Page 4 | Sid Savara

Today Is Your Golden Ticket

Ever have one of those days where you wake up, and the whole day you just can’t get your mind off an event that night? This is a story about one of those days.

All day I waited – waited and watched the time tick by; waited for 8 p.m.

***

The usher scans my ticket and I walk in – up the stairs, to the balcony, row L, seat 15.

My heart is pounding, and everyone in the arena is sitting on the edge of their seat, their eyes focused with anticipation at the piano on stage. It’s almost showtime.

Suddenly the lights go down – and the whole place erupts in cheers.

There Is No “Rest Of” Your Life

“For a long time it seemed to me that real life was about to begin, but there was always some obstacle in the way. Something had to be got through first, some unfinished business; time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”
-Bette Howland

Think about the things that you feel matter most in your life

Think about the people you care about most, the goals dearest to you – the dreams that you perhaps have kept deep inside, some perhaps waiting for “someday” when you will have more time to focus on them.

…When obligations pass, when you get through whatever “thing” is going on right now.

However, I want to challenge you to think very hard about whether you really are “temporarily” putting some of those things on hold – or if these current obligations, these current “distractions” are actually becoming your life… because I have been there in my life myself.

The Right Way To Approach Long Term Goals

“A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement.”
– Bo Bennett

People say their long term goal is to be a writer, or to run a marathon, or to visit all 7 continents.

But let me ask you this: how do you differentiate between a goal and a daydream?

To me, it comes down to one thing: are you consistently taking action towards it, or not.

A long term goal is something you are working on today, and you know it will take you a while to get there.

A Dirty Time Management Secret: Be Selfish

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. …

[H]ave the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Everything else is secondary.”
– Steve Jobs

Recently I shared with you a powerful story about the life regrets of the dying.

The number one regret on the list was:

I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

Here’s the honest truth (and some would say dirty secret) if you want to avoid that regret:

You have to be selfish with your time.

The Best Way To Spend Your Time

“You are your greatest asset. Put your time, effort and money into training, grooming, and encouraging your greatest asset.”
– Tom Hopkins

Question: Do you think that improving yourself is becoming more or less important ?

Which direction do you think the world is going?

You Can Break The Limits You’ve Placed On Yourself

Train the elephant while he is young, for he will never forget. At least, that’s how this story goes that I heard in India.

When an elephant is very young and small, their trainer ties them to a tree with a thick rope.

The baby elephant struggles and struggles – but is not strong enough.

Soon the elephant learns that his strength is no match for the rope.

He accepts his fate, gives up – and gets used to the idea that this rope can hold him.

As the elephant grows, even a simple string is enough to hold him without resistance. He dares not struggle, remembering the rope that he could not break many years ago.

Though the string has no chance of holding the elephant, he does not realize that: he has convinced himself that it is stronger than him, and he never even tries.

For many people, the failure from past events is what they remember. The memory of weakness, of not being strong enough stops them from even attempting to overcome challenges in their lives, even though their strength is much stronger now.

They never forget – and just like the elephant who will not try to break the string, they shy away from challenges in their lives that they could overcome – if they would only try.