Yin vs YangThe Battle for Success in Life

Look to your right.

Now look to your left.

Look up above you.

Now look under your desk.

Look all around everywhere you can see.

That is where you’ll find opportunity.

-Peter James

I guess I am feeling a bit poetic this Friday.  My company just finished another great commercial yesterday.  For all of those relatively new to YinvsYang, I will fill you in.  A little over 6 months ago (wow, time flies), my partner and I started this blog to mark a big change in our lives.  We had just started a New Media production company Reimagine, and soon after began writing.

The concept for Yin vs Yang was simple.  We were going to completely give up all the stuff in our lives that we did not want to do.  We were going to fight all the fear, obstacles, limits, and setbacks that life could throw at us will the sole desire to build the dream life we desired.  We were going to win the ongoing battle of Mind vs. Body in us all to do what we want, not what we can.  That meant only doing the projects we love, and not working just to pay our bills.  We were going to do all this and write about it, just to prove one thing:

Doing what you love to do will take you wherever it is you desire.

I’m sure this sounds admirable, as my ego would like you to believe, but in fact, it is quite a war of attrition.  Building a dream life &/or business is a huge process requiring patience, persistence, and perseverance.  Without these traits, you will probably give up over time.  In fact, I learned one simple fact about any challenge:

Success isn’t a possibility.  It must be your only option!

Do not take no for an answer.  Do not give up, ever.  When the going gets tough, you need to dig deep within yourself, find your resolve, and keep going.    It can be rough facing tremendously tough challenges.  You must understand that win or lose, it does not matter.  It is only about the path you take, not the outcome that occurs.

Sure, I am not out of the financial mess that chasing money got me into in the first place, but I am definitely on my way.  I am steadily building the life I want to live, as is my partner.  Because of this, our work is growing stronger, our reputation is spreading, and we are much better people on a daily basis because of it {well, at least most of the time }.

I imagine a lot of you have thought about just doing what you love, only to have reality laugh at you.  We are not any different, except we try to laugh right back.  It has been quite challenging and at the same time, quite rewarding.  I learn more and more about myself everyday, simply by sharing my inner most thoughts with the blogging universe.  My partner and I continue to fight each and every day towards this goal of living the life we desire, and sharing our feelings with others on similar paths is a blessing in itself.

We just would like to take moment to say Thank you.

We have had to believe with all our souls in our own success, or we would never get off our feet.  Sometimes, believing in yourself can be the toughest challenge of all.  It is our reader’s wonderful comments, or emails, that have kept us inspired to keep going. What we have learned is actually quite amusing.  I guess the best way to sum it up is like this:

Everyone wants to know how they can make a million dollars.  Well why not just ask the only person who knows the answer:

Yourself!

It really is that simple, or at least we believe it is. Do what you love and the rest will follow.  It WILL be difficult at first, but all great paths usually are.  For us, so far, so good.  Till next time, enjoy the weekend, and thanks as always for reading!

For all those interested, here is the local commercial we just finished….

Elite Martial Arts from Reimagine New Media on Vimeo.

Every morning I take my cat Winx for a walk.  This may seem strange, as most people do not walk their cats, but my cat loves it.  I do not have a leash, or anything like that.  I have a patch of grass on the side of my house, and some wooded area behind it, that Winx loves to explore.  It is like he becomes a kitten every time we get to go outside. I simply take out my laptop, sit in the field, and let him roam free to do what cats do.

It is amazing to me how much joy Winx gets out of a simple half hour outside.  I try to start every morning this way (weather permitting), because it reminds me about the importance of having something to look forward to.  Winx loves being in that environment where bugs are crawling through dirt stained with random animal scents, where the trees breathe life, the flowers taste good, and the amount of stimulus is invigorating.  It’s something he looks forward to daily, so much so, that every morning he cries by the door like a desperate lover in despair.

This is because the outside allows Winx to just be himself.  It satisfies his curious urges for the day, releases some energy which relaxes him, and gives him something to look forward to each & every morning.  Without it, his life would be extremely monotonous.

Now, I also have two other cats, who do not like to go outside as much.  For them, they have different things that they look forward to.  My one cat loves the garage, and my other cat loves anytime things are quiet and safe (he was originally a stray).

I think looking forward to something is very important for all of us on a daily basis.

There should be something, anything that gives us this same feeling of joy.  Something that allows us to forget everything, and just be ourselves.  It could be anywhere, real or digital, such as…

1. The Workplace
2. The Gym or other workout facility
3. A Community Website/Blog/Forum
4. With your children and/or family
5. Playing a sport or sports in general
6. The Outdoors
7. The Beach
8. A Walk or Bike Ride
9. Dancing in a Night Club
10. Video Games
11. Shopping
12. The Movies
13. Drawing
14. Reading
15. Relaxing

The list could go on forever, but hopefully you get the idea.  For me, I would say my Jiu Jitsu school is one of the places where I get to forget the daily rigors of life and just be myself.  It releases a ton of stress and energy, while feeding my inner thirst for competition and knowledge.  After rolling in Jiu Jitsu, I feel great inside and out.  I feel energized and ready for anything.  Most importantly, I feel satisfied with myself, re-energized, and ready to get back to life again.

We all should have a place like this for us.  We may not be able to get to it everyday, but we sure can look forward to getting there at all.  If we have nothing to look forward to, then passing time is all the same.  It never ends.

What kind of things do you look forward to?