bold statement that I didn’t quite agree with. He said that no matter where you are in life, you’re exactly where you want to be. Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but this is not the life of luxury I’d always dreamed of, and I’m working to change that. Clearly, this is not where I want to be. Can I get an amen?
But then the speaker went on to explain that presumptive statement. He said maybe this is not exactly where you want to be, but it’s where you’ve worked your whole life to be. Because everything we’ve done to this point has led us to exactly where we are. Any change along the way would have put us in a different position today. Okay, it hurts, but he makes a good point. I did this.
Every decision we make in life, even the little ones, stack up like Lego® blocks to build the life we now enjoy. At least I hope you enjoy it. After all, you built it. And if you think back, you can probably see some of those decisions and how they affected the direction of your life. Some of those decisions may have been forced on you, but they affected the outcome regardless.
An architect sits in an office and creates a vision – a drawing of the perfect structure, something that will fill a purpose and create beauty both at the same time. There’s a certain amount of ego involved. Every architect wants to outdo the others and create something that will dazzle everyone who sees it.
At first, it’s nothing more than a series of drawings. Then along comes a team of workers to dig a hole. All they have is a blueprint telling them how big to make the hole. They may not have any idea how the finished building will look. But the hole they dig will form the foundation for that building, and any mistakes at this stage in the game could have a profound effect on the finished product.
And so it goes with each team that comes along. Steel workers bolting and welding one beam to another, vertically and horizontally, one floor on top of the other. Gradually the building begins to take shape. Along come the masons to work their magic, and then plumbers, electricians, interior finishers, glass and flooring installers, and all the other teams that make it happen.
The finished product is the sum of all the effort that went into its construction. Every beam, every block, every piece of glass, they all form the building as it exists today. And any change along the way would have changed the outcome. The architect could have come along at any time and said, “Change this” and the building we see today may look entirely different.
The same is true of our lives. We are the architects. We are the ones who envision something so grand it defies the senses. Or maybe not so grand – after all, some buildings are a little more ordinary than others and that’s okay. They all serve a purpose.
We are also the builders of that life – we lay the foundation, we put the blocks in place, we create the internal structure that holds it all up, and when the time comes, we put on the finishing touches that complete the project. The life we enjoy today is exactly the life we’ve built. That doesn’t mean we don’t want something better. People move into nicer houses all the time. But it’s where we are now.
The first step in moving forward is acknowledging our role in being where we are now. It may not have been the life we’d envisioned, but it’s the life we built. And if we can acknowledge that, it opens our eyes to the reality that the project isn’t yet complete, and we have the power to change our current direction and build something better if we so choose.
Just as the things we’ve done to this point have created the life we now enjoy, the things we will do today and beyond will create the life we enjoy tomorrow. We may not be able to tear down what’s been built so far, but we can renovate it and add a little flair. And any time we want, we can build on top of that to create something bigger.
Every day, we build our future life whether we want to or not. If you’re happy to stay right where you are, make the most of it. But if you want something better, you have the power to make it happen. And it all begins today.
That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!
© 2019 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved
Dave Glardon 