I'm serious. Just sit. And listen to the people around you.
That's exactly what I did today at our local Toastmasters. I just sat and I listened to the man giving the impromptu speech. The topic? Inspiration. He walked us through his words of wisdom, given to his children, and they were simply: aim higher, read, and follow your heart.
At face value these may seem simply cliché, but listen to the deeper messages within those tiny statements.
Aim higher as in don't just 'aim higher' now, but rather never stop aiming higher. Never stop growing. Always strive to stretch yourself, because the growth that follows is an incredible treasure. If would be boring if you were the same person you are now thirty years from now or even 10 years from now! Let yourself be challenged to grow.
Read—now not just reading to check a book off a list. For me, within the last few months, leaders, teachers, and people I admire have said reading is important. It's not just retention of the words in the book, but taking those words and applying them, molding them with your thoughts and perspectives, letting them move you or change you or educate you. The more you know, the more you can speak into people's lives and have meaningful opinions about things that matter.
Follow your heart. "The days are long, but the years are short," he quoted. Everybody in the audience nodded their heads in agreement. Why spend your energy and waste what time you have doing things that don't make you happy? Family, traveling, reading—whatever it may be, be intentional and do more of it. The time is now!
I have three short phrases of my own to add to his. Be a sponge. Take opportunities. See beyond the now. I've prayed to God to make me wiser. How does one become wiser? By soaking up everything. Learn from anyone, anything, everywhere. Treat every day like it's a learning experience.
The second one is a little more challenging for me. There are a lot of things in this world that I want to do. And there are a lot of times that friends can't make it to whatever it is, and in the past that's meant that I just don't go. So I've vowed to take opportunities of things I want to do regardless of if anybody else wants to do them with me. Classes, webinars, events, trips, activities—you name it. I'm challenging myself to do the things I've wanted to do, but haven't because someone else didn't partner with me on the experience
See beyond the now. This last one can really tie into the first two. It is okay to live in the present. I think you should. But if there's a learning opportunity that comes your way now that isn't necessarily applicable, think about its value in the future. Will it be useful? Yes? Maybe? Then take it. Look beyond what is currently in front of you to better yourself.
Together, those six phrases have one underlying concept. Never stop learning. I like the quote below because I think it's easy to get comfortable where we're at, but ultimately we're cheating ourselves out of life if we don't grow or be challenged. We know less about who we are when we don't push ourselves.
