The darkest hour is just before dawn

This title is a dramatic phrase, but it’s often true. Many times, things have to get bad before a breakthrough.

I’m re-reading Creating Your Future by David Ellis. This time I’m taking more time than I did 9 years ago, and doing all the exercises in the book. His brand of self help is refreshing. He says that if a reader doesn’t like an exercise, they are welcome to re-write it to make it better. What a simple piece of advice that makes a lot of sense, rather than giving up on a whole book because it goes on a tangent that one can’t follow.

I’ve just gone through a section in which the reader is encouraged to examine how much of the time they spend thinking about the past, the present, and the future. He says that most people’s thoughts about the future consist of either predicting or worrying, rather than thinking about what they WANT to have happen in the future. We can predict or worry about specific things, by expecting that current trends will continue. Changing the future means “changing the trends”. I have been repeating “change the trends” to myself a lot lately. I can only speak for myself, but “changing the trends” often means experiencing discomfort. Changing one’s modus operandi means facing the possibility that one can make new mistakes, drive up blind alleys, and generally make messes. It is a brave artist/person who is willing to continue to evolve, even when it’s so much easier to stop.