SERVE YOURSELF
Acts of service are one of the most obvious and impactful ways we show someone we care. It’s an intentional choice we make - usually one that involves some level of sacrifice, discomfort, or inconvenience - with something more than our own desires in mind. Acts of service are the evidence that a person is important to us, and evidence that we’re willing to go out of our way to prove it.
I want to challenge and encourage you today to recognize someone important in your life who deserves that kind of intentional effort and attention. Someone I’m confident you care deeply about and someone you desperately want to see succeed. Someone who will truly appreciate the sacrifice you’ve chosen to make and someone who’ll be better because of it. Today I want to challenge and encourage you to consider what it looks like to more effectively serve yourself.
I should clarify that I’m not talking about serving the you that’s sitting here reading along today. I’m talking about making the choice to serve future you. Those are two different people - current you and future you - with two totally different desires for what today looks like and for what you choose to do with it. Current you might be here today weighed down by the burden of responsibility, fatigued at the idea of giving your all to what's in front of you, and tempted to settle for something less than your best. I bet current you’s got a long list of enticing excuses, right here and right now, that could justify why today just isn’t your day.
Future you, on the other hand, really wants you to get up, get to work, and make today count. Future you knows that today matters, and that your effort today makes life easier tomorrow. Future you knows that delaying the work only makes it harder, and only makes you weaker. Future you knows that his or her success is dependent upon the decisions you make here today.
So the question is, which you are you committed to serving? One of the most obvious ways to tell is by examining your level of discipline. Discipline can be defined a number of ways, but it's really, simply choosing to do what you don’t want to do today, so you can do what you want to do tomorrow. In reality, discipline is the ultimate act of service to your future self. It’s an intentional choice you make - usually one that involves some level of sacrifice, discomfort, or inconvenience - with more than your current desires in mind. It’s the evidence that your future self is important, and evidence that you’re willing to go out of your way to prove it.
In the same way, a lack of discipline today is a form of selfishness toward your tomorrow. It’s evidence that to you, the big, important things you say you want to do aren’t actually all that big or all that important. It’s also evidence that you don’t understand the harsh reality of authentic achievement. Among other things, authentic achievement requires you to work, even on (and maybe especially on) the days you really don’t feel like it. It requires you to prioritize what you want most over what you want now. It requires you to ignore the excuses and to make today count.
Authentic achievement requires you to recognize that future you will be here before you know it, either appreciating the difficult choice you decided to make today or cursing the valuable opportunity you chose to waste. So muster up the discipline it takes to make that winning choice, even if you don't feel like it. Do it as an act of service to your future self - as evidence that that person is important to you, and evidence that you're willing to go out of your way to prove it. Tomorrow you'll be glad you did.