47
No, this is not about the presidential election for the 47th president of the U.S.A.
I wanted to reflect on my 47th year on this planet as today is my birthday.
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In the past 11 years, I have:
- Gotten married
- Own a beautiful home
- Written a book
- Started my first novel (yes, it will be finished soon!)
- Been a podcast guest, once with the Omni Show (a longtime favorite), and once with iPad Pros
- Been a workflow guest on one of my favorite sites
- Raised 4 beautiful little dogs (R.I.P., Bobby 🐾)
- Gotten (a bit) more patient
- Realized that failures are a learning process.
None of this would have been the case had I not gotten sober on May 17th, 2013. I decided that I wanted my life to change and thanks to the help of supportive family and friends, I am here, and a better man today. I have lost friends along the way to the disease of alcoholism and though those were tough to endure, as my father in law says "You are made of steel".
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That is a very kind statement. I do feel that way.
One foot in front of the other, day by day, we can incrementally make changes in our lives that put "the future us" in a good spot.
This is short message to say: if you think you can, you can. Take the next action (thank you, GTD that you can physically, visibly see yourself doing that will get you closer to your goal. Too often we can take the easy way out, when the real work is just not that difficult when it is just about putting one foot in front of the other.
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Make that call.
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Run one more mile.
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Practice for 30 more minutes each day.
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I remember that I just had to stay sober for one meal, then one day, then one week, etc. If you can measure results like I did, you can get there. The good news is that habits beget results, and if you measure your habits daily as needed, your results will present themselves.
Ok, I know I am sounding like I want to be some sort of guru or speaker, and that is not my intent. If you are struggling with a problem, whether light or heavy in consequences when not performing on that problem, just take it one step at a time.
Godspeed.