Despite the fact that I condemn others for the disappointments they caused me, I have come to realize that I disappoint myself more often than others get to disappoint me. Sometimes I even disappoint myself when I give others a chance to disappoint me, though I condemn others more than I condemn myself for disappointing me. By being soft on myself and harsh on others, I end up being harsh on the lesser devil (others) and lenient on the worse devil (myself). In this way, my biases make it less likely that my goals will come true as fast as I would wish they be true.

Several times have I found myself beginning to do something I wanted to do and then another thing comes up. Circumstances force me to either drift my attention from what I intended to do or between what I wanted to do and what I now have to do. And I, therefore, end up doing less than I would have intended to do.

I have therefore learned to become an artist of my life, practicing what I once learned (thanks to Napoleon Hill):

I am Master of my fate and captain of my soul

Not so long ago did I realize that more often than not, am a better slave to the goals/interests of others than I am a slave to my own goals/interests. Someone may wonder how I came to such a conclusion. It’s simple: your operating currencies are three: your time, your focus and your resources. You use these three to move from where you are to where you want to be (to reach your goals). I start the day with objectives to fulfill such as deadlines. Then I meet people and unforeseen circumstances. It’s these unintended events that end up derailing me from my actual goals and objectives. Things that are urgent to others but not necessarily important to me.

When you change how you look at things, the things you look at change

People and environment have influence over your self-image, passions, hopes, and habits. This means that you need to choose the people and the places you consider relevant to what you want n where you want to be. For instance, I have been practicing the art of keeping being a master of my fate and captain of my soul for a while now. One method I have found to work towards enabling me to get things done when I need them done is the act of keeping the main thing the main thing. I do two things to keep the main thing the main thing: stepping back from the overwhelming tasks to get a clearer view of stuff so that I can choose what is important and necessary; and letting go of things, people, and relationships that no longer add meaningfully to my goals journey. The second one about letting go is not easy yet it has given me more peace and room to improve my productivity.

Getting things when you want them done is an art and an adventure of its own kind; to achieve the things you want to achieve with minimal stress, inconveniences, and distractions. It gives you an opportunity to practice living deliberately, an opportunity to choose based on how you want life and who you want to become. I hope you are able to actualize your dreams by leading your life to reach your goals.