Older and Wiser
The new year has passed. The excitement and drama of the resolutions have passed. We're now fully and completely into the next year and all of what it holds. We are a year older - a year closer to aches and pains, a year closer to memory loss, hearing loss and let's not even go there as far as what others things start working less. So, we're all a year older - but are we a year wiser?
When you are young, with the exuberance of youth, growth is easy and natural. New situations lead us to new challenges and new lessons. Simply trying to have our life work, leads us to working on becoming better men. We are pushed and compelled naturally to close the gap in becoming the men we've always wanted to be. But, as we add a few years on, the natural pull to grow starts to wane. The urgency to succeed and work hard goes from the difference between rent and living on the street when you're young, to the difference between two vacations or three as your career takes hold. You settle into that career, that relationship, that body, that life. So, really, are you a year wiser?
How many days this past year have you actually had a daily discipline to mold and perfect your character? How many trainings have you fully engaged yourself in? How often have you actually reflected on what your actions and results reveal about you as a man, or in relationship, or as a leader? Are you in the game, or simply coasting - watching others go through the struggles and growing pains you used to be intimately familiar with? Now that it's easy to survive, and you easily gain the respect or admiration of younger men, have you given up that drive to earn it? Is it easier to rest on your laurels than to risk being in the game and losing? Is it easier to sit back and advise rather than jump in and do? Have you lost the smell of the hunt?
Ok, to be clear, I'm not suggesting you take a few months and sit on a mountain top picking at your navel until you come up with the meaning of life. We all know it's 42. I'm suggesting that you take the time needed to ensure you are at least a year wiser.
It may be time for a wake up call! A kick start to get your momentum going again. If you haven't yet done the Men's Initiation Weekend - GET YOU BUTT REGISTERED TODAY! If you've completed your Men's Weekend, the next boost of power is the MYAWTB Training (that's May You've Always Wanted to Be Training). If you've done it - guess what - you're not living it - do it again. Closing the gap between the man you are today and the Man You've Always Wanted to Be is a lifelong journey, and requires you being in the hunt. Life is constantly moving, relationships need refreshing, and we're all getting older. What it takes to be wiser is staying committed to our own growth.
I know as a coach, it's probably not a good idea to tell men what's good for them - but that doesn't change that you need it. Also, I know as a trainer, that it's suspiciously self-serving to recommend you take a training - but I trust you can see for yourself when you need that "Wake Up Call". Here's to being wiser!