BRAVE'S RULE: TAKE IT SLOW

RULE 7: THOU SHALL NOT HURRY

“The plan of the diligent lead to profit as surly as haste leads to poverty.”- Proverbs 21:5

We have all heard the old age adage that patience is a virtue. Having virtuous qualities is certainly brave, not to mention being patient with yourself and others is the only way to be successful, calm and composed. Composure is the definition of a brave face. Being patient means, being able to endure, and wait without becoming annoyed and upset. Irritable people are not cool, they are dickheads. Not to mention a lack of patience will lead to erratic behavior. Bouncing from place to place like pinball does not demonstrate composure.

To be BRAVE we have to learn to wait and take our time. We have to learn to be still.

I once cracked open a fortune cookie, that said, “He who hurries cannot walk with dignity.” This message has always stuck with me. It seemed to resonate on a very personal level because I can be a very spontaneous creature. I do not always proceed with caution. Being impulsive can lead you astray and put you in harm’s way.

Dwelling on the past is a waste of time. Fantasizing and living in a day dream is a waste of time. Spending time with the wrong people is the biggest waste of time. We have a limited amount of time and we have to be careful how we spend it. Even if our goal is to be a film director, it’s a waste of time to watch every crap movie ever made. Managing our time well is about quality not quantity.

Having a social life is only important if you actually like the people you are around. Hanging out with anybody will make you lost and lose your time fast. You have to be selective with all your relationships, not just romantic. If someone is your friend it should be an honor and vice versa because it means they willingly choose to spend their precious time with you. People could do anything with their time, and they certainly don’t have to hang out with you, so feel honored when they do and learn to value other people’s time as well as your own.

The bottom line is, don’t use a lack of time to make excuses for yourself. You have time to accomplish and experience what you want. Don’t use a lack of time as an excuse not to get things done. I often hear people say, “I’m too old to go to college.” I hear people in their mid-20s say this. They complain they are unhappy with their job, and they would like to be a nurse or a teacher, but it takes too much time to go back to school.

This type of thinking is illogical. It takes 2-4 years to get a college degree, which could change your life and salary. Its mind boggling that instead of taking four years to develop the skills necessary to work at your dream job, you would rather work at a job you hate till the day you die. An apathetic spirit can live a mediocre life at best. An apathetic spirit could be given an extra twenty years of life and still get nothing done.

Remember life is not about the quantity, it’s about the quality.

8 WAYS TO MILK IT FOR ALL IT’S WORTH

1.)  Know it takes time: The main reason we don’t create the life we want is because we don’t stick with an idea long enough for it to fully manifest. To become a practicing doctor can take a decade or more.

2.)  Don’t give up: Quitters never win and winners never quit. We can’t win a basketball game if we walk off the court.

3.)  Be sure of what you want: Doing anything great in life requires absolute certainty. We cannot wander from our paths and expect to arrive to our destinations.

4.)  Enjoy your family and friends: It’s easy to get caught up in the rat race, but at the end of the day what matters is the people you love. Your ambitions can wait a day. The birth of your niece can’t. There are moments we will never get back, value those moments.

5.)  Relax: God built in a Sabbath day for a reason. We all need to kick back and relax from time to time.

6.)  Take walks: Walks are therapeutic, for the mind and body. It’s a slow paced activity that allows you take in the scenery and notice things we never noticed before. Walking helps us to make new discoveries locally. Besides, humans don’t always use their legs enough in the modern world. Between sitting at the office, and sitting on our way to work and sleeping, we might be awake, but we are rather inactive.

7.) Stop and smell the roses: The world is full of beauty. You will miss a lot if you rush through life..

8.) Don’t be short with people: If someone is trying to talk to you, give them a few minutes of your time. Of course this rule doesn’t apply to strangers at night.