Video transcription
Albert Einstein apparently said that the single most important decision that humanity faces is whether or not we believe that the universe is friendly. I remember when I first heard that & thought “that’s a clever question”.
But I think there are better questions for humanity. In fact I have two that I think are better, as well as being more practical and relevant to our day-to-day lives. And they are “what is important to us today?” and “are we going to take responsibility for making this so?”.
If the answer to both of these questions is yes then there is an important implicit third question. And that is whether we believe in our ability to make it so; to create a day that satisfies our sense of what is important to us. And I think the only honest answer to that question is “I don’t know”.
Because the gap between the life we have, and the habits that have shaped it, and a life that has more of what is important to us is not trivial. If it was then we can just settle for what we already have. And if we are the ones stepping up to take responsibility for making it so then we clearly have some work to do. Because if we already had the capability then we would have already created it.
I fundamentally believe that in general the lives we live in are largely a reflection of our strength and skillfulness in what you might “life building”. In the same way that any craftsperson develops over time the capabilities that enable them to master their craft, so too can we develop capabilities that enable us to master the shaping of our life. As you know I call that self authoring.
The promise of a life that contains more of what is important to us is simply the amalgamation of a number of smaller pieces. And each of those pieces are just another answer to the question “what is important to me?”. And when you bring the answer to all of those questions together in your life and make them so then you are living a life which nourishes you and in which you flourish. And there is only one way to do this, and you already are. You are building a practice.
It might be as simple as taking your dog for a walk every day. But hidden inside of that everyday simple practice is something much more profound. Because you can’t bring more of what is important to you into your life without also developing something new in yourself. Every time you practice you not only take a positive step forwards in bringing about what is important to you, but you also grow your self authoring capability. Practice pays out twice. It is THE fundamental process of creating a life that you love and which makes you feel proud of yourself.
Thank you for joining me on this Smartstart program. This is me doing what is most important to me in my life. If I could wish for you just a single thing, it is this. To gift you whatever extra faith you need in yourself in order for you to believe in your ability to author a life you cherish. Go well.