Highly successful people are not so by chance, coincidence, or luck. Many highly successful people enjoy success because they are appropriately calculated, and they tend to practice daily habits that serve them and their intentions well.
The majority of these, often elite people, are organized, scheduled, and disciplined. They frequently share something in common; a To Do List. They live on purpose, guiding the flow of their lives each day with focus and pre-determined commitments.
Frankly, the entire world’s populace is familiar with this well known thing we call the To Do List, but the difference rests in the fact that fewer of us actually live by them. Most people tend to live by default. Life is sort of happening to them. They’re usually easily recognized as those who complain of being pushed around by life, of never having enough time, as if anyone gets more than twenty-four hours in a day.
I believe in the power of a To Do List. However, I wish to go a step further and speak to something that may transcend the measurements of social success. I use these words deliberately as I understand there are many publicly successful figures that suffer miserable private failure.
So, to live well, to be whole, to be happy in our own skin, fulfilled and content, there are some things to consider. These things cannot be acquired from without. These things are costly and precious although they have no monetary value. These things may not find their way onto everyone’s wish lists. They may not constitute line items on everyone’s To Do List. But, I believe they are of monumental importance to having and living a rich and successful life. This is a To Be List for your consideration:
- Be grateful: Awaken to each new day with a grand sense of gratitude. Take in everything with a keen awareness that life is perfectly all it could be in the present moment. Earnestly consider the value of the air filling your lungs, the brightness of your mind, that your need is met, that you have a brand new opportunity to contribute to the world, and even learn something new. Gratitude is the wonderful practice of seeing the good in your life, in the world, and in people. Be thankful! Gratitude is a choice, a state of mind. It embraces the truth that we are thoroughly furnished and equipped to create the lives we most desire and intend.
- Be respectful of time: Cherish every moment of every day, because every moment spent is a moment you can never get back. So, maximize every second you have. Do your best to perceive the importance of every tick of the clock. Time is a tremendous ally to those that respect it and work with it, but it’s unforgiving of those that squander it and misuse it. So, respect your time and the time of others. Plan to be on time for appointments, for work, for practice, for rehearsals, or for meetings. When you plan events, start on time. Don’t make allowances for the late comers. That is a most disrespectful use of time. Also plan to end on time, so you can be ready to flow into the next important function of your purposeful life. Avoid, at all costs, attempting to borrow from the future. Do what you can NOW! Procrastination is a presumption that heaps what was meant for this moment on your tomorrows. It is an egregious violation of the present, and we pay for this disrespect with stress, anxiety, fear, fatigue, and sometimes all out burn-out. You might find harmony by clearing up the congestion you’ve created by putting off today’s work or assignments. Time is a great tool, but it’s a tyrannical master.
- Be courteous: I’m pretty certain there could be more displays of courtesy in the world. Somewhere, somehow, society has lost a bit of civility. We want to be sophisticated, but in some ways believe you must be discourteous and dismissive of others to achieve it. Make a personal commitment to spread a little cheer and joy by determining to stick around long enough to hold a door for someone coming behind you. Allow someone to enter the flow of traffic before you. Share a smile with a total stranger, and wish them a great day. Be patient with an elder blocking the aisle in the supermarket. Offer assistance to someone too short to reach an item they need from the top shelf. These all seem like totally insignificant measures to mete, but try them and see the difference you’ll make in a few individuals lives. Act like the fate of the world depended upon your actions.
- Be present: Many of us need a little practice at being present. In the fast paced bustling of the world we find ourselves displaced, confused, out of sorts, anxious, frustrated, discontented, bored, tired, disenchanted, and disillusioned with or in our lives. Much of this is the result of our negligence to live in the only thing we truly have, the now. Many of our fears and frustrations are over things we presume will happen or not happen in the future. Many of our disappointments and anguish are the results of the bitterness of our past experiences. But, quite frequently nothing is really wrong now. Get present in your communication to find new closeness and understanding. Get present with your family to realize true love, acceptance, and joy. Get present in your work to find excitement, enjoyment, and the ability to recapture wasted energy. All is well presently. Allow the entirety of yourself to engage the present moment and you may find the fullness of the moment will inadvertently address the future.
- Be enthusiastic: Raise your energy! Change your vibe, and you’ll change your environment. Joy, excitement, laughter, happiness, and calm anticipation are all contagious. Take a disposition of power in every circumstance and environment, and watch it harmonize with the essence of what you’re offering. Be an upper wherever you go, not a downer. Be an encourager, not a critic. Be optimistic, not a cynic. Make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen. Let others be, do, and have the other stuff, not you. Anticipate the best, and you’ll get more of the best you anticipate. In the times in which we live we need more people that are willing to show their exuberance over the goodness of life.
- Be responsible: Own your life, your decisions, your successes, your mistakes. Own your highs and your lows. Own the good you’ve done, and own the miserable set-backs you’ve created. Take 100% responsibility for the outcomes in your life. Let go of blame and accusation. It’s weak, and quite frankly, beneath you. In taking responsibility you must be careful not to blame or condemn yourself either. As I see it, taking responsibility is about embracing the beautiful revelation of the personal power you possess. When we take responsibility for our results we identify with the power to create, and if we can create the results we don’t enjoy or want, we can also create the results we can enjoy and desire. That’s power! Taking responsibility is liberating when you clearly understand this truth.
- Be kind: This may seem selfish at first glance, but be kind to you. We can never get to kindness to others if we’re self-loathing, self-sabotaging, and mean to ourselves. See yourself healthfully, and you’ll more than likely extend that to others. Then, see people as human, not as problems, frustrations, obstacles, competitors, enemies, pain, disappointments, etc. Humanize the people in and around your life, and you’re thoughts and disposition towards them will change drastically. In war, soldiers are softly taught how to dehumanize their enemies to make it easier to destroy them. Awaken from society’s soft programming of desensitization. See your fellow brother or sister as the whole of what they are, divine. They’re just like you. They feel, think, desire, intend, and love. So, seek to do good, and maybe you can start a culture of goodness. Be kind to others simply because we reap what we sow.
- Be creative: This is not to be confused with or restricted to its artistic connotation. Be creative. Create the days you intend. Create the weeks that move you steadily forward towards the realization of your goals. Create the family you most desire. Create the wealth you intend. Create the community that speaks to your vision of peaceful co-existence with your neighbors. Include all you need, desire, and intend in your schedule. And, exclude all that will steer you astray, causing you to veer off course. Create the health you intend with the food choices you make, the time you provide for rest and sleep, etc. Be creative or you run the risk of some other creative being creating a version of your life that isn’t anything like what you would have.
- Be open: Openness is the key to learning, to growing, to being the full expression of all you are. Be open to sharing. Be open to new ideas. Be open to opportunity. Be open to new relationships. Be open to constructive criticism. Be open to love. Be open to warmth. Be open to abundance. Some have allowed their life experiences to box them in and cut them off from the people and things that could truly enrich their lives. Be open to truth. Be open to spirit and enlightenment. It has been said; “The most costly thing you’ll ever own is a closed mind.” Be open.
- Be authentic: This is of critical importance. Be authentic! Do not strive for conformity for the sake of acceptance. But, do not strive to be different by dressing up your exterior image. How you look is not who you are. Don’t delude yourself either; the image you project before the world is but a picture or representation of how you wish to be known. Your self is free from these characterizations, labels, brands, colors, hair, styles, piercings, tattoos, etc. The only way to truly be different is to be you. So, be authentic. Do not consider the thoughts and opinions of others as you contemplate your actions or inaction. You are not the opinion of others. Do not practice dishonesty in the delusion of protecting another’s feelings. That is unauthentic. Do not misrepresent the facts in vain attempts to impress. Do not mislead others for the sake of perceived superiority. Love yourself! Be authentic because it is all you can do to be true. The truth is you’ll never please everyone, at the same time, in the same way. So the only real freedom and self-expression is absolute authenticity.
I hope this short To Be List proves helpful. It isn’t meant for teaching. It is simply my intention to provide value where and how I can. Therefore, I pray you don’t approach this as a search for a How-To remedy. Simply allow it to provoke thought in you, and maybe it will lead you to some discoveries about you that you hadn’t considered before. I wish you well, and that you’ll be the best you can be.
