First Gentleman with Wilson Orhiunu
Email: babawill2000@gmail.com Twitter: @Babawilly
The most important thing in our solar system must be the sun and it shines every day. The next essential is gravity which never goes on leave. It seems that life as we know it is maintained by daily occurrences.
The human body has its own must do list. Breathing, the heart beats and the brain’s functioning are non-negotiable; not only daily but with every passing second of the day.
For many years I have always thought that some activities like reading or exercising should not be done daily for a break helps to refresh the body and then one could return to the arduous activity with refreshed zeal. Prayer was the only thing to be offered daily.
I now think differently. Yes, rest is needed but that is what sleep was created for. Anything worth doing is worth doing daily.
One of the hindrances to doing things daily is the lack of belief in the additive nature of small steps. It might not be possible to read for five hours on some days. Demands on our time might only leave us with 10 minutes available for study time. Because there is a preconceived idea that study must involve being shut away in the library for many hours, those with only a few minutes feel there is no use in bothering. However, it all adds up. Small doses can be cumulative and serve to keep us on track.
It is also a training of the resolve to turn up daily no matter our feelings or perceived level of strength. Soon the habit of turning up starts to overcome all the opposing forces working against us.
Weight lifters who train daily do not do the same exercises at each session. They warm up and focus on a particular body part such as arms, back or legs. Some days are devoted to stretching, massages and relaxation which is also an important part of the training programme. Learning about nutrition and exercise technique is important as is hanging out with like-minded people and exchanging tips on gym equipment, apparel, motivational music or motivational books.
Great mansions are built with little bricks set out according to the architect’s plan daily. Rainy, snowy, hot or windy days are all working days. Doing small actions daily usually will not give gratification to the inexperienced. Those who have built mansions before might take great joy at finishing small parts of the work every evening but the young bricklayer might not get the big picture. However, if he stays close to the experienced individuals and lasts the course, he soon learns that it all adds up in the end.
Women who have had babies have no problems with this kind of thinking. The womb cannot be detached the way you remove a car stereo when leaving the car. A pregnant womb is taken everywhere and the weight is borne every hour of the day. The growth is slow and steady and the inexperienced might feel things are not moving fast enough. However, while the baby grows, it also needs to be accommodated within the abdomen which stretches gently so as not to kill the mother with pain.
All dreams need to be accommodated and this takes time. This is where midwives and mentors come in.
Everyone has goals they profess but it takes time to change our daily actions to align with what we profess.
Ask your average person what is most important to them and they say the usual. Faith, family, health, career and making a difference in the world. These important ideals take time and need to be delved into in small steady doses daily.
No one will list chocolate, drugs, Facebook, sports, Netflix, Twitter, sleeping or gossiping as important. However, when you analyse how time is used after subtracting sleeping, working and commuting time, you find that the time usage does not match our professed ideals. Simply put the bulk of our time is not used for what we say is most important to us.
Change
Those wanting to change their present existence into a world where their dreams come true would need to develop some faith. Big dreams and lofty plans living side by side with a big Netflix habit would need faith to overcome. Habits do not die overnight and a co-existence might be the best option initially. Five minutes devoted to your dream daily would introduce you to a new habit and with time the growth in this new activity chokes out the old habits.
It might be that one intends to start an exercise programme and “has no time”.
The thing to ask is “what do I do daily?”
“Is there a way to piggy back this new activity onto an existing activity?”
For instance, a five minute YouTube exercise video can be watched daily while sitting down on the loo. So long as this continues, the action of exercising for five minutes a day would start sooner or later.
I am sure you have heard this before but here is my version:
Be careful what you hear for it becomes your thoughts
Be careful what you think for it would become your words
Be careful what you say for it becomes your actions
Be careful what your actions are for they would become your habits
Be careful about your habits for they become your character
Be careful about your character for it becomes your destiny
Be careful about your destiny for it becomes your legacy.
