Last week I overheard a group of women talking about this popular pin on Pinterest.
I happen to love this particular quote so I couldn’t help eavesdropping, er, I mean, overhearing their conversation. At first I thought they were loving on the idea too… I mean, what could be more motivating than the reminder that one of the most successful women in the world is restricted by the same laws of time and nature that you are?
But it turns out, they weren’t loving the quote. They were dog piling on the ridiculousness of it, saying things like “Yeah, I have the same amount of hours but I don’t have a personal trainer or a staff, or millions of dollars!” They were downright angry at the idea and I couldn’t help thinking, oh girls, you don’t get it at all.
The point, at least for me, is that we all get the same amount of time. Not the same circumstances or the same level of assistance, but we all get the same 1,440 minutes every single day. The difference between your life, or mine, or Beyonce’s is defined by what we choose to do with those minutes we’re allotted.
Let me ask you this… What’s your dream? What’s your goal? What’s the thing you’d really like to achieve this year, this month or even just before 5pm today? Maybe it’s weight loss, or learning a new language. Maybe it’s finding a better job, writing a book, going back to school or being a better parent. Maybe you want to stop being so stressed out all the time or train to run a marathon.
Are you actively taking steps to achieve your goal?
Not just talking about it, but actually doing it? Because here’s the truth about that woman you admire, the one you see jogging down the street every morning or fighting her way through a Master’s program online while holding down a day job and raising kids. That woman, has the same 24 hours that you do, but she’s choosing to spend her hours on her dream… not on the excuses for why she can’t achieve it.
I get that using the word excuses will probably tick some of you off. I also get that there are justifiable reasons why some of you might not be able to focus on your goal right now, but I want you to ask yourself if it’s truly justified or just a road block of your own making. Right now, I’m trying to think of what legitimate reasons might be, but then I remember that Malala Yousafzai is only 16 years old or that Gabby Giffords is still speaking publicly for what she believes in, even as she recovers from an assassination on her life.
I can’t tell you how often I see the Facebook and Twitter updates bemoaning the person’s inability to fill-in-the-blank. Often times it’s joking, or self deprecating but I sense the undercurrent of pain, of asking for help but not understanding why she’s still in the same place year after year.
Here’s the truth… you have to choose. You have to want something bad enough to get up an hour earlier, to shut the TV off, to play Legos with your 5 year old even when you’re exhausted. You have to make the choice and keep making it all 1,440 minutes of every 24 hour day! That’s how you get to where you want to be… that’s how you get to who you want to be.
You have the same amount of hours in a day as Beyonce.
You have the same amount of hours as my friend Alli who gained 60+ pounds with both of her pregnancies but gets up at 5AM every day before her toddlers wake up so she can fit in a workout. She has a slammin’ body a swimsuit model would envy.
You have the same amount of hours as the older man who struggles with a limp, but still walks the two miles up and back the main street in my neighborhood every day, rain or shine.
You have the same amount of hours as my friend with terminal cancer who uses her minutes to love and laugh with her husband and sons for as long as she has left.
You have the same amount of hours as the woman on my flight last night who was traveling with her adult son with Down Syndrome. She had strength and love and courage and I found myself in total awe of her patience and the joy with with she made him feel utterly loved.
You have the same amount of hours as Oprah, as Paralympians, as your friend who volunteers at the Convalescent Home.
You have the same amount of hours as Sheryl Sandberg, your friend with a PhD and all the contestants who train for Iron Man.
You have the same amount of hours of every single person you admire and only you get to choose what to do with those hours.
Choose wisely.
xo, Rachel
