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February 8, 2012 By Andy Traub

How to avoid a pathetic existence

Match 2 by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/zebulon666

Most of our lives are spent reacting and it makes for a pretty pathetic existence. As I see it there are three types of action; initiating, reacting and responding. (If there are more enlighten me because this isn’t a scientific journal.)

Where to initiate
Initiating means you start it. Initiating means you can fail but if you succeed you will know it was because of you, not luck or chance.

  • Making coffee in the morning
  • Establishing a date night for you and your wife (husbands should be in charge of this…step up guys)
  • Coming to your boss or team with a new idea
  • Writing something to publish on paper or on the net
  • Calling a friend to have coffee
  • Turning off the TV to read a book
  • Calling a potential client

Where your ideas live
Initiating is risky. Few of us do it. Few of us birth an idea and then deliver it into the world so that it can touch reality. Most ideas, desires and dreams exist 18 inches from our heart and never leave. Most of our greatest desires and achievements never get out of our head. That’s a pathetic existence. It’s the shot you never took, the book you never wrote, the conversation you never had, the encouragement you never offered and the warning you never gave. It’s pathetic because you could have done it and you didn’t. Not initiating means you have a lot of regrets. That will ruin your heart. I believe the world needs more from you and that God created you for more than you’re achieving. No, I have no idea who you are. I can’t see through the screen but if you’re like me then this is true of you too. These ideas are my own. They’re about me. They’re true of me first, then I write them down. So I’m initiating more because God wants that stuff out of my head and your head. The world needs those ideas in the world. They do no one any good safely tucked away behind your nasal cavities.

Initiate in small things first. Train yourself

If initiating is risky it’s because initiating carries the greatest rewards.

  • Start a company.
  • Write a book.
  • Start a family.
  • Ask someone out on a date.
  • Give to the homeless person who doesn’t ask you for anything.
  • Sit your kids down and talk with them.
The alternatives to initiating are reacting and responding. I’ll talk about those another day. For now know that when you check your email 289 times a day that you’re reacting. When your wife says you forgot to do something and you stop, own the mistake and apologize, you’re responding.

Start. Risk. Live.

What do you want to initiate?
What do you need to initiate?
What are you GOING TO initiate?

Filed Under: Attitude, Permission, Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: initiate, parenting, pathetic, react, respond, writing

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