Skip to main content

Happy New Year!



A man asked me yesterday if I had any New Year’s resolutions or maybe even some “revolutions” planned for 2021. I told him I try not to put off necessary changes in my life until January 1, so I didn’t really have any “new” New Year's resolutions that I was not already working on. But then I got to thinking, what would be a good “resolution theme” for 2021?  

 

Up until recent history, contributing was not really a choice. You contributed to the greater good of those around you, or you starved. You might have had a choice in your level of contribution, but it was a question of “How much?” rather than a binary yes or no. And if you wanted to have any semblance of security or comfort in your life, your level of contribution would need to be quite high. Contribution always preceded comfort.  


Such is no longer the case. Not only do we have a choice whether we want to contribute, but we can also choose comfort without the contribution. We can bypass contribution altogether and go straight to a life of ease. Now, that life will not be one of meaning and fulfillment, and you probably will not be happy, but you can have comfort and yet contribute little or nothing to others.  


Unfortunately, this is a choice many have made. They have decided to select comfort over contribution. And while it may be an easy decision in the moment, the downstream cost is devastating. 


Comfort or contribution? You may select neither, but you rarely get to choose both. So, what will it be? 

 

I think that is a good theme for 2021: weighing my decisions against comfort or contribution. When life gives me the choice of comfort or contribution in the year ahead, I hope to consistently choose the latter.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on
Post a Comment
Read more

Commitment

  You know what the problem is with a lot of goals and grand plans? They are mostly fueled by emotion rather than commitment. It is why most New Year’s Resolutions are long forgotten by now and many aspirations quietly fizzle out over time. True commitment is sticking with the effort even – if and especially when – the emotion has diminished or disappeared. Emotion can be a great initiator of action, like kindling on a fire, but it lacks staying power. Commitment is the logs that keep the fire burning long after the kindling is consumed. The butterflies after falling in love, the best intentions of waking up at 4:30am every day to work out after you join a new gym, the excitement of your first day on campus, even the sleep-deprivation induced euphoria of a new baby: all kindling. But it is commitment that keeps you working hard on the marriage twenty-three years after “I do.” It is what causes you to keep going when you do not want to make one more sales call, do one more presentat
Post a Comment
Read more

Glutton for Punishment

I’ve learned over the years that being comfortable can be a dangerous thing. I try to find paths to discomfort to push me out of my realm of “safety.” However, I have noticed my ability to develop comfort zones amidst discomfort. I’ve found ways to be comfortable in uncomfortable circumstances. I wonder, do I need to be stretched beyond those areas as well? One of the areas in which I have adapted to the discomfort is the gym. I don’t go to the gym to exercise, to get stronger or even to be healthier. It’s grown beyond that. Now, I go to the gym to clear my head by testing my will and resolve. I do it to see how hard I can push my limits and I strive to outwork everyone else there. I may not be the strongest, the fastest or the fittest. I may not lift the most weight or even do the most reps – I can’t control any of those variables – but I can control my effort. So one of my goals for each workout is to unleash more effort than anyone else at the gym. But along with this
Post a Comment
Read more