I was drawn to this particular image because honestly, sometimes our tractors and the weight of our decisions, are just a heavy load.
I just love the idea of a good solid tractor. It represents to me hard work, provision of food, real salt of the earth people who have likely followed a family labor of love. An old-beat-up tractor, has “been there, done that” and once shined brightly and no doubt worked those fields. Some days I feel like that. How about you?
So what’s the insight here? Here’s what I’m thinking:
How do you take a ‘not so bright’ decision and recover gracefully? You know, those decisions that become a heavy load. Maybe the tractor, like you, woke up bright and optimistic (or shiny), but just think about how you feel after a day, a week or years of not always choosing right.
Here’s the great news: Hang with me here, because I realize most of you reading this aren’t washed up or haven’t even made too many bad decisions. After all, most of our problems are what we call “first world problems” because honestly, in most of the world they wouldn’t even count as a factor at all. To make it more relevant, here is what I feel does make sense:
- You over-scheduled your children. They are downright cranky and you can’t remember the last time you had a great conversation around the dinner table.
- You have decided that the comfort of fall foods are just too much and you fall off the health train for a while. You already know where this is headed, but none the less, it’s a bit chilly, so surely it will be easy to get back on track when you – and I, for that matter – decide to do that.
- You haven’t taken any time at work or in your community to build relationships. Everyone is busy, so you’ve decided it’s okay to just skip that part and stick to the agenda.
All of these are decisions we somehow made, and these are the decisions that become heavy loads and get us off track of a life of excellence. All of them can be reversed of course.
Make a short list today of the one, two or three things on your mind that are distracting you from yourbeing your best, and make a pre-decision to lay out a plan to reverse course!