Yin vs YangThe Battle for Success in Life

This morning I woke up, rolled out of bed, and stumbled to the shower. As the hot water slowly brought me back to this world, I thought about the upcoming day’s tasks.  Write a blog post, two meetings, research, etc.

As the water slowly started to lose its heat, I began thinking about those tasks I was not looking forward to. I had to move some furniture at my office, sign a new lease with my former tenant, and move some other office furniture back to my house. What a pain in the you know what!

As the dread built up in my body, I remembered something I had once heard a famous person say…

‘Look forward to all the things you don’t want to do everyday, because they are the most important.’

That famous person was none other than P.Diddy, formerly known as Puff Daddy, real name Sean Combs.

Being that he is one of the better businessmen on the planet, I had paid close attention when watching an interview with Sean Combs. He gave some good pointers about always returning phone calls (a topic for a later post) and he talked about his daily routine. To sum it up, he spoke about how each day he wakes up and has a litany of things to do. Many of them involve him appearing here, making a phone call there, taking a pic with whoever, etc. If you think your life is busy, you should check out the schedules these celebrity millionaires try to keep. It’s crazy.

However, instead of moping about the day, P.Diddy takes it head on with a huge smile. Why? Because he looks forward to all of the things he does not want to do. He knows that by achieving these ‘consequential’ tasks, a ‘reward’ awaits down the road. So each photo shoot he has to struggle to get to, each phone call he has to juggle to return, is all going to come back and reward him in the future.

Let’s throw in a little yin vs yang logic as well. Each task that you do on a daily basis has a direct effect on your life. When you wake up, you have a choice. You can get out of bed and head to work (or whatever destination you have), or you can just lay back down and close your eyes. The yin to closing your eyes is you get that extra needed rest. That is a ‘reward’, so to speak. However, if you take that ‘reward’ now, the ‘yang’ of that choice is you may be late for work, and then have to deal with those ‘consequences’.

If you get out of bed, tired as you may be, and make it to work, the ‘consequence’ is you went when you could of stayed in bed. But with the ‘consequence’ out of the way, only the ‘reward’ awaits you. At the end of that pay period, you will get a pay check, maybe a promotion or a raise, and an inner peace knowing you have met your goals each and every day.

There are ‘rewards’ and ‘consequences’ to every thing that you do. No matter how small they may seem, every one of them has some effect on your life. So the next time you wake up dreading the day ahead of you, simply sit back, take a deep breath, and smile. Realize that after completing these ‘consequences’, only the ‘rewards’ await you. The more ‘consequences’ you are able to handle, the more ‘rewarding’ your life will be.

Just ask P.Diddy. He may have a busy day filled with ‘consequences’, but in the end it is all worth it because his life is that much more ‘rewarding’. As I stepped out of the shower to dry myself off, I thought about how much of a mental relief I will have once these last office tasks are complete. That is my reward. Now it’s time to handle the consequences, which don’t seem as dreadful as they just did.

Handle as many consequences as you can in your day, and only the rewards shall wait. Take the rewards during the day, and only the consequences await. That is my advice to you.

Now, in the words of P.Diddy, “Take that, take that!”