I’ve always said that willingness comes first. You can’t be brave if you’re not willing to ask difficult questions. You can’t be strong if you’re not willing to accept where you are, exactly as you are now. You can’t be principled if you’re not willing to do the work many believe others should be doing.
Over the last ten years I have been learning all manner of lessons from lots of different experiences and people, I’ve made decisions that work in my favour but I’ve felt rather rudderless in the face of my accumulated knowledge and wisdom.
It’s a process, we’ve all heard it over and over. There’s only a handful of men who are really moving the needle and they face enormous ridicule and hostility for it, enormous like you couldn’t even comprehend.
I know at some point I’ve written about having a solid sense of self, vital but that will only come when you’re willing to accept your unique direction of travel. It’s the one thing we always know is where we want to go, our personal mission yet we allow circumstances to get in the way.
You must remain true to what you want to do otherwise you are somebody else’s tool. Strength, virtue and progress are forged when you refuse to be thrown from your path.
In the book I am reading, Iron John by Robert Bly, there’s a fantastic phrase that has stuck with me of circumstances “puncturing my sense of grandeur.”. You are born big and it is that which we must remember. You were born for great things and you achieve them solely from great actions.
Walk your path.