Focus is hard, stoicism helps, procrastination sucks.
I recently finished up a huge project for myself, a book actually. My focus was not great. I constantly got distracted. What I was really doing was procrastinating. I read books about practicing stoicism quite often and these little tidbits help me.
Ryan Holiday wrote a book called “The Obstacle is the Way”. I love that book because the title, as well as all the advice in the book is how sometimes you must work through the obstacle, to and through is the path.
Think about your problems. You can avoid them or work around them, and if you’re lucky they go away. Unfortunately if they don’t, you eventually have to face them. Maybe, just maybe it would be better to face them head on up front.
This may not be reasonable because you may have to prepare and do the work before you actually face the problem so you’re prepared to handle it and take it on.
The actual quote from Marcus Aurelius is “The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting. The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way”, from Meditations 5.20.
In today’s way of living, we often avoid obstacles when we can. You may fall into one of these models.
- It’s raining, I think I’ll work from home.
- There’s an accident on the road, I’ll work from home.
- I’m too tired. I won’t work out today because I can get an extra hour of sleep.
- This job is so hard, I think I’ll go back to doing what I was doing.
- I really want to lose weight but I am tired of working out and watching my diet, so I’ll just go back to the way I was, fat and lazy.
Listen, here is the reality. If it’s raining and you have a meeting, you have to be there to win the deal.
If there’s an accident, go around and find an alternate route, that’s why GOD gave us mapping apps on our phones.
If you’re too tired, suck it up this time and go to bed earlier next time.
If your job is too hard, work harder to learn this job so you can advance next time.
If you want to change your body, then you have to stick to a diet and work out. It’s called a workout, not a play date. Work to stay healthy. Your body and brain will thank you eventually.
The one thing they don’t mention often enough is being grateful. I am thankful for so much in my life. While I work to get more and build a better life, I am fortunate to have been blessed with so much in my life.
One thing I am grateful for is the books passing on wisdom from great minds. For instance, I mentioned Ryan Holiday who wrote several books on Stoicism. I bought many of them and loved most of them. Thank you Ryan.
I love the fact he introduced me to Marcus Aurelius, whom I think was an amazing human. Think of how many Caesars and kings became so corrupt and lacked basic human decency. Marcus Aurelius was a shining beacon of hope and self discipline. He could have gained all that power and treated everyone around him as slaves. Instead, he remained stoic and disciplined to guide Rome to greatness. He never became too selfish or arrogant. What an example of human decency.
Look around, how many people or even leaders of countries do you see that can say the same. Very few. Look at all the wars. How many of those people are just full of hate with no other agenda? How many countries have internal power struggles just to grab power and money. You see it all over the world, even here in the USA we see it. While it’s obvious to some of us, others are blinded by a cause.
You can make a difference in your own life. You can overcome your personal obstacles to become better and improve. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen overnight and results take time. That part sucks, but if you have a mission, maybe one bigger than yourself, it can motivate you to do more than you thought you could in the past. You are the key and you have to make it happen. I believe in you!!
so don’t give up. Look at the obstacle directly and think about what you will have to do to go around, go over, or go through the obstacle. Sometimes we just need a plan and some hard work.