Saturday, September 22, 2012

Reposition Yourself

The Jogger

As the story goes, there was once a jogger in a small town. Each day this jogger made his way past a tiny green house. On the porch of this house sat the owner, along with his old dog. On one particular day, as the jogger made his way towards the house, he noticed that the old dog was howling, as if he were experiencing a great deal of pain and agony.

The jogger continued towards the house, and as he drew closer, sure enough, the howls grew stronger. The jogger was disturbed by the sound of the dog howling, but he was equally stunned by the fact that the owner sat reading his paper, and appeared to be completely oblivious to the fact that his dog was projecting all of this noise.

The jogger decided to break away from his afternoon run, to make his way over to the house, and to investigate the situation. As the jogger approached the porch, the home owner looked up from his newspaper and asked, "May I help you?" "Why is your dog howling in pain," the jogger asked? "Because he's sitting on a nail," the owner replied." "Well why doesn't the dumb dog get up and sit someplace else," said the jogger? "Because it's not hurting him bad enough. When it gets to the point where it hurts him bad enough, then he'll reposition himself," the owner replied.

Real Life Application

Many of us operate just as that howling dog. We show up to the office ticked off on a daily basis. We curse, rant, and post angry outbursts on Facebook. We are impatient with our spouses, as well as our children.  We call our friends and bring them down, by dumping all of our negativity on them. Then we drink, party, smoke, and bury ourselves in television, in efforts to separate ourselves from reality.

We waste our days mourning over past mistakes. We have a very general idea of the lives that we would like to live, and of the things that we would like to accomplish; but we approach each day with lazy attitudes, and with the belief that others are to blame for the circumstances in our lives.

A Personal Story

Years ago I found myself in this same position.  I was a seven time college drop out. I was working for poverty wages. I hated myself. I hated my life. I hated my family. I hated the WORLD! I blamed my parents. I blamed God. I walked around each day TICKED OFF, and COMPLETELY dissatisfied with my life! I was broke! I was angry! I was pathetic! I was hopeless!

I finally reached a point where the nail that I was sitting on (laziness & lack of personal accountability) pained me to the point where I was ready to REPOSITION myself.  I can remember the particular day very vividly. I was locked in the restroom of my house, staring into a mirror, and talking to myself. I decided at that moment, that I would no longer settle for the miserable condition, and the pain that I had grown accustomed to living with.

I returned to the local university, 61 credits shy of my Bachelor's degree. My previous cumulative grade point average had been a pathetic 1.66. I had a full-time job, and I was also working part-time in a restaurant during the evenings. Yet with all of these obligations, I maintained a 3.8gpa, while completing my studies, and earning my degree.

From there, I landed a new full-time position with a major corporation, and I enrolled in graduate school. I resigned from my evening restaurant job, and started a new evening job as an Adjunct Business Professor at the local community college. I maintained a 3.7gpa in grad school, while earning my Master's degree. Upon concluding that degree, I acquired a position as an Adjunct Business Professor at two local universities.

As a result of my decision to accept responsibility for the circumstances in my life, today my annual salary is more than three times the amount that it was prior to my decision to REPOSITION MYSELF.  Please understand that in no way, shape, nor form am I sharing this with you to boast or to brag of my personal accomplishments. In fact, the purpose of my sharing this story, was to prepare you for the challenge that I will be sharing with you in the final portion of this particular blog entry.

The Challenge

I would like to encourage you to take a personal inventory of your life tonight. Examine your relationships, health, spirituality, finances, marketability, etc. As you examine each area of your life, I would like for you to answer each of the following questions:

     * What is my current status?
     * Am I happy with my current status?
     * What would it take for me to improve my current status?
     *Am I willing to do whatever it takes to improve my current status?

Once you have answered each of these questions, I would like for you to make a decision and a commitment.  DECIDE whether or not you are able to pay the price that is necessary to reposition yourself.  COMMIT to your decision.

If the answer is NO, then at this point I would like for you to COMMIT to living the rest of your life on that nail, and I would like for you to knock off the howling, yelling, anger, complaining, and depression, because YOU are solely responsible for your circumstances, and it is COMPLETELY unfair for you to punish the world around you, due to your own neglect.

If the answer is YES, then at this point I would like for you to COMMIT to creating the life that you have envisioned for yourself, your kids, and your future. I would like for you to release the past, and everything that came along with it. Today is a new day, and with this day, YOU are taking over the controls of your life, and YOU are GOING to REPOSITION yourself, which will enable you to create the quality of life that you deserve.

God bless, and I will see you AT THE TOP!



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