I was sitting on the deck outside my house on a perfect, sunny day reading a poker magazine (any of you who know me well also know of my addiction). As I progressed through Bluff, as the magazine is titled, I chanced upon an article by Sam Chauhan called "What Phase are You In?" Sam was breaking down what he believed the three phases of life are--Survival, Rut, and Proactive.
The Survival phase is just trying to get by and looking for a way out of the metaphorical hole into a better life--this is a very negative place to be in during your existence.
The Rut phase is the middle of the road, we could also call this complacency. You don't want change and fear trying new things because you've never experienced true pain or true pleasure.
The Proactive phase is where we really strive to be. When we wake up each morning and think, "Damn, this is going to be a great day whether the world wants it to be or not because I say so." We make the things we need to happen, happen, and the things we want to happen, well, we make them happen too.
So, you may ask, "What happened to that epiphany you had earlier, B-Unit?" Well, my friends, I am admittedly guilty. My entire life, I have been "stuck in a rut." This is certainly by no fault of the people around me or any kind of exigent circumstances surrounding me.
I have assuredly cast myself onto the proverbial fence as a complacent shmuck who has taken far too little out of life when so much opportunity has been afforded to him. My parents, and in general everybody around me, have always pushed me to be better than what I currently am. Not like a coach who selfishly wants to live vicariously through his son's career as a collegiate quarterback, but for my own sake and the future benefits I could reap at having accomplished, well, whatever they wanted me to accomplish at the time.
I usually attempted to procrastinate, equivocate around, or somehow evade actually ever having to allocate time to the task or desired result. This, consequently, led to my never reaching the level of proficiency I yearned for in sports, feeling like I had essentially wasted my high school years, and ultimately being denied from the University of Texas, the school I've wanted to attend since I took my first breath.
Folks, if there's one thing you should remember, listen to your parents about life advice. They generally know a whole hell of a lot more than you do as they've already gone through it for two or three times longer than you have. They don't usually live just to piss you off or make your life miserable, there's pretty much always some annecdotal rhyme or reason to their viewpoints on your life.
Anyway, I digress. Back to being proactive. It's about being adamant about life and not living just for the sake of taking up space on the earth. We have plenty of people doing that already and look how overpopulated we are becoming! Heck, seemingly the only people with a negative birth rate are the Europeans, who also seem to get more out of life than anybody else in the world.
Another thing to remember, even the best of us can always learn more about A
NYTHING. There are three ways to do this. The first is self-experience. LeBron James may be the best basketball player in the world, but that doesn't mean he doesn't need to improve his left-handed dribbling, one of his few weaknesses. The second is observation. This can be anything from Peyton Manning watching the way Brett Favre play-action fakes to a successful investor reading a book about Keynesian economics. The final way is imparted knowledge. This, essentially, is having stories or advice related to you by others that could allow you to better prosper in the world, much like I am relating to you today. The most important thing is to check your ego in life, or you can never improve at the same rate as if you are humble and willing to accept help or new information. Besides, nobody likes a condescending know-it-all, I know that more than anyone.Lastly, the proactive people in life live based on faith. No, I'm not referring to a divine, theological, or spiritual faith (though that's absolutely fine if that's your cup of tea). I'm talking about a fundamental faith. An inherent belief in yourself and the world around you that A) You can do, realistically, what you set your mind to and B) That the world around you is a pretty damn grand place to be and the people in it are absolutely worth your time.
All I can ask from you is two things, and these two things will certainly change both your life and the world around you.
One, simply be a "good" person. Well, that sounds easy but what does it mean? "Good" can be defined as anything from reliable to ample to handsome to a quality of meat. But do you know what the first definition out of the 41 adjectival uses of "good" is? Morally excellent. Live for other people instead of yourself and make what you feel in your heart and your gut is the right decision in life and you'll get there, trust me.
The second thing I ask of you is to STRIVE to get better every day. This guarantees that you will never fall into the rut that I was in for so long, and can only benefit you throughout life. Just think about it, especially you math people out there (something I could stand to improve in). Assume the average reader is 18 years old and life expectancy in the U.S. is 77.7 years old. I'll be generous and let you guys live to 78 for simplicity's sake. If you get better EVERY day of your life, 365 days a year, multiplied by 60 years left in your life and (yes I needed a calculator for this part) you've got 21,900 days to improve yourself! Imagine all you could know and how good at stuff you could be by the time you die.
For those of you that managed your way through such a long and drawn out epiphany, I laud you for your patience and am grateful for your time. We can all make our lives what we want them to be, but it takes what I've listed above and probably a lot more to be better than what you are now. I dare you to be better.
