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“The life you choose for you doesn’t begin and end with you.”

A thought by John C. Maxwell (2017-03-07) from his book, No Limits: Blow the CAP Off Your Capacity (p. 135). Center Street. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I came to realize that last year before my 69th birthday.  I hadn’t been to see a Doctor for over six years. I felt good and I hadn’t gone.  But I heard Rick Warren say that going to the Doctor and having good health wasn’t something he did for himself, he did it for his family.  He knew the major distress for them if he wasn’t around.  So, I went to different Doctors for them and I am still in good health even at 70. I made major changes in my habits of life for me and for them.

John said, “Civil rights activist Benjamin E. Mays observed, ‘The tragedy of life is often not in our failure, but rather in our complacency; not in our doing too much, but rather in our doing too little; not in our living above our ability, but rather in our living below our capacities.’”

John goes on, “The challenge every person faces, in the area of capacity is changing from what you have done to what you are capable of doing. That’s what I want to encourage you to do. I want to challenge you to become an uphill climber. Perhaps you find that intimidating. Maybe you’ve not done as well in the past as you’d like to. And you find it difficult to move forward in this area. If so, let me ask you this: If you won’t do it for yourself, will you do it for your family and friends? The life you choose for you doesn’t begin and end with you. What you do influences others.

“If you feel like your life is going downhill instead of upward toward the accomplishment and rewards you desire, you need to change the way you approach productivity. First, you need to own your current level of productivity, whatever it is. You need to see your past productivity as your responsibility alone. Next, you need to learn to embrace uphill practices and habits that will help you to increase your capacity.”


So what habits do you need to change?
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