001. Now and Never
Why I decided to start today
100 days after I challenged myself to express 100 Naked Words as a daily practice, I’m at zero. Zero for a lot of good reasons, yet none good enough. Everyday, a new reason. So instead of 100 Naked Words in 100 days, I’ve got 100 days of new excuses and zero sympathy for myself.
I allowed myself to accept that not following through on what I’ve committed to myself was somehow justifiable. I thought it was honorable to extend late nights and early mornings to meet deadlines for clients and help people with their things at the expense of keeping my word with myself.
In The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz tells us about the first Toltec agreement:
Be impeccable with your word.
That is, let your word be without sin. Do not allow your word to go unfulfilled. Do not allow the words you speak to harm or injure anyone. The first and most important person, he says, is you.
How can you keep your word with other people if you cannot keep your word with yourself? How can you use words and commit your words to the action of helping other people when you are not fulfilling the actions that will actually help you?
I have to say no to more things, so that I can really focus delivering the most value to those things which I’m currently committed. I’m a big plate kinda guy, but I also don’t like my food to touch. These things are not unrelated.
As someone who perpetually dreams big dreams and casts large visions for the future, I’ve found myself in the mirror saying,
You cannot accomplish big goals without other people. Most people will not help you achieve your goals if they don’t believe in you. They won’t believe in you, if you don’t believe in yourself. You can’t truly believe in yourself unless you keep your own word to yourself. Therefore, following through on commitments you made to you is the foundation of all personal achievement.
Most of people haven’t stopped to ponder the relationship between Now and Never. Most of us look at those two words as a paradox. I’d like to think of them in parallel. In some what of a duality.
If I do this now, I’ll never need to wonder what-if. If I do this now, I’ll never have to look back at this as one of the many things piled up on my to-do list. If I start now, I’ll never have to lament all the time I don’t have to achieve my goals because I will use the time I have, at this moment, to move closer and closer. Even if only by inches each day.
I will start Now and I’m Never going to let myself forget the importance of integrity with self.
Thank you for allowing me to be vulnerable. To express myself consistently and with transparency.
