“Make at least one definite move daily toward your goal.” – Bruce Lee
It’s easy to criticise others.
It’s easier to sit outside a situation, than be in it.
Ironically, it’s easy to belittle someone else’s efforts without making any real effort ourselves.
The safe side of the ropes is an easier choice than being in the ring, truly baring something. It’s also a softer option.
It’s much harder to have skin in the game.
It takes guts to put something on the line. To put our work and ideas out there, with no guarantee they will gain any traction. To commit ourselves to competition, with no guarantees our hands will be raised in victory.
The Nobility of Applying Ourselves
There is risk attached to putting ourselves in the mix. There is also something that is earned in putting ourselves to the test. It’s where we will often learn most about ourselves. It’s where we grow. Sometimes it’s even where we define ourselves.
To test ourselves is to learn to trust in ourselves.
Putting ourselves to the test can take many guises. It could be a first public speaking engagement, it could be flying solo with a business idea, it could be signing up for a competition. It could involve testing ourselves physically or mentally (or both at once).
There is honour to be found in applying ourselves. There is respect to be found in trying to be the best we can be. There is reward to be found in the toil of striving to get better, little by little.
Our Choices Shape Us
The choice is ours to make.
We can live a passive life, never truly putting ourselves out there but willingly shooting down the efforts of others. We can live a life of itches never fully scratched. We can leave dreams left unchased.
Or we can commit ourselves to an all together different route.
We can commit to try harder, to do better, to be better.
We can bare something of ourselves to the world. We can put our skin firmly in the game. We can seek to make an impact in our own small, but significant, way.
**Note: This is a reworked post from a longer form piece originally written for Tiny Buddha