The Importance Of Not Kicking The Can (Your Life) Down The Road.

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I'm absolutely, positively sure that anyone who has been alive long enough has at some point point in their life uttered the following or some iteration of the following phrases: "I'll do it tomorrow!" "I'll do it later on today!" We're all guilty of it at some time or another. When it comes to myself personally, and I'm sure that many of you can relate, but I have noticed that it is normally things that I'd rather not do that I tend to put off for another time. Another phrase of viewing this that many of you have probably heard of is "kicking the can down the road." Now I wasn't really aware of this saying till I heard various politicians and political pundits talking about it in regards to not addressing the trillions of dollars worth of debt that the United States is currently in. During the height of this issue of national debt, you had various politicians that would rather continue with the downward descent into debt rather than addressing the issue head on. Though the issue has seemingly taken a backseat to other matters, the downward spiral of spending more money that we're bringing in still exists. Now why do I bring all of this up some of you may wonder? Well from my perspective, we can almost compare our everyday lives to that of a politician in a sense. Most politicians will say just enough to get themselves elected. Then it seems that once they get elected into their position, they rarely make good on most the promises they make. However, they also do just enough to get you to vote for them again and again. I believe the same concept applies to us in various areas of our lives. Rather than addressing the important things in our lives that we'd do good to address as soon as possible, we often put these things off for another time. Just like I brought up the phrase of kicking the can down the road, our lives can be similar to the proverbial can, and we're just kicking it down the road without thinking of the consequences.

Back once again to hopefully bring you all some fresh game, it's your boy Brad H. coming through, and I'd like to welcome you all once again to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a space where I bring out my perspective on various topics that I think could be helpful towards helping us stay motivated. Hope all is going good and well for everyone out there, and that the new year has been treating you all fine thus far. Hopefully for those of you that have set those resolutions are staying on track and haven't broken them as of yet. So I'm going to bring some more football talk for my soapbox this week. I can't speak for anyone else, but boy have the last two weeks of the NFL Playoffs been a wild circus. We saw New England get knocked out in the first round, and the number one seeded Ravens go down in their first game. Both teams were taken out by the Tennessee Titans, a team that was considered to be one of the biggest underdogs. So we're now down to four teams for the conference championships. We got Tennessee taking on the Chiefs, and the 49ers going up against the Packers. I believe the Titans magic will end tomorrow at the hands of the Chiefs, but it also wouldn't surprise me in the least if they pull another upset. I really don't know what to think between Green Bay and the 49ers. I don't care for either team, but I would rather see the 49ers win since I have a close relative that has loved them for a long time. It is so hard to believe that the Super Bowl is only a couple of weeks away. It has definitely been an interesting season, and hopefully the games tomorrow continue that trend. So now that I've gotten on my soapbox for a bit, lets talk about the topic at hand on the importance of not kicking the can down the road.

Before I get more into why I believe it is of importance for us not to kick the can of life down the road in our lives, I want to preface this topic by saying that the "can" that I'll be referring to in regards to this topic is one that's subjective. It is up to us as individuals to define exactly what are the things in our lives that we're putting off now in favor of doing them later down the road. This is one of those things that you will have to evaluate in your own life. The examples that I plan on using may not be applicable for you personally, but I hope that they can be examples that we all can relate to in some capacity. Now I mentioned earlier how all of us are guilty of putting off things. One of the things I've noticed personally in regards to delaying things is that many of the things that we tend to delay are often things we'd rather not do in the first place. How many of you have taken a good look at your room and knew that it was due for a cleaning, but you just brushed it off and said to yourself that you'll do it tomorrow? There is also another, more emotional aspect of putting off things that affects us and that is fear. Yes, fear can play a huge factor in whether you kick the can down the road. There are just certain things in this life that we're afraid to do, but we know they have to be done if we're going to have peace in our lives. Both fear and slow poking it when it comes to doing the things we should are giant obstacles that many of us face.

Now when I talk about slow poking it as I referred to earlier, what is an example of this? I used the example of cleaning your room, but how about something that could be seen as being more urgent. Imagine a person that finds out that they are at risk for developing diabetes and in order to ward of getting it, they have to make some changes to how they eat. If this person lolly gags without taking the changes they have to make serious, the chances of coming down with the full blown disease will increase. Anything that has to do with regards to benefiting you from a health perspective isn't something that should be taken lightly. A person in this situation that doesn't take it serious is the personification of kicking the can down the road. When it comes to fear and kicking the can down the road, there are a number of examples that we could use. Imagine a situation where you've done something to wrong someone else, and you know you have to face them in order to rectify whatever you've done. You keep telling yourself that today will be the day you face them, but you continuously put it off because of the potential reaction you'll get from that person. Now being nervous or fearful in a situation of this nature is quite normal, but as with the slow poking example with the diabetes that I've given, nothing positive can really come from delaying any situation that should be addressed in a more timely manner. I believe this is where the importance of not kicking the can down the road comes into play.

So with all of that being said, why do I feel it is important to not kick the can down the road? From my own personal perspective on this topic, prolonging things that can be done today can often make whatever situation you're in worse later on down the road. I believe the downside of problems, whatever they may be is that they have the chance to fester and grow when they're not addressed in a timely manner. I mentioned earlier how the debt in the United States is out of control, but imagine a scenario where tackling the can of debt wasn't being kicked down the road. The debt likely wouldn't be at the level where it's at now, with it being so out of control that it probably can't be fixed without it affecting everybody. The same applies with the diabetes example I gave earlier. When it comes to the fear aspect of kicking the can down the road, it is best to just go ahead and face whatever it is you fear head on if possible. If you've wronged someone, it is best to go ahead and try and make it right as fast as you can. The longer you wait to do so, the greater the chances become where that person isn't willing to forgive you. There is a popular quote that many people in the health and fitness industry use. It goes; "Day one or one day, you decide." I believe this is a saying that could be applied to any area of life. Kicking the can of your life down the road only leads to bigger problems in the future. Though it may be hard to face issues head on at times, we have to work on doing so.

Well that's what I got for you all this week. I hope that some of you found it helpful and inspiring. This has been another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I am Brad H., and I'd like to thank you all once again for checking out my perspective. As always, if you have any comments to add, please feel free to do so in the comment section. You can also connect with me on Twitter if you'd like. I can be reach at the handle @BradrickH. I hope you all are having a great weekend so far, and continue to stick with those resolutions and goals that you've made this year. Have a great week ahead, and I'll see you all on the next post. Peace!

©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.

The Importance Of Maintaining A Steady Stride Towards Your Goals.

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Anyone that has set any type of goals for themselves knows that goal setting consists of both high and low points while we're aiming to achieve them. There are going to be times where you set a goal for yourself that works out exactly the way you planned it to. This type of achievement is what the majority of us look for when we set goals. We want whatever we're looking to do to work out on the first attempt. The other side of this is that there are going to be occasions where working towards a goal that you've set for yourself is going to come with stumbling blocks. These are the times when we find ourselves facing adversity towards reaching our goals. The tribulations that we face in these type of instances play a major role in whether we accomplish our goals or not. I dare say that depending on what kind of goals you set for yourself, the latter is likely the path that a good many of us will have to face. Another aspect of goal setting that I've pondered on recently is the aspect of speed. Some of you may wonder what exactly does speed have to do with setting goals for yourself? Not only does speed correlate with reaching our goals, it is often times one of the major driving forces in our lives. Various goals have different speeds at which they're reached. There will be some goals that can be reached very quickly, while there are some that are more time consuming. For clarity on the topic at hand for this week, I'm primarily coming from a perspective of the goals that require more time to reach. That being said, regardless of how long certain goals take to reach, from a mental aspect of viewing this, most of us are going to want to come out of the blocks fast. I personally see this as a potenially bad thing, which is why I believe that it is of importance for us to maintain a steady stride towards our goals.

HAPPY 2020 EVERYONE! This is your boy Brad H. coming at you all once again, and I'd like to welcome you all to another installment of 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! This is a space where I address various topics that I think about in my everyday life, and through the thoughts I have, I aim to put them into words that will hopefully help in keeping us motivated. I'd like to say thanks once again to the long time readers, and a big welcome to anyone that is reading for the first time. I hope that the new year has been treating you all well so far. So for my soapbox in this week's topic, I'm going give my thoughts on the NFL playoffs that are starting today. It sort of feels like déjà vu for me because I remember writing last year during Wild Card weekend, and the Houston Texans were playing first just like they are today. So we got the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills taking on each other first. Not sure who is going to win that one. I'm rooting for Houston, but I'm skeptical about their quarterback Deshaun Watson as of late. He hasn't been playing all that well in my opinion. Maybe I'm just a little bitter because I had him in one of my fantasy leagues. Next game is the New England Patriots vs. the Tennessee Titans. Normally we would predict the Patriots would win, but I predict the Titans to take this game. The Patriots offense has been terrible this year, and the Titans have been playing well for the past several weeks. Tomorrow we got the Vikings taking on the Saints in New Orleans. I believe the Saints got a huge chip on their shoulder after last season, and I think they win tomorrow. Finally for Wild Card weekend, we got the Eagles and the Seahawks squaring off. I don't like the Eagles, so I'm pulling for Seattle. I would give Seattle the edge, but the Eagles are like cats; they have many lives it seems. For those of you that are watching the NFL playoffs, what are some of your predictions? Feel free to leave that in the comment section. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, lets talk more about the importance of maintaining a steady stride towards your goals.

Before going into the importance of maintaining a steady stride in our various quests towards reaching our goals, I want to start off by saying that the main reason that I chose to bring this up as a topic is primarily due to the fact that we are officially in a new year. A new year is often viewed as a clean slate for a lot of people. I'm sure that many of you will be setting new goals for yourself this year, and my hope is that this topic can be used as a reference for us all in aiding us towards reaching those goals. Now I spoke in the preview of how speed plays a large role when it comes to our goals. The biggest reason why I feel that speed matters comes from the fact that different type of goals have different expectations for how long they will take to reach. You are going to have some goals that you can reach fairly quickly, maybe even in a single day depending on what you're trying to achieve that day. Then there the goals that are going to be more lengthy. These are the goals that could take weeks, months, and even years to accomplish. Now your quicker goals usually aren't as easy to quit on due to the fact that they often don't take long to reach. On the other hand, the more longer goals are much different because of the extended time they often take to reach. These more lengthy types of goals are the ones that will require you to maintain a steady stride if you want reach them.

For this section of the topic on maintaining a steady stride towards your goals, I'm going to use an example of the sprinter vs. the steady stride mindset when it comes to setting goals from my perspective. When you think of Olympic runners for example, they are often categorized as being sprinters or long distance runners. We're all aware that your sprinters generally run the shorter distances, which means they have to get out of the blocks fast in order to win the race. The long distance runners have to be fast also, but they have to pace themselves more towards the finishing their particular race. If they do not properly pace themselves during the long distance they have to run, they will gas out and probably end up not finish the race. The way that these two examples coincide with the idea of accomplishing goals is that just as goals are defined differently for us all, the approach that we have towards them is a key component to how we complete them. Now you would think that if you have a goal that you'd like to accomplish that could be considered to be long term in categorization of goals, wouldn't it benefit you more if you had the steady stride mindset?

So all of this brings us to the entire point of this topic, which is the importance of maintaining a steady stride towards your goals. I mentioned earlier how a goal that could be classified as one that could be achieved quickly would likely mean that the chances of quitting on it would be slimmer right? From my perspective on this topic, the primary reason I feel we have to maintain a steady stride towards our goals is because the longer the mission takes, the more your will and desire to finish it will be tested. What I'm about to say likely goes without saying, but I believe that if you want to increase the chances of completing a goal that you've set for yourself, you have to be able to stay consistent towards reaching it. When something seems impossible, or becomes insurmountable, the likelihood of quitting increases in my opinion. I once heard the great boxer Mike Tyson say that; "It all comes down to dedication and consistency." You have to be able to have the mindset of viewing goal setting as more of the steady stride mindset that I referred to in the running example. It's all about the long game, and you have to be able to not allow yourself to get too high or too low when it comes to anything that you're trying to achieve. As with pretty much anything in life, a balanced approach is required in order to maintain a proper handle on things. So for all of you that are goal setting to kick off this new year, define what your goals are first and foremost. Secondly, gauge the amount of time you think it will take to reach them. Finally, pace yourself towards those goals, and maintain a steady stride along the path. I believe that if we do these things and not cut any corners along the way, we will have no problem reaching our goals.

Well that's how we're going to kick off the year 2020 here on 'Brad H.'s Perspective'! I hope that this was a topic that was helpful to some of you there. I also hope that there was some meaning and understanding that could be taken away from it. Like always, I thank you all that stopped by and read. If you have anything that you'd like to ask or contribute to this topic or any of the previous topics that I've covered, please feel free to leave a comment. If you're on Twitter and would like to connect with me, you can reach me @BradrickH. Well Happy New Year to you all once again. Lets make 2020 one of the greatest and best years of our lives. Take care everyone, and have a great week ahead. See you all on the next one!

©2020 Bradrick H. All Rights Reserved.