Your spring bonfire

Let's light it up / Issue 1,136

Oh, hi friends! 

I was listening to another Seth Godin audiobook while I was out for a run. 

It was good, I was learning a lot, little lightbulbs were flickering off and on.

But after half an hour, I didn't want flickering lightbulbs. 

I wanted to finish the run with a full-on flame.

An early spring bonfire.

So I clicked over to Never Finished by David Goggins. I've already listened to this book twice since January. It ushered me through half-marathon training and gave me a profound mindset shift.

But as with most advice or mantras or memorable stories, I remembered it all — I held on to it all — until I didn't.

This is why we constantly seek out reminders for the questions: What do I truly want to do? Why do I want to do it? How will I do it? 

We are, actually, never finished.

I read a lot of these personal development books (Seth Godin, Jen Sincero, Gretchen Rubin, Oliver Burkeman, David Goggins et al). Heck, I wrote three motivational things myself!

You’d think it'd get repetitive.

Lessons, strategies, tactics.

But the advice that floated by four years ago might hit you directly in the heart today.

The strategy that seemed ridiculous five months ago might be exactly what you need to hear now, right now.

There are cycles.

This is why we keep reading and connecting with each other.

This is why we keep learning.

So I clicked over to Goggins and listened, for the third or fourth time, about his lead-up to run yet another 100-mile race.

His body wasn't trained; he had an easy out. One quick phone call and his race crew wouldn’t show up.

Nothing risked, nothing gained. He was accountable to no one. 

But instead he asked himself a question.

“Why not spend one single day doing something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life?”

And so he did.

And because he answered that question, I heard his story when I needed it.

And now I’m passing the question to you.

“Why not spend one single day doing something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life?”

One single day.

Imagine the possibilities.