"He died at 30 and they buried him at 60"
~ Mark Twain's description of a deceased acquaintance.
Reading this line in Reggie McNeal's Practicing Greatness was like a punch in the face. It occurred to me that I may be allowing myself to die long before I'll ever be buried. "What? That doesn't make sense," you say.
I'll be thirty this year. An age that I thought was years away. It was, when I was 18-20. But now it is on my doorstep waiting to come in. I spend time on occasion allowing myself to think about what I've not been able to accomplish and what I may not have the time, ability, knowledge, or experience to accomplish now. After one of these "thoughtful' sessions I find myself a little less vibrant as the list of things that I "think" I'm capable of now doing grows smaller.
My wife says I look at my watch entirely too much, but I just want to make sure I have enough time to _____________. Now I've moved from minute watching to calender counting. The funny thing when you are watching time, that is the only thing you see. Your focus is on the seconds that tick by, the days that slip by, or the years that disappear. You miss the things that that are going on or the things you are still created to accomplish.
I know I'm not alone. Other's find themselves thinking about what they haven't done, or what they can't or won't be able to to accomplish for whatever reason. Why do we do this? Focus on what you have and what you can accomplish. Honestly you can really do just about anything that you feel you should or could do. You have to take your eyes off the impossibilities and set them on the possibilities. If you don't you will surely "die" long before you will ever be buried.
As I was finishing this little blog, I was searching through myspace for some music to listen to and came across this video on DoTheExtraordinary myspace site. I've seen a similar video but this one is really really good. If we really want to know how to Practice Greatness we should take a lesson from these guys..
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