Time is Running Out
Dec 22, 2024
Time is always running out.
It's a fact of life that we're oblivious to, most of the time. We go through our days thinking primarily the same thoughts as before (they've done studies on this, most of our thoughts, day after day, are the same).
Sometimes, though, for some reason, it hits you, that you do not have all that much time left.
You think about where you thought you'd be at this age, how fast this age came, like breath on a cold day, it's there for a second, then it's gone.
And somehow, internally, you always sort of feel the same. My Papa (in the image above, with my Nana and Nonna) said that to me one time. He said, Chad, I just don't feel 80. I feel the same as I did when I was 20. It's scary how fast time moves.
Time is ceaseless. It's undefeated. It's the most precious thing we have, and it's the thing we spend our lives trying to figure out how to best use.
I don't know why it hit me the other day. Maybe it's the recent marriage, the future family, my folks aging, maybe I've lacked urgency for a period, but it hit me like a ton of bricks.
Urgency is a beautiful thing.
It makes you make fast decisions. It makes you do things. These things may lead to failure, but quick failure is better than long, slow failure. Quick failure allows you to learn quickly and try again.
It's better to go big, to give things your all, to risk, than to tread lightly and play it safe while the opportunity for success that once existed if you'd have snatched it slowly passes you by.
Now, we're nearing the end of another year, typically a time we reflect, grade ourselves, and plan for the coming 365 days. But, every single year we let ourselves down, just a little.
We may, technically, do well, but there's a part of us that always knows we could do better.
Here's how to plan for 2025, the last year of your life.
Meditate: Scare Yourself into Action
This post will be filled with dichotomies. Give the effort like it's your last year on earth, but still play the long game. Building something grand isn't quick, but becoming the man we need to become is a hell of a lot quicker than we realize.
If we removed all laziness, fear, and complacency, we'd be far ahead of where we are now. So, remove it.
Set some time daily to meditate over this. Pray, think, grab a stogie, whatever. We don't feel this urgency enough. It's real, but we can go through life without really feeling it until it's too late.
Task 1: Schedule some time in your day, ideally early, to meditate on the shortness of life. It is brief. And the only way to make it not brief is to live it as best as you possibly can.
Grading Yourself: Be harsh, but Kind.
Write down where you won, and where you failed this year. Be real with yourself, harsh, but kind. Don't hate yourself for failing in certain areas, but be real with yourself...
You're harsh because you know you can do better. It's a challenge. Call yourself to a higher standing.
Grade the areas (or 'games') of life that are important to you, that you want to improve on.
Some games we play:
Health (training habits, cardio, lifting, diet habits).
Wealth (saving/investing, spending, earning).
Faith (study, practice, learning).
Wisdom (how did you handle stress? How well did you make decisions? How well did you lead?).
Family (were you calm, strong, stoic? Did you lead and love well?)
Task 2: Write down each game, and the ways you did well, and the areas you could do better. Give yourself a grade based on what you think you could potentially achieve.
Plans: Go Big, but Small.
Let's use health as an example because it's the perfect microcosm for every other goal we have.
It's only won by habits. It's only lost by habits.
If you lift 4 days a week, do cardio 6 days a week, eat right (The Man Diet), and do this for a year, you're going to look and feel completely different.
But, it's the same for our work, our family life, our faith, our knowledge, our wisdom, and any other area of life we want to improve on.
Go big, as in, be intense and ambitious in what you attack, but go small by identifying the habits that will help you become who you need to become to create and build what you're trying to build.
Task 3: Write down your 5-10 year goal in each game. This is essentially 'winning' the game. In your health, for example, it's VO2max, or deadlift numbers, or whatever. Then shrink each game down to a week, and to a day. What habits do you need on a daily basis? What do you need to have achieved at the end of every week.
Risk. Run. Repeat.
Back to urgency. In life, as we age we begin to feel like 'this is it', this is who I am, and there's no sense in dreaming for more.
We accept carrying around an extra 20lbs because 'we've tried everything to get it off' (lies). We accept losing our temper, making dumb decisions.
We've spent our lives becoming who we are, rather than becoming who we could potentially be.
Now, that changes.
If there's one characteristic you can take into the new year that will completely change things, it's simply doing what you tell yourself you'll do.
That's it.
If you write down good habits, and do them, everything will change.
It's that simple. We'll have discouragement, tough times, and tribulation along the way, I mean, this is life, it ain't easy. But, if the habits are done daily, weekly, monthly, you'll win. In fact, it makes not winning as unrealistic as you may think winning is right now.
Take a day. Go through everything here. Get the urgency, be real with yourself, and create a plan.
No more of this b.s., living as a shell of who we can be.
Let's get after it.
Be Legendary,
Chad Howse
