It's simple, but it ain't easy

It feels great, you know?  Having a goal, and envisioning what it would be like to have it in your hands.  Now hold on, I am not talking about some daydream here, no, I am talking about really picturing this goal as completed in your mind so that for all you know, it is real.  Envisioning it so much, and so hard, and with such confidence, that when you think about it, it is almost as if you are looking back on it, as if it were a foregone conclusion.  Like one of those "remember when" stories that you can share with friends and family, reminiscing about those great moments in your life from years past.

I think of that quote from Michelangelo and I get giddy with excitement. “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

I look at my body, and my life, my skills, and surroundings, and as blessed as I am to have all that has been given to me, I know there is potential here for so much more.  I feel inside me a desire to see these hopes if mine, these dreams, these wonderful ideas come to life.  But for those things to become more than just the vapor that they are, more than just a passing ghost of what they could be, for that potential to truly see reality, it takes more than just hopes, more than dreams, more than ideas to accomplish it.

And I tell you what:

It's simple, but it ain't easy.

No, it ain't easy.  Not for a second.  Because when things begin to feel easy, you are at that moment beginning to head in the wrong direction.

It's because discipline.  Is not easy.  Discipline takes work.  Discipline to grow, to change, to break out of the shell you are in and grow a new, stronger, better one.  Discipline to get up at 6 AM  5 AM
4 AM and make the hard changes.  You know, one thing I have learned over my short time of practicing this, is that if you want change, 4 AM is almost always a good answer.  I mean, yes, you get up at 4 in the morning enough and soon 9PM begins to feel like 1AM, and you can't help but smash your face into a pillow.  But that 4 AM, it gives you so much.  Cause at 4 AM, it's all you.

You can do whatever you want.  It's free time.  All yours.  You can learn, you can grow, you can shape your mind, your body.  When you don't have other things vying for your time, it's amazing all you can get done.  And 4 AM gives you just that.  And it gives you something else.  Something else that is very simple, but never easy to deal with.  It gives you time for your "why".

What's your "why"?  Well, it's the reason you are doing anything at all.  And 4 AM is just one of those things that gives you the room to let your "why" take shape.  That "why" that fuels your vision, that pushes you to change, that causes you to discipline your life, that drives you forward to accomplish your goals.  And keeping that "why" clear, keeping it real, takes honestly -- brutal honesty -- and sometimes harsh introspection. You may need to come to face to face with your real fears, with your deepest wants, with your lows and highs, with your insecurities and with strengths you don't even know you have yet.  And for you, that may be the hardest part.  It may be the reason why in the past you have gotten derailed so quickly from accomplishing even that small goals you set.

So, what is your vision, and your "why".  What boulder are you looking at right now, which holds something deep inside only you can see?  What will you change starting right now?