Winning: An Everyday Vacation

Every Day is Winning

Winning isn’t something you do. It is something you are doing. You are winning with every moment you spend in the realization that life is finite, opportunities are what you make them, you only control you, and joy is better than happiness.

Life is short. Sooner than you contemplate or realize, it is over. But, sooner than that, it has changed. You don’t maintain life. You get the best out of it.

Opportunities are a matter of perspective. If you had the big picture seeing the past, present, and future with clarity, you could see how each choice only accelerates or delays. The destiny is caught up in the direction, the attraction, and the energy.

Control is a deceptive companion. He will have you thinking that he holds sway over others. But, to them, your control is invisible and immaterial. Meanwhile, your will, desires, and discipline seem distant with mechanisms unclear. The switches seem hidden behind questions of purpose and destiny. These are just curtains you may easily move aside to activate your power to change, to integrate, and to be.

Joy is fuel whereas happiness is a running engine. Joy is present with expectation while happiness is a hoped-for achievement. Joy is confident in the progress being made no matter the pace.

Leave Contest for Vacation

Life is not a contest. You must stop treating it like it’s something to be won. There is no point at which you stop and are judged, or you judge. There is only the grind whether joyful or drudgery. Life is an experience that you have an opportunity to enjoy to its fullest or simply say you went. It is your choice—an album of pictures with sad faces or a video that reminds you to make each moment count.

Rather than treating life like a contest, treat it like a vacation.

You plan for your time off. You know where you are going, and you know what you are doing. Rehearse the vision of who you are becoming and the destinations you want to experience.

You pack what you need including the items that fit the climate you will experience no matter what the climate is where you currently are. Invest in the tools you need and anticipate the experiences you want.

You only take the people with you that will enhance the experience. Spend less time with people who don’t feed your joy. Allow them to grow without stunting your growth.

You don’t accept interruptions letting everyone know that you are on YOUR vacation. Own your experience. Recognize when your time is being wasted in a search for the joy you already have access to.

Better yet, consider it like a trip to an amusement park.

There are some rides that you will not ride. But, you don’t invest energy in shutting them down. You walk past “out of order” rides with little thought. Speak your mind, but don’t give time to failed experiences and opportunities that don’t pan out. Look to the next.

You have the patience to wait in line, or you sign-up for the express pass and come back to the opportunity at the appointed time. Cultivate a patient, systematic, methodical approach. Patient in that your joy continues moment to moment not waiting for a future event. Systematic in that you recognize the systems at play and develop the ability to navigate them successfully. Methodical in that you educate yourself to best practices based on evidence as to what has worked in the past for you and others.

You take time for food and bodily functions, but you enjoy the experiences knowing that the park closes at some point. Vacation has a sense of urgency that is not anxiety. It has faith in the plan AND comfort in the fact that experiences are a joy, not a requirement. Get everything you can get out of life. Take calculated risks and experience new things. Be your best self. Live your best life. Now and every moment hence.