“Get up, stand up. Don’t give up the fight.” – Bob Marley

This is post #29 in my quest for 30 in 30.

How many times on your life have you felt like you were really making progress on a goal only to have your energy wane and your habits revert to their old ineffective ways?

I can tell you that it used to happen to me just about every time I set my mind on something. I’d start off really super strong and just when I started to make a little bit of progress I’d either loose interest or I’d let myself get distracted from my goals. This inevitably led me to falling into the same bad habits I was trying so hard to change. There are several reasons that I can now see as to why this kept happening to me. Often times the reasons would seemingly change yet still foster the same results. I had an amazing ability for making excuses. I could talk myself out of being successful with very little effort. My deamons all knew precisely how to play me to get me to avoid making any real progress in my life. I was a championship caliber procrastinator, I had an immense aversion to anything that generated pain like exercise and my flight response was about the size of a Pterodactyl. Basically if there was a way to make my life better I could find a way to avoid it.

There comes a time in every life however when you just decide that in order to get where you want to go you’ve got to do things differently. Eventually this need to improve your life becomes so powerful that you absolutely refuse to accept anything else other than the life that you envision for yourself. When that happens you’ve got to fight for it. It may seem at times like everything your doing goes against everything you know. It’s like you don’t really recognize yourself anymore. Assuming that the changes that your making are positive ones, that’s a good thing and you’ve got to keep going! You’ll want to quit at times and go back to that comfortable spot on the couch that has your butt groove firmly embossed in it. You can not give in to these impulses. The sense of security that you get from the familiarity of that couch is false. It’s not going to benefit you in any way. You’re going to keep digging that groove and before you know it years are gone.

We’ve only got one time around on this planet and we’ve got to make the most of it. So get a goal firmly set in your mind. Then fight until you’ve achieved it. Don’t let anything get in your way, especially your own discomfort. When you start to see yourself slipping off track or your energy start fading that’s then you’ve got to treat it like a matter of life and death. You can live big or you can just keep carving the butt rut in that coffin you call your couch. Every inch deeper that rut goes is another inch closer you get to the grave. How comfortable is that couch now?

Following is a clip from the 1976 film “Network”. It’s a pretty famous piece of cinema that contains Peter Finch’s rant to the people of America. In it he’s talking about the problems that the country is facing and how people need to get mad if they want to make a change. It’s a powerful powerful speech that I think Americans could stand to hear today. The message however can also be applied to life. If you want to see change in your life then you’ve got to get mad.Not just that though, you’ve got to do something about it too. You’ve got to look at yourself and become so resolute in making a change that you won’t accept anything less and then, when you finally get mad enough to make a change never ever give up the fight.

Thanks for being here. Talk to you tomorrow.
-JB
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Today’s Music: Get Up Stand Up
By: Bob Marley and the Wailers
Available on:

The Film: Network – 1976
Directed By: Sidney Lumet
Available on: