Hello ladies and gentlemen.
This is a different type of blog post.
This isn’t a super fancy post. In fact, it’s going to be quite brief and short.
Why?
Because I’ve been up all night, and I’m extremely tired.
I also got my second Covid shot (finally), and it knocked me out for a good 16 hours, which ate up an entire day’s worth of time.
So, I’m a little bit behind.
I’d made a goal for myself, to put out a blog, a podcast episode, and a YouTube video every day, Monday through Friday, for the rest of my foreseeable future (at least until I hit six figures or something like that).
(Shameless plug for my business: By the way, did you know that I’m a dating coach? Subscribe to my YouTube channel for weekly tips on how to increase your attraction and level up your dating game!)
But alas.
I believe that Robert Burns may have said it best.
“The best laid schemes o’ Mice an’ Men,
Gang aft agley.
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain,
For promis’d joy!
Now, I know what you’re thinking.
What in the hell does that mean?
Well, when you translate it into more modern speech, it simply means this.
Even the best-made plans can, and often do, go wrong. And even though they promised joy, those plans may very well lead to grief and pain.
And that’s kind of what I’m dealing with today.
I didn’t quite meet my goals, which is a pretty big let-down.
But here’s the thing.
Even when plans don’t go ‘as planned,’ it’s still important to stick with your goals as much as possible.
(By the way, do you want to learn how to set goals and actually stick with them? Check out this guide, written by my favorite goal-setting guru, Jay O’Donnell: 14 Steps For How To Accomplish Goals.)
It’s still important to stick with your good habits.
Why?
Because laying the foundation for a successful future involves actually creating (and following through with) new habits that’ll carry you forward with positive momentum.
This, among other things, keeps us from sitting in our basements, gaining weight, fusing into our couches, and turning into actual human potatoes with arms, legs, and zero life prospects worth writing home about.
There are only two ways to walk through life.
- Always improving and getting better
- Stagnating, which actually means deteriorating by the time you account for entropy
See, life is a cruel taskmaster, and time is a harsh, harsh mistress.
When you put them together, they tend to beat the hell out of you… and for every human thus far, the prognosis has been fatal.
So the goal, as articulated by the cosmic jester, is to do the best you can with the time you’ve got, while also somehow managing to find time to be a human and enjoy something pleasant or pleasurable now and then.
There are a million and one ways to do this.
But here are my 2 cents, learned over the brief (yet eventful) 34 years that I’ve been alive on this wonderful floating miracle rock.
Stick to leveling up your damn habits, work your ass off, be the best man or woman in the room, pursue some kind of purpose, and try to make something of yourself. Use this hard work ethic to bargain with the future, so that you can endure some of your unavoidable suffering now to clear the way for better times ahead.
And then, of course, this Bible verse comes to mind. Ecclesiastes 1:2-11. While the author of this book is technically unknown, it is often attributed to Solomon, “the son of David, king in Jerusalem”… touted as ‘the wisest man to have ever lived.’
I think it speaks to a certain peace that we can find as we stand upon the edge of the vast precipice of the futility of our existence—unceremoniously facing the great, dark, existential void of the future right in its beady little fuckin eyeballs… while also reminding us of the very human-centric need to leave behind some kind of a legacy that’ll be of some use to others, despite the fact that we’re probably going to slip, fall, and die about a third of a way through the process (at least, that’s what I take from it).
Even if I’m wrong, the words are still beautiful…
“Vanity of vanities,” saith the Preacher. “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
What profit hath a man from all his labor which he doeth under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteneth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there any thing whereof it may be said, “See, this is new”? It hath been already in olden times which were before us.
There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come by those that shall come after.”
Beautiful…
…but still a reminder that we’re not here forever.
This is both an argument to take things very seriously, and also an argument to not take them seriously at all.
The choice is ours to make, I guess, every single day.
And while the absolute truth probably comes closer to common-sense moderation (it must, right?), I err on the side of ‘taking things seriously while we’re here and have a chance to leave our mark on the world.’
And bingo bango, that’s my argument for sticking with your good habits, and not succumbing to the chaos of the universe and allowing it to beat you at whatever game you’re trying to play and win at in life.
And just in case my opinion happens to matter to you—I would say that the effort, and the sentiment, are both worth it.
That’s all I’ve got today.
It’s not eloquent. It’s just honest.
Go with grace my friends, and never give up your power.
Until next time…
Joshua K. Sigafus