Wow... It's been a consuming 10 day run at work...
I can't believe it's been over 7 days since I captured anything...
Or, probably more appropriately, anything here.
I have been capturing thoughts non-stop ;-)
Working on a big project next week for harmony which I hope works out - trying to capture the concepts of harmony in new and different ways to share them more broadly.
For today, let me share this thought which I think captures Harmony so perfectly...
Success in life doesn't come from figuring out how to leap thousands of feet in a single step...
Success comes from deliberately and tirelessly working to make each and every single step we take move us forward one foot in the right direction...
That IS Harmony!
So often we want wellness, wealth, happiness in whatever form and we WISH we had it all at once... We look at others who have it and think to ourselves, I wish I had THAT... or even, I want THAT...
When we WANT huge leaps in our lives they become WISHES... because huge leaps aren't reality... huge leaps aren't the way, the IS, of the way life unfolds... EVEN those people that win the lottery seldom win it one day to the next, most of the people that win play the lottery over and over and over again until they eventually win...
Happiness doesn't come by leaps and bounds...
Harmony doesn't happen in leaps...
it CAN happen in each and every little step...
it ONLY CAN happen in each and every moment...
That's the HARD part!
It was Ernest Hemingway who said, "Bankruptcy happens little by little and then all at once."
That insight applies to virtually everything in life...
In some ways that is a brutal thought... "YOU mean I have to work hard on EVERY step, on EVERY thought, on EVERY interaction, EVERY conversation.. for ever?"
My answer is NOT AT ALL... ONLY IF YOU WANT TO LIVE A MEANINGFUL LIFE THAT LEADS TO SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS ;-)
Who I am, good and bad, is the result of a deliberateness for years and years... What we have built at EMG exists because of "a way of being" that we have chosen for over a decade. We have refined that, evolved that, but we are thoughtful about that EVERY day, in EVERY conversation, in EVERY decision..
AND, all that we are NOT is limited by that same way of being... By many measures we have been successful, and I am aware of the many measures by which we have not... and we got to all of them the same way.
That is why we must continue to evolve the "way we are" and the "way we work' so that we can be even more in the future... but we won't get there by taking a leap forward... we will get there one conversation, one decision at a time.
The other side that counterbalances the overwhelming concept of working diligently forever is the reality that any one conversation is easy... focusing on a moment is not only doable but very easy to get our mind around...
The idea of running thousands of miles seems impossible, but that is what we do when run 3 miles twice a week, we run thousands of miles when we keep that up for 3 years...
The idea of doing tens of thousands of push ups seems impossible, but that is what we do when we do 10 push ups a day, we do tens of thousands of push ups if we keep that up for 3 years...
The idea of writing thousands of pages about harmony seems impossible, but that is what has happened from writing a few posts per week for the past 4 years...
The things we define as strength, as "successful" businesses, people or lives.... never happen from one day to the next... they happen through
deliberate effort
a focused and typically evolving direction
persistence, perseverance and doggedness...
dedication to a "way of thinking"...
to a set of values...
a "way of being"...
You don't need to figure out how to leap into someone you are not...
You simply need to show up in this next moment and try a little harder...
and then
show up in the next
and try again...
That is "success"
to the extent that word means anything at all...
You can't experience happiness in leaps and bounds...
you have the
opportunity...
you make the choice
to experience it
in
every
step...
and every moment.
Baby steps...
in harmony,
Nestor