I Run, For Life!

Lying on a beach

I don’t remember where I read it (Steve Pavlina’s?): a fisherman is lying on the beach and drinking beer in some remote village. A businessman walks by and suddenly stops, very confused. He asks the fisherman:

How can you just lie there like that? Can’t you see that if you started to gather all that fish that this see brings you in such abundance, you could make millions and then retire and be able to afford your dream life?

The fisherman smiles and asks the businessman in return:

And what would you like to do once you retire? What’s your dream life?

The businessman thought for a few seconds and replied:

Well, I would love to just lie on a beach and enjoy my beer.

(Me lying on a beach on Ilha de Marajó in Brazil)

Poor businessman! Poor us! Many people are in his position right now. I was there too. I was trying to chase some dream, something I was raised to think was important, something my family thinks is important, something my friends think is important… What’s important to people who have succeeded, to people with authority, to cool people…

But what is important to you?

We are all stars

We also think that we need to do something extraordinary. And we’re right! But we don’t need to land on the moon to lead extraordinary lives. If we do something to the best of our abilities and what’s fully satisfying and making us happy, this is extraordinary (remarkable, outstanding, amazing, awesome… pick one). Whether we wash our dishes, sing a song, raise our kids or save lives. If we’re happy doing it, if we put all of ourselves into it, it is extraordinary. We don’t need to complicate things. Very often the answer is very simple. Like lying on the beach.
You can be earning millions of dollars doing what you don’t like or what you like only on some days. Is this happiness? Why aren’t you doing something that is satisfying 24/7? Why waste your precious time on something you don’t love? I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be any problems. Life is full of them.
Even when you’re working on overcoming adversities, you think it’s worth every drop of sweat you’re putting in. But not in the sense that you agree to work weekends because you get paid for overtime and can save up for a house quicker even though you can’t stand the job. Not this kind of worth. But the kind where you appreciate the challenges and see them as part of the game.

Pour your heart out

You need to love your goal and be devoted. Even if it means sitting on a bench in the park seven days a week (think Eckhart Tolle). If you’re happy, by all means, do it! Don’t sell your soul just because you think something is appropriate or you need to pay a mortgage. Get a smaller house, rent… Get what you can afford. And if you can’t afford anything, think what you can do to afford it. Think - temporary, don’t sign your life away for temporary obstacles. If you need to do something less satisfying, give yourself a timeline. Don’t fall asleep! Life won’t stop still and wait for you.
If you love to lie on the beach, why don’t you work towards getting there? If you live in a colder climate, perhaps you need to move to another country where sandy beaches are in abundance. Perhaps you need a visa to go there and maybe a working permit to stay and live there. Work on getting those then! Be clear what you need to do to actually DO what you love.

Push push puuush!

Once you are able to do what you love, use your full potential. Push your limits. Know that you’re alive!
It’s like with yoga practice: it doesn’t matter how flexible you are but how committed you are to the pose. If you’re very flexible, perhaps like a dancer, and you’re only doing what feels comfortable because it’s still beyond what anyone else in the class is able to do, it’s not enough.
A guy who’s come to the yoga practice the first time and can barely bend forward, whose fingertips are hardly touching his knees not to mention the floor - he might be doing much more than a flexible person. He has reached his limit and is working on going further.
A flexible person might only be going where it feels comfortable, where it’s safe. He or she is not using their full potential. That’s why it’s harder to be more flexible - you’re limits are further and you have to go further than an ‘average person’ to achieve what an average person can achieve. Their limits are right there, but the flexible person has to spend more time on finding them.

Don’t sit on your laurels

It takes much effort to find your limits and use your full potential when something comes easily to you. If you always had As in school even if you only studied for a few hours one day before an exam, why didn’t you study for two days or a month? Why did you want to learn only what was required of you? Why not go further? Why be mediocre if you can be extraordinary?
Give yourself a few minutes, a few hours, days… and think of what you love to do. Very often we overcomplicate things, like the businessman, to get where we already are. Why waste your energy on pursuing something you don’t really want, something which is just alright or that you feel like you need to do?

I’m thinking right now.

Do you love what you do?

***

Please follow me on Twitter or email me with any questions and comments or if you simply want to say hi!

I’d love to hear from you!

– Ola