The beauty of being trapped on a flying bus is that you sometimes are given a 5 hour opportunity to hear the life story of the person or persons sitting next to you.
Sometimes I walk onto the plane exhausted from the day or days that brought me to whatever I am leaving and am not interested in having a conversation.
So I throw some headphones on my ears and turn on some music or video to watch.
Every now and then I like to mix it up with one of the motivational videos that people post on YouTube like the one below.
But I never fool myself into believing that watching videos changes my life because motivation is not enough.
I tell the kids all the time that life is filled with people who fool themselves into believing the busywork they are engaged is helping them do something.
You can’t always avoid busywork but you can avoid falling into the trap of thinking that activity is leading you somewhere when all you are doing is going in circles.
Use The Tools & Resources You Have
There is a great debate in Batman Begins between Bruce Wayne and Ducard that comes to mind:
Henri Ducard: Your parents’ death was not your fault.
[Bruce attacks Ducard with his sword]
Henri Ducard: It was your father’s.
[Bruce furiously attacks Ducard, but is easily defeated]
Henri Ducard: Anger does not change the fact that your father failed to act.
Bruce Wayne: The man had a gun!
Henri Ducard: Would that stop you?
Bruce Wayne: I’ve had training!
Henri Ducard: The training is nothing! The will is everything!
[Ducard bests Bruce once again]
Henri Ducard: The will to act.
The will to act is key.
There is rarely a perfect time or opportunity and almost always a reason not to try.
You have to use the tools and resources you have, they are worthless if you leave them hanging on the pegboard or holstered.
Good intentions don’t always lead to good outcomes but activity and intent can lead you in the right direction.
Whenever it ends for me, whenever I take my last breath and close my eyes a final time I want to know without question that I did the best I could to live hard.
That means doing what it takes to work to live and not live to work. There is a difference.
End of Saturday night musing.
Recent Posts
If you missed out on recent posts here are 21 links to read through and a promise that more stories shall be shared soon.
- How To Get There From Here
- What Life Lessons Would You Teach Yourself?
- The Best Part Of A Colonoscopy
- An Accidental Unfriending
- Just Another Love Story
- How To Make Things Happen
- About That Curse Of Knowledge
- A Father’s Day Confession About Cleveland
- A Life Lesson From The NBA Finals
- Hold On Loosely To Your Dreams
- How To Stop Time In One Easy Lesson
- 3 Reasons Why Cleveland Can’t Win & 7 Why They Might
- The Intersection Between Science & Your Gut
- Change Happens Overnight
- How To Never Make A Bad Choice
- This Too Shall Pass
- Mostly Dead Is Still Partly Alive
- Some People Love You & Some Facebook You
- Can A Root Canal Make You Cry?
- Secret Worlds & The Things We See In Them
- The Secret Worlds We Live In
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