iaming new year thoughts triumph

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“Aim above morality.

Be not simply good, be good for something. “

Henry David Thoreau

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Well.

 

 

It is New Year’s Eve 2015.

 

day new dawn hopeIf I read one more “how to be happy in the New Year” article I am gonna not only be unhappy but pretty grumpy.

 

 

First.

 

I have a feeling that anyone who has to be told how to be happy is unlikely ever to actually be happy.

 

 

Second.

 

I am not sure happiness is a task … heck … even an objective … it is an outcome of actions not an action in and of itself.

 

 

Anyway.

 

 

The perfect formula for just about anything good in life, and business, is when you can inextricably tie strategy to tactics and tactics to strategy. Basically … if you can embed your strategy into each and every task or action that means everything you do is contributing to the objective you aspire to.

 

 

The problem with most new year resolutions or ‘things to do to make the new year successful’ lists are either

 

<a> the objective is so frickin’ big that it makes the success % so low it’s depressing to even think about <after the initial elation of ‘thinking big’>, or

 

<b> the tactics are so pedantic and uninspiring <declutter your Life, call a friend, make time for yourself, smile more, etc.> it diminishes the “bigness” that goals, dreams & objectives could, and should, be.

 

 

That is where Thoreau offers us the perfect New Year’s resolution.

 

spring new beginning differnece

The objective is to aim above morality.

 

The strategy is to be the best you can be <all the time>.

 

The tactic, the task, is doing the right thing <all the time>.

 

 

 

These are real actions someone can take. No ‘steps to success’ but rather simply steps which embrace and embody your objective.

 

 

Look.

 

If you are aspiring to be happy or happier then you surely should, maybe even need, to ask yourself some very serious questions about your Life and what steps you are taking each and every day.

 

Once again … not milestone challenges but actual behavioral type steps.

 

 

But maybe even more importantly is to better understand WHY you are taking the steps.

 

 

I imagine I suggest this because it is the “why” that will keep you going on those days that things aren’t going so well. And, I promise you, not all days will go well.

 

 

Oddly, this whole discussion <monologue> makes me think of something Nixon said on one of his speeches in 1970 as I think about HOW we should meet the challenges of a new year.

 

 

He said that the United States could no longer … “conceive all the plans, design all the programs, execute all the decisions, and undertake all the defense of the free nations of the world”.

 

He noted that other nations had to do more too.

 

He also noted that we needed to … “discipline our occasional impetuosity.”

 

 

Well.

 

Think about all of that on a personal level.

You just cannot conceive all plans, design all the programs and undertake all the actions … and be successful. You do need others to assume their responsibility <and you not assume responsibility for them>. You do need to curb the occasional impetuosity.

 

 

You have to because while Life offers us a very difficult assignment it is rarely a unique one. There are multiple similarities between each and every one of us.

In carrying out our assignments we will do some things well, others not so well, and … well … others just badly … and sometimes encounter some occasional impetuosity <which we should seek to discipline>.

 

Yet.

 

I can almost guarantee this one thing <assuming you aim above morality> … later on in Life … years after this year passes, with the perspective that time affords, both the calamity of the bad and the praise we drown ourselves in for the things done well will inevitably seem obviously excessive.

 

I can guarantee in the next year we will all sometimes be brilliant, sometimes be foolish, sometimes be lucky and sometimes be terribly unlucky.

 

 

But all of the things I just typed are … well … things. Tactics implemented in everyday Life which will be successful & unsuccessful in and of itself.

 

And, yet, if we were to aim above morality within each tactic we will be successful.

 

 

I would also suggest to aim above morality means you set aside the societal norms of measurement of success & failure. No longer do you hesitate with prejudice, ignorance, selfishness or any societal pressure placed upon you.

change world and new

 

You, all alone, take actions with the objective to aim above morality.

 

And in taking actions with this objective in mind we are capable of our best each & every moment. We become a powerful force for what is good & right. We become a force of one for … well … all the ones.

 

 

And I also imagine you become a powerful force with regard to your own health & wellbeing.

 

 

All I know is that once I saw Thoreau’s quote I knew what I would be doing in 2016 – aiming above morality in all that I do.

 

 

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“In spite of the prejudice, ignorance, selfishness and all the other impediments that drag us downwards, there are billions of people who want a better, brighter life for themselves and their descendants – who want to be free from fear and want.

 

When combined with the foresight and ingenuity we’re capable of in our best moments, this is a powerful force for good that congenital pessimists are far too hasty to dismiss.”

 

——–

Adam lee

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Written by Bruce