In his book entitled “The War of Art” – not to be mistaken with “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu – Stephen Pressfield says something that really stands out for me. He says that most of us have two lives: the life we live and the unlived life within us.
The life we live is pretty straight forward – it is our reality: where are in life, the work we do, the people we work and live with, etcetera. As for the unlived life, it is the life that we dream of; the life that we are meant to live, the life that we truly desire to live given a choice. If we had a magic wand that could change our lives, then that is the life we would change to. That unlived, but often-desired life.
When I read that, it made me both happy and sad at the same time. It made me happy because I know that there are people out there who are living the life they love, and I take inspiration from people like that.
They wake up in the morning, excited about work. They go to work and put their hearts and souls into what they do. They live up to their potential, because that’s what they meant to be. They feel like a round peg in a round hole, like a duck in water. They just feel at home, they feel comfortable there. They are truly happy.
On the other hand, I imagine that there are millions of people out there who know that something is wrong with their lives; that they are not living the lives they desire. They know they deserve something more. They don’t quite fit in – they are the square pegs trying to fit into round holes, they are fish out of water. Whether consciously or unconsciously, they know they should be doing something else in life, and it makes them deeply unhappy. But they are helpless. They are helpless to change. They lack the knowledge, skills and tools to make that change. They lack the courage to make that change.
It makes me really sad knowing that that there is a person somewhere in the world who gets up every day, who drags himself out of bed, who goes miserably to a job he doesn’t like, working with people he doesn’t like, looking at the clock, waiting for home time so he can disappear, so that he can go home and forget about that ghastly place.
He looks forward to his holidays, and he counts the days for when his holidays come. He tries to make the most of those precious few days, tries to forget his torment at work. But he knows this will end shortly, and he has to go back to work.
On Sunday evenings he sits at home with his family, but his stomach is cringes because he knows that on Monday morning he has to go back to that horrible place. I know that too well because I used to live that life. I was in a job that I hated, with people that I didn’t like. I had the same feelings until I found the courage to go and start my own business and live the life that I am living now.
I am truly grateful because this is the life that I love, the life that makes me happy, despite its challenges. I am happy because I made the change. And I was able to make the change because I empowered myself with the knowledge, skills and tools to make that change. But it took me decades to learn these and to implement them.
And these are the same skills that I describe in this book. I am not speaking about from theory. These ideas are not something that I read about in some book. I’ve lived them, and I continue to live them. I run my business with them.
What’s more, is that I’ve studied some of the most successful people in the world, and I’ve recognised that they found their success through instinctively knowing and practicing these 6 skills.
So, in this section I am going to be discussing some of these people who
have found success, and whom I take inspiration from.
SHABEER
Very simple narration, apt references. I enjoy reading.