Blog Post Title Two

Too many people stick with old ideas of who they are, stuck in places they don’t want to be, thinking it’s unrealistic to hope for and work towards something new or better. Jobs, relationships, and habits keep people pushing in the same direction with their nose even closer to the grindstone. Resentment — or worse, apathy— begins to take over.  

It’s nice to think I don’t have to be the same person I was 5 minutes ago; but if I’m not that person, who am I?

In order to find out, productivity has to concede to intentionality.

We must engage our imaginations and resources in a new way if things are to improve. 

I really believe we can improve our situation, if we’re willing to do the work.

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 I’m not saying you don’t have very real, tangible problems and responsibilities. Mortgage payments. Car payments. Children to raise. A spouse to take out on Friday night. You have relationships you depend on to keep you well. Even if you did want to walk away, you’d be forced to face a new problems. You’d get a real shock in the neck for walking away from some things. 

But there are other things that you wouldn’t suffer from leaving behind. Maybe it would take too much of your time and energy to walk away from your career entirely. But you could walk away from your toxic work environment and take a chance at freelancing. 

Maybe your old friends are living destructive lives that don’t jive with how you want to live — perhaps it’s time to step out and meet some new people. 

You half-heartedly scroll new job opportunities, or entertain the occasional conversation about a dream you have. You bark and jump up and down, but you don’t dare cross that line into something new. 

The dog days turn into dog years, the dog years turn into dog decades - and you still haven’t ventured down the driveway.

Sometimes life forces us down the driveway. We lose our job, or hit a crisis. We fight it kicking and screaming — frantically looking around for a new owner with a new house and new driveway with a new shock collar. The house and the driveway and the shock collar are so familiar— So comforting. 

Entrepreneurs are thought of as a kind of special breed who don’t struggle with these invisible boundaries. They’re more willing to toe the line, stepping over it once in a while to make sure the battery in the collar didn’t die. They find creative ways to disable it and go for a stroll, poking around the neighbourhood for a better opportunity.  

But most entrepreneurs aren’t much different than the people with the jobs. They have bigger yards, maybe — but they still act like Sparky. They become ungodly attached to goals for their businesses —  their dreams of the future. Their businesses look more like obsessions that sap them of their time and energy. They put their heads down and grind at the expense of every other area of their lives. Marriages. Children. Health.  

We all find our treat bucket in the garage, and we like it. Besides, we’re afraid we might get shocked if we dare to walk away from it all. 

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If you stop to think about it — and you should think about it, you have a scary level of freedom. If you quit your job today and went home no one would hunt you down and try to kill you. Your spouse might be upset, but probably not murderously upset.* 

*Note: Boy, we’re only on the first chapter and people are pulling out their own teeth and contemplating murder. Don’t worry, I’m only using violence as a way to draw you into the narrative. 

Some of us double down on controlling the few things we feel like we can control; we become workaholics, helicopter parents, manipulative spouses, and over-achievers — all in an attempt to feel a sense of control. 

The ironic part is that the more we cling to the comfort of the things we think we can control, the less control we end up having. It’s like we’re the captain of a sinking ship, and we refuse to get into the multiple life boats available. Addicted to the familiarity, we refuse to let go of the ships wheel. 

When the world changes we can either either change with it, or we can hope it’ll change back to how we liked it. Although the former is often difficult, it’s also more likely to improve our situation. 

In the words of John C Maxwell: Change is inevitable, growth is optional.