There were two houses out in the country, two neighbors had been next door neighbors for decades. They knew each other really well and were great friends. Their houses were side by side with a short distance in between. One of the neighbors was on his front porch enjoying coffee in the morning like he always did. The neighbor’s dog was sitting on their steps and howling, and it annoyed the neighbor so much that he finally sat down his cup of coffee, got up, went over to his neighbor’s house, and wondered what the heck is wrong with the dog. The dog didn’t look hurt, but was whining and howling annoyingly. So he grabbed a stick and threw it, hoping the dog would go fetch it and hush but the dog didn’t move. He just sat there and whimpered and howled. The neighbor got so upset that he finally just grabbed the dog by the collar and yanked him off the porch. He saw that where the dog had been sitting, there was a little exposed nail, like a tack that the dog was sitting on.

That tack made the dog uncomfortable. It hurt the dog bad enough to make it yelp, but not bad enough to get it to actually move. In our lives, we should not have permission to complain about the things that we simply refuse to change.

What is it in your life that you are tolerating? What area of life have you just settled? What area of life do you say you want to change but you’re not willing to make the changes necessary?

One thing I can tell you is that, in life, nothing changes until you change. Nothing is going to change for you in a positive direction unless you make a change. There’s some area of your life where it hurts bad enough for you to talk about it. It hurts bad enough for you to think about it. It hurts bad enough for you to mention it. But not bad enough for you to get off the porch and actually get moving. What area of life is that for you today?

And are you going to plan a strategy to attack it, to not settle anymore, to not just say, you know what? You know, I want to change this… I should one day, someday when I get the time, when I get the money, when I get the resources, when there’s not a pandemic, when there’s a different president, when the economy is better, when it’s not raining. When are you going to realize that all of that stuff is nothing but an excuse?

If you’re waiting for your ducks to get in a row, you need to come to the realization that ducks don’t get in a row until they start moving. Ducks get in a row when they start moving. You know, John Addison, the former co CEO of Primerica Financial Services empire, is an amazing author, an amazing friend of mine, and somebody I just hold in high esteem, in high regard, an incredible human being, an incredible thought leader on leadership, an incredible leader in his own right.

He said, “act the way you want to feel, and soon you’ll feel the way that you act.” Motion creates emotion. You cannot wait to feel like doing something productive. You cannot wait for ducks to get in a row. You’ve got to get moving and then the ducks get in a row. So how can you use this to create your Strategic Life?

By the way, I’d love to hear from you. Let me know if you like little episodes like this. I’ll be glad to share more with you on some of my daily thoughts and routines and habits and what’s going on in the world and my observations and some of the cool things that I find.

And always remember, you’re only one strategy away…

Tactics, strategies, and unique findings all at StrategicLifeDesign.com. Join the newsletter and let’s connect!

-Kevin

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