By: D. A. Slinkard
Another year is in the books, and if you have not accomplished everything you had hoped for, my question is what are you waiting for? There is no magical fairy that is going to bring your dreams to you in the middle of the night. There is no easy shortcut to finding the success you desire. You are going to need to work for everything you want to accomplish, and why not start now to achieve your success? This seems to be a valid question, yet we live in a society that supports the premise of not wanting to fail.
If you go about life trying not to fail or trying not to make a mistake, I am here to tell you that failure is imminent, and you are going to make mistakes. I compare this ideology to that of a sports team that tries playing to not lose in the final minutes of a ball game. It is inevitable in sports that when a team plays not to lose a ballgame, they are going to end up losing. Why? It comes down to them killing the momentum that they had going for them.
We are guilty of killing the momentum we could potentially have in life because we want to play it safe. Just think about where we would be in society if we played it safe? Do you think Donald Trump would be where he is in life if he would have played it safe? Even on a local level, would Mayor Ronnie Marks be where he is if he would have played it safe and had never ran for office? The answer is obvious, and even though we can see the big picture in other people’s lives, too often we miss what is happening in our own lives.
In the year 2019, you need to promise yourself that you will not allow the same old things to happen in the new year that you did in previous years. If you think about what held you back in 2018, what would you say it was? For me, I know that the person who typically holds me back is the one that stares back at me in the mirror. We need to learn how to get out of our own way. We need to be prepared to take an all-out blitz on what we want to achieve in 2019.
Before we can attack 2019, we need to understand what our game plan is going to be. In talking with people, the most surprising thing I find is the number of people who are going through life just drifting about; and whatever life throws at them, they will then react to the daily struggles as they come instead of being prepared. There is a saying: “You can be the bug or you can be the windshield.” Which one are you?
Commit to being the windshield in 2019. Commit to not being the victim. If you fail at something, own up to it. Stop placing blame on others. Too often in life when things do not go our way, we want to find someone else to blame. Stop it! If your decisions in life have led you to sleeping on your parent’s couch, stop blaming other people. Understand there may be a life event that causes you to temporarily retreat, but in life you must be trying to move forward and attack each day with some aggressiveness. I recently heard a new terminology for parents these days. We are all aware of the “helicopter parents” but, apparently, the new breed of parents is what is known as “lawnmower parents.” These are the parents who mow down any obstacles that may come in the way of their kids.
It is time we take responsibility for what we achieve. We need to be honest with ourselves about our shortcomings and our attributes. The problem is that we are quick to highlight our attributes but dumbfounded when it comes to our shortcomings. Be honest with yourself if you want to achieve success. I am a firm believer that you must take the time over the next few weeks and focus in on what your goals for 2019 will be. Any person that fails to plan is actually planning to fail; and no matter how great you think you are, you will not be exempt from this truth. The year is almost over. What are you going to do to ensure your success in 2019? No one else will do it for you.
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard is the manager of the Athens Staples store
