Suddenly I'm awake. Cruelly thrown from a pleasant dream back into reality. I listen for moment, greeted by the peaceful silence broken only by my best friends quite breathing. I wonder what woke me, but I quickly dismiss the thought and try to sleep. Given a few more seconds. I would have fallen back into a wonderful dream but am interrupted by a small cry. I smile, now understanding what woke me. A second cry echos through the house. There is movement behind me, and I glance back at Autumn who is beginning to sit up. She smiles and mouths that she will take it this time. Gratefully I collapse back on the bed and listen to Autumn's footsteps as she leaves the room to take care of our young child. Sleep is impossible now. As I lye in bed, my thoughts wander back to my teenage years when I believed this day would never come. It's a little frightening. They say a few years is such a long time, but it really isn't. I think about everything that has happened since I left my parents home. Going to college, getting a job, serving an LDS mission, having a family. None of this I expected to happen so quickly. But it did.
Lately I feel like my age has really caught up with me. I am beginning to realize the person I want to become in the next five or six years. This is exciting and slightly scary. For my Personal Leadership Class we are writing snapshots of our lives in the near future. What I have written here is a short excerpt from that snapshot.
Currently, I feel like I have been surviving, focusing specifically on the the now. When I grow older I want to go to college, serve an LDS mission, and have a family with my best friend. All of this is defiantly possible, but accomplishing it will require me to shift my focus from the now, and begin making an effective plan for the future.
Abraham Lincoln said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Planning is like sharpening our axe. You can have the strongest arm, and the perfect swing, but nothing will be accomplished with a dull hatchet.
We all have dreams to become someone great, and we all have hopes to achieve them. But few of us actually have a sharp axe. People say, "I'm going to become like Steve Jobs when I grow older" but make no efforts or plans to accomplish that dream. Ask yourself, do I know the how part of the equation or am I vainly dreaming?
Currently, I feel like I have been surviving, focusing specifically on the the now. When I grow older I want to go to college, serve an LDS mission, and have a family with my best friend. All of this is defiantly possible, but accomplishing it will require me to shift my focus from the now, and begin making an effective plan for the future. Abraham Lincoln said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Planning is like sharpening our axe. You can have the strongest arm, and the perfect swing, but nothing will be accomplished with a dull hatchet.
We all have dreams to become someone great, and we all have hopes to achieve them. But few of us actually have a sharp axe. People say, "I'm going to become like Steve Jobs when I grow older" but make no efforts or plans to accomplish that dream. Ask yourself, do I know the how part of the equation or am I vainly dreaming?
No comments:
Post a Comment