Life is Short - Make Every Second Count
Follow your Passions, Follow your Dreams
Days seem long, hours may drag, but the plain and simple fact is that life is short. The average life expectancy is approximately 80 years. To put some numbers behind this, once you finish college you are on average around 22 years old. This means that you have 58 years left to pursue your dreams and goals. This may seem like a long time but you have to consider that a third of each day, 8 hours, is spent sleeping. This knocks you down to 40 years of "awake" time.
Of this 40 years of life a significant portion is spent working. Considering the average person works around 8 hours a day and retires at 65 years old, that puts their work time to 29% of an entire lifetime. On the days that people are working the few hours remaining are spent decompressing from a long day at work and then the cycle begins again the next day. This creates the "living for the weekend" mentality that many live with. If you are one of these people, there are only 11 or so years left to really do what you want with your life. Not much time at all.
This brings to mind one of the most important questions you can ask yourself: What do I want? Think about it. Really think about your answer. If you have something that you can truly say that you want, then ask the next question: What am I going to do to get there? This is a difficult question with an even more difficult answer. Only you can truly know what it will take to get where you want to be, but I'll give you some pointers that have helped me.
First, keep your dreams in front of you at all times. Whether this means putting a picture on your desk or writing them down every day. A great option is to create a vision board that has all your dreams and goals. The more you keep your dreams in the front of your mind, the easier it becomes to do what needs to be done.
Second, you need to develop a strategy to get you to what you want. If your desires are big then this may require a lot of time and effort, but if it is something that makes your heart sing, it will be worth it. Be ready to put in the work. Success does not happen over night. It can take years of consistency before you begin to see results.
There is one more thing that I think is important to talk about. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I believe you should set your dreams as high as you can. I know a-lot of people say be "realistic" with your goals, but why? Setting small goals can greatly limit your potential.To give an example, would you rather hit 10% of your goal to be a Billionaire or hit 100% of your goal to make $100,000? The answer is simple. Having big goals will require you to think bigger which will in turn give you a better chance of being successful. Now this is just a financial example but can apply to all aspects of life.
Take More Chances
The other thing you hear constantly from older people is regret for not taking chances. People are always saying they wish they would have taken more chances when they were younger. They wish that they hadn't been afraid to do what they really wanted in life and regret the experiences that they passed up in order to "play it safe" and experience "security" instead.
Sitting around wishing you were brave enough to follow your heart will not make you any braver. If you ever want to do anything that makes your heart sing, then go out and start today. Why aren't you doing it? That's right… because you are afraid of something. What is it that scares you the most? Facing rejection? Reaching out to someone for help? Putting yourself "out there" with people that you don't know especially well? Take that fear and turn it into motivation. You can use your fears as a catalyst to push you further than anyone else.
Live life on your own terms, not just what others have told you are the right way to live. I know this all sounds easy, but the reality is that it takes a ton of work and effort to go against what society has molded us into thinking we must do. Don't forget though, life is short and if you don't take chances on your dreams now then when will you?
About the Creator
Success Squad
Thomas Sullivan is a real estate investor and stock trader. Thomas’s goal in life is to help people reach financial independence so they can spend their time doing what they love.
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