The Big Picture by Tony Horton

Author:Tony Horton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-03-10T16:00:00+00:00

THE LOVING-IT METER

LEAVING IT

There’s a difference between doing something you don’t want to do because it achieves a higher goal and doing something you don’t want to do when there’s no good reason to do it in the first place.

In other words, if you don’t love it and it doesn’t serve your purpose, then you should leave it. Life is too short to be filled with unnecessary burdens—and all the cortisol you’re building up when taking on those burdens will only make it shorter. Taking on challenges is great, but if you’re adding stress to your life, you had better make sure there’s an endgame that’s worth it. If the light at the end of your tunnel isn’t filled with sunshine and double rainbows that you can reach within a reasonable, defined time frame—maybe you should get out of the tunnel.

Here’s a classic example of what I’m talking about: relationship drama. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall in love. When the honeymoon ends, boy and girl find themselves in constant conflict. Boy and girl break up. Boy and girl get back together. Over and over. Both boy and girl bend over backward to try to make one another happy, because they think they’re in love, and that enduring a little strife will be worth it in the long run.

But if boy and girl find that they’re making themselves (and each other, and everyone around them) unhappy, that they’re chronically stressed out because of the strain their relationship places on their lives, that the stress from their relationship is causing them to be less physically and mentally capable in other areas of their lives, what is the value in staying together? We know the effects of stress—when we’re doing things that we not only don’t love, but actually make us unhappy, anxious, and stressed out, we’re taking a huge toll on our health. And I can’t think of a single thing that justifies living in a state of stress and unhappiness indefinitely.

I’m all for the notion that “it’s worth it in the long run,” but not if it really isn’t. There’s no point in spinning your wheels in a bad relationship or a dead-end job—or in pursuit of an unattainable goal—if the payout isn’t worth it.

How do you know if this is the case? Ask yourself these three questions:

1. Am I making progress? When you look in the rearview mirror, there should be a lot of landscape back there. If you’re still where you were a year ago, something is very wrong.

2. Am I fulfilled? After a hard day of doing what you’re doing, you should be able to hit the sack knowing you did your best and forgot the rest.

3. Am I still loving it—at least a little bit? Even if it’s a tough job, it shouldn’t tear you apart to the point that the rest of your life stinks.

If you answered “no” to these questions, it might be time to reevaluate what you’re doing. How do you do that? I’m glad you asked! All you need to do is review chapters 2 and 3.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.