I’ve got a tattoo or two on my body. I found a tattoo artist when I was nineteen recommended to me by a good friend. He and some other friends had been tattooed by this guy and his work was amazing.
I’d seen plenty of marginal tattoos and some that were downright horrible. So when it came to getting my first tattoo, that was going to be with me for the rest of my life, I wanted it to be with someone who was good.
Over the next few years I got tattooed more than once with this particular artist. He really was amazing… but he wasn’t the nicest guy. In time I would start to weigh out in my mind the value of my time with him.
On one side having a good tattoo for the next fifty, sixty, or seventy years or on the other spending seven to nine hours at a time sitting in a tattoo shop with someone who seemed angry, discontent, and unable to connect with people.
I’ve come to realize that I never thought about being great at life when I was younger but good at something. A job, a sport, anything. I really wanted to be amazing and recognized for some particular talent.
I’m sure society taught me this. I received programming and imprinting similar to the rest of the world. Do your best and make sacrifices so that you can go far in your career.
What a horrible idea! I work with a lot of people that are some of the best in the world at what they do. They do things like make money, practice medicine, tech company CEO’s, make films, star in films, etc etc.
And… they’re hanging with me because none of us got the handbook on being good at life nor are most of them clear on what that really means.
When you have a horrible relationship with your kids or can’t figure out how to set aside enough time for your health, you’re struggling at life. When you drink too much and are having marriage issues, your career or talent isn’t what needs attention it’s your life.
Being good at life matters more than our professional pursuits and eventually we’re all going to have to face that. The problem is that we put it off (just for a short period of time) and figure we’ll get to it later. The bad habits of struggling at life get engrained though and the mystical land of “tomorrow” seems to not often be found.
The opportunity:
What relationship in your life do you want to improve?
What do you need to do in order to be more intimate in that relationship?
When will you start doing this?
Thanks for your time, have a great day!