Motivating Matters

    As we approach the halfway point of 2023, it is important to take some time to reflect on the year thus far. For those of us that had high hopes about what we could accomplish, now is the time to realign ourselves with those goals. If you haven’t done as well as you would’ve liked, it’s of the utmost importance to not get discouraged by lack of effort and focus. Rather, use it as fuel to get organized and evaluate whether those goals are still realistic.

    Maybe your goals have changed since the beginning of the year and that’s okay too, but periodic reflection and planning is needed to proceed with a proper mindset. Without periodic reflection and planning, distractions will consume your time. Doing things that you had no intention of doing will transform you into a person you had no intention to become. Another way this can be reiterated is found in the book The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. He says, “Nothing shapes your life more than the commitments you choose to make. Your commitments can develop you or they can destroy you, but either way, they will define you… We become whatever we are committed to.” If you are committed to what others want you to do, you will become their ideal version of yourself, which may differ from yours. If you are not committed to anything, you will find yourself lost and unsure of what to do in life.

Situations that weren’t previously accounted for are destined to come up. Science can back that claim with the second law of thermodynamics, which states that entropy in a system increases over time. Meaning that disorder is destined to increase in our lives. The only way to prevent disorder, and harness this increase in energy is through work. Work comes in many forms, but includes organization, planning, decisions, preparation, etc. These actions and many others help counter the chaos that comes with life.

That doesn’t mean that we can never be spontaneous. Some of the best opportunities are a result of unplanned situations aka luck. What differentiates the end result, and increases the probability of luck, is the previous work put in. The influence of others should be weighed against the priority of your work, and a decision must be made on whether their influence is increasing or decreasing disorder in your life.

All this is to say that time is passing by, and it’s important that we evaluate how we spend it. This is your warning to make the time to prioritize your goals and plans for the rest of 2023. There is still a lot of time left this year to start the process, but it’s going to require work to see any substantial progress.

I appreciate you reading this post and hope this showed you why Motivating Matters. Feel free to comment any thoughts or feedback about the article!

Follow Motivating Matters on Instagram @motivatingmatters_ and Facebook @motivatingmatterss for more motivational content.