Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a lot of interests. For
me it can actually be a problem how many interests I have. I’m interested in so
many things that I often have problems sticking with anything. Thankfully I
noticed this about myself and took some steps to focus on the things that are
most important to me. The primary hurdle I had to overcome to get to my new
mindset was to differentiate between “act” and “idea.”
I have a really good imagination and I like to use it. In a lot of
ways, this helps me in life. In other ways it hurts me. One of the ways that it
hurts me is that when I get an idea; any idea, I tend to blow it up into unreal
proportions and get myself so excited about it I just have to act on it. While
this isn’t necessarily harmful in itself, it can be when you get a new idea
every week. My usual pattern would be to get an idea, work it up in my mind and
get so excited that I’d go spend money to try and make it happen. Then a week
later, maybe a month or two if I was lucky, I’d be so burnt out on the idea, I’d
drop it and never look back. After some self-examination, I realized that while
I often fell in love with the idea, I never fell in love with the act of
bringing that idea to fruition.
There have been a few examples in my life where I have strayed
from this pattern. When I was a pre-teen I often fantasized about becoming a
rock star. I pictured shiny guitars, big amplifiers, tour buses, crowded
arenas, and world tours. Eventually I picked up a guitar. Surprisingly, I liked
practicing. I practiced nearly every day for hours and hours. While the fantasy
was still strong in my head, I enjoyed learning new songs and eventually
writing my own. Then I started a band and I liked that too. Then I went to college
and started a real band, and we started to get paid to play shows and we
started traveling and recording cds,
and I really liked that. The reality of the situation was nothing close to what I
had fantasized about. We toured the midwest instead
of the world, we traveled in a van instead of a bus, and we played at small venues instead of packed arenas. None the less, I loved it. Guitar
was one of a few things that has had staying power in my life, and it was
because I loved the act of being in a band, more than my idea of what
being in a band was supposed to be.
These days fitness and Jiu Jitsu are my new passions. I still play
guitar, and will eventually be doing it more than I am right now, but I’ve
chosen to focus on one thing at the moment. I love working on my technique,
pushing myself harder and harder, strengthening my mind and body, and focusing
on a healthy diet. I’ve found that for me to focus on something as intensely as
I should, I really can’t have a lot of other stuff vying for my time. I’m busy
enough as it is, I can’t keep up with 7 hobbies. This is tough for me because as
I’ve mentioned before, I get interested in a lot of stuff, but I’ve found I’m
most content when I focus on something that I enjoy doing and really work hard
at getting good.
This isn’t to say you shouldn’t try new ideas. You have too in
order to find what it is you love. But once you find that, try to avoid the
temptation or even the outside pressure, to get involved in a bunch of other stuff. I
think you’ll be happier in the end.
I’ll leave you with an excerpt from a blog I like called “The Art
of Manliness.” If you want to read the whole thing (and I would suggest it),
you can find it at here.
What is Sacrifice?
When
we hear the word sacrifice,
we often think of completely selfless acts in which someone does something for
another entirely for the other person’s benefit. The image of a soldier
sacrificing his life for his comrades frequently comes to mind.
But
sacrifice isn’t purely altruistic. The best definition of sacrifice is this:
“To forfeit something for something else considered to have a greater
value.” (American Heritage Dictionary, emphasis mine). Sacrifice does
not mean giving up something for nothing; it means giving up one thing for
something else we believe is worth more.
This
does not at all take away from the virtue of sacrificial acts. Instead of
locating the merit of sacrifice in unselfishness, we can find it in a man’s chosen
value system. The man who lays down his life for his family or for his comrades
has chosen to place more value on their lives than on his own. What is more
praiseworthy than that?
The Law of
Sacrifice
So if that is the definition of sacrifice,
what is the law of sacrifice? The law of sacrifice says that you cannot
get something you want, without giving up something in return. In order to
attain something you believe is of greater value, you must give up something
you believe is of lesser value.
