In any given situation, you only need to focus on mustering up just enough courage and energy to get to the next level. Just like in a video game, if you're on the right path, you get more hearts at the start of the next level.
There's a reason why that's true. At each step along my journey, I've realized I'm able to see just a little farther along the path as I advance. Each step I make, more cloud clears from my path only so far that I can see what the next thing to tackle is. Until I do that, though, wherever that cloud sits represents my horizon. It's the conceptual barrier that -- even if irrational -- keeps me from going farther. It's the voice that says I can't do something because I'm too young, or it's difficult for me to focus, or I don't have an MBA yet, etc. Some of the barriers may be legitimate, but I have come to realize I need not wait to start. On everything I've started doing so far, I started making progress and further empowered myself by starting in whatever capacity I could. Examples include launching The Global Collective as a serious international venture, chronicling lessons I'm learning via this blog, mentoring youth and younger entrepreneurs, starting to write my first book, etc. (More on this to come in a later post.)
What happens when I get to the barrier
This horizon, this cloud, manifests both literally and figuratively. Seeking to expand it can literally result in God physically moving me somewhere else in the world. The cloud is also figurative in that, by seeking to constantly pursue where it sits and pushing it back -- which allows me to see farther and farther -- I realize I truly am powerful enough to do more now with my current circumstances and resources.
After seeking to push my conceptual horizons in different facets of my life, I have noticed a pattern. Whenever I think I have an insurmountable barrier to achieving something, when I pursue it with my full energies, once I get there, that barrier no longer exists (or I realize it's not truly insurmountable). It may linger, but I see it for what it really is once I'm face to face with it -- an illusion. I realize this by constantly pursuing it. It exists only because of my negative feedback loop that lives in my subconscious. It is the voice that tells my heart I can't do something. My mind may then accept that lie. But because I know it's deceptive origin, I am better equipped to work on eliminating that thought from my mind. It's not hard to do. Just keep moving and inching closer and closer. The cloud will recede. It has to.
The cloud is good
I realize that this cloud is a good thing. I don't want to see my whole path at once. I'm fine with God keeping that to Himself. If there was no cloud, there would be no peril in life to defeat, no reason for courage. The cloud makes me push myself. That constant push creates a fascinating journey of self actualization and outward discovery. That constant drive also ignites my fire to want to go further and further.
So far, as more cloud has cleared, sometimes it's revealed obstacles on my path, but all of them have proved to be surmountable. It's also more refreshing and thrilling to be able to look back and see the incremental growth I achieved because, at each step, I pushed myself to keep venturing into the unknown. When you pursue the cloud, you realize you're stronger now than you think.
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