I know life is too complex to be reduced to a few bullet points of simple advice. That kind of thing usually bothers me. But sometimes you just need something quick and simple to hold on to. So here are a few bullet points for life that will help you change your thinking and take some pressure off…
- Be broadly generous. Give, and give to many causes and people. Maybe you can’t give money, then give time and effort. Being generous is never a bad investment. It will pay off.
- Sometimes things are just the way they are. Don’t read something into everything. Sometimes there’s no underlying motive, or vendetta, or personal message. It’s just the way it is.
- Don’t wait for everything to be just right before you do what needs to be done. Conditions are rarely ever perfect. If that’s what you’re waiting on, you’ll never get started. Just start. That momentum will help you move through the imperfect conditions.
- You won’t always know or understand what God is doing. Get use to it. When you’re down the road, you’ll be able to look back and see it. But sometimes…in the moment…you just have to be OK with not knowing.
- Don’t get locked into just one thing. Try out and invest in different things. When you put all your eggs in one basket, the chance of success decreases and the risk of loss increases. When you diversify, you improve the odds of being successful.
- Whether you’re young or old, enjoy every day and every thing you have. This is the best way to reduce regret. Just remember…not every day will be good, and you won’t always have what you want.
Again, no simple list of bulleted advice will be the “end-all-be-all” list for a life. But incorporating these bullet points for life will begin to change the way you look at life and take some of the pressure off. It’s a good place to start.
On another level…
I didn’t just come up with the above list. It comes straight out of the book of Ecclesiastes chapter 11. Check it out and see if you can find where each point is located.
Which of the above bullet points is the most difficult for you? What have you done to try to change that? Leave a comment and start a conversation.
Copyright © 2014 Bret Legg
Some of us really need the bullet points!
Thank you for this!
I struggle with waiting for the perfect time to make decisions and changes.
I am afraid I will make a bad decision or a wrong decision that could possibly have huge ramifications that I might not be able to fix. At the same time that makes me feel stuck. Are there any good guidelines on knowing how to make good or right decisions… with out waiting for conditions to feel right?
I think the key is not in making “good” or “right” decisions, but in making the best decision you can. In other words, you need to gather info, ask questions, weigh pros & cons, etc. BUT…you can never have all the info. You can never know all the questions to ask. And you’ll never be able to eliminate all the cons. There will always be some amount of unknown and uncertainty, So you make the best decision you can make in the moment, and then keep moving forward. This is probably not as cut and dried as you would like it, but it never will be. Just do the best you know to do, and as you keep doing this, you “best” will keep getting better.