Choices Become Us…
Choices Become Us:
This was written for a uniquely special young man who has overcome and persevered through much already. Embark on the next phase and know you are loved and supported. May you come back to these words as often as you need.
Here we lie, side by side. We are the same, yet not. Forged from the same steel, hickory our handles. Our size and weight, identical. Everything about us the same, yet we are different. We are so different, in fact, a blind man would have little trouble telling us apart by touch. Visually, we are hardly recognizable as the replicas we once were.
We started the same, that is true. We were finished, packaged and shipped the same in every regard. We were stacked on the shelf, one in front of the other so that one could not tell us apart. Save the tiny differences in the orientation of the handels grain, we were indistinguishable. The same value, weight, length and cutting edge. The same tool, we hung, together, awaiting a home and a purpose.
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Humans are unique when compared to any other organism on earth. Perhaps most profound is the ability to envision a future, and then create it. What future will you envision? Where will your aim lie? To what will your attention be devoted? What will you value? Who do you want to become as a person?
Aim - Attention - Focus - Discipline - Repetition - Resilience - These are the attributes that craft each of us, that which constructs our body, mind and soul. In varying degrees, each of us are born with these. They are to be learned, practiced and refined, to be honed into a sharp edge. One seemingly insignificant choice at a time they are earned. Each choice is a vote and a building block of the person we are now and who we will become.
Aim at that which you desire to achieve and be purposeful in it. Without aim there can be no target and without a target there are only blind shots. To what do you aim?
Attention is a direct reflection of your values. Where your time is spent and where you direct your attention reveals what you truly value. What you attend to is who you will become and what you will master. If you are ever in question as to what you value or where you are headed, you need only audit your time. Who do you want to be and what would you like to master?
Focus on the details that matter. Focus keeps your aim steady and on target. Focus holds your attention. Focus has three sight planes; foreground, target and the background (past, present and future). Look to Pareto's principle as a guide should you feel stuck or drawn to thin. How clear is your focus?
Discipline is what gets you to show up when motivation fails you (and it will more often than not). Those who rely on motivation are destined for a life of unfulfilled desires. Discipline is mastery of your own mind and it’s will to overcome. To a strong and disciplined mind EVERYTHING is a gift and opportunity. Discipline will take you all the way through Hell and out the other side if that is the path you must travel. Discipline is the rock amongst the tidal power of the ocean waves. How will you weather the storms to come?
Repetition is what builds knowledge and muscle and endurance. Repetition builds all things that stand through the onslaught of time. Repetition builds habits and creates automatic systems to rely on when logic and reason fail. When the world goes to chaos, those who have put in the reps will automatically the way. There is no substitute for repetition - none - what you put in is what you get out. How many reps are you willing to put in? How often?
Resilience is the Jedi master who never loses focus regardless of the battle that rages around them. Resilience is recovering quickly when life becomes unpredictable or cruel. Resilience is finding the gift in all that life provides. One only has control over how they respond to others, self and situations. Resilience does not allow for lingering self pity. Resilience does not allow you to stay down. Resilience pulls your hand from the pain of the flame and moves you forward in a positive direction quickly. How long do you plan on keeping your hand in the fire?
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These two hatches represent potential versions of us: Aim - Attention - Focus - Discipline - Repetition and Resilience. The aim was to create a tool that was both useful and beautiful. It took many hours of attention to strip and refinish the handle. It took great focus to remove all the paint and sand and polish the head into a mirrored finish. It took discipline to show up night after night until the handle was supple to the touch and the head reflective. It took the repetition of 10,000 or more strokes before the final product was complete and the head a mirror. It took resilience to keep going through the cuts and dings and never ending sanding and polishing.
Even from a distance you can tell what hatchet is more desirable. The value is in the beauty and beauty only came from envisioning what could be and laboring to create it. A blind man could hold each hatchet and feel the craftsmanship and the attention that one received. The dream was manifested into reality by my hand alone. We do this process with objects and education and relationships and with ourselves. Those who are aware and practice will work towards mastery of self and environment and vocation. Those who do not will float without rudder or compass. It is evident to others, even from a distance, your value and the work you have put into yourself. It will be evident to the blind man who grasps your hand the work you have put in.
Choices become us, which hatchet will you choose to be?
