Yeah. I said it, and it’s a heavy hitter.
Living actually fucks life up.
But it may not be exactly the way it sounds.
Funny Thing About Time
Time sucks. We lose it. But it’s great because, well, we have it.
It’s great because we can build things because we have it. But we can also waste it, so it sucks.
If you do nothing, time will pass. If you do something epic, time will pass.
No matter what happens, time passes. It’s actually neither good nor bad. It just is.
So how is living the problem? Isn’t living good? The answer is a bit more complicated than a yes or a no.
The #1 Killer
You know the main killer of dreams? The thing that leads to people living a life they hate? The answer is entropy.
Lack of order. Randomness. This is you letting things happen to you, and letting time just pass.
Better put, it is lack of intention that leads to your downfall. Now why? Why is lack of intention the silent killer that secretly drags us all down into the abyss.
It’s because when you have nowhere to go, you’re gonna get sent all over the place. You have no GPS destination.
It’s almost like you got in a car and just starting driving, then you get surprised when you end up at a place you don’t like.
And here’s my most common objection when I hear someone tell me this piece of advice:
I’ve Heard It Before
Good job. Here’s a medal and a cookie. Double win. But hearing and doing are so far apart they may as well be opposites.
Lack of intention is your problem. So you need to set intentions and opposing intentions (for the life you don’t want).
Have you heard it? Maybe. But have you ever whipped out a journal? Ever defined the big life goals and the anti vision to avoid at all costs?
If not, this is not just a reminder. This is me telling you to. Asking, but also telling. Here’s what you need to do.
Imagine This
The life you hate. The feeling. The thoughts. The arguments. The traffic. Whatever it is. Feed that fire.
Now think of the life you love. Same deal. Thoughts. Feelings. Lack of traffic. Etc.
Now affirm to yourself, “If I do not begin to live with intention, I will by default drop into my unideal life.”
That is the scary part. No one is out here setting goals to live horrible lives, and why would they?
But when you live without intention, more often than not you fall into the unideal life simply by entropy.
So don’t think by simply living you’re avoiding your unideal life. My argument is that BECAUSE of (just) living, you will end up exactly where you don’t want to be.
Don’t Believe Me?
Well you should because I never lie. That didn’t convince you? Fair enough. Good judgement.
Is your life ideal right now? If not, have you been living with intention? Have you written down micro and macro life goals and how to get there?
If not, there’s your living proof. You.
Now some people could try to place this off as correlation not causation. It’s not BECAUSE I didn’t live with intention that I’m currently where I don’t want to be, you may think to yourself.
Isn’t it though? Because if you did live with intention, guess where you’d probably be right now?
Probably where you intended. Or at least a bit closer.
We often miss the fact that we don’t have intentions. We think we do, but we really don’t. Everyone wants a good life, a million dollars, a nice house, etc.
But that isn’t “living with intention.” Living with intention is deeper than that. It’s writing what you want. What you don’t. How you’ll get there.
So do it.