The Devil is in the Details

Most of us want to do ‘better’, to be ‘better’, to be our ‘best’ at something. But ‘better’ is a vague notion. Most of us will not get better without help, without discipline, without a will and a drive to improve. Some of us, all we need is a direction to go, and we will march forever. Others need a schedule and a calendar, not to mention a map. Yet others need a drill instructor, driving us onward. And all of us need one more thing:

A yardstick.

In the wild, individual members of a species have a biological imperative to succeed; they have a goal hard-wired into their biology and structure that they cannot escape, and a method they can only adjust, not defeat. This programming may be ‘sufficient unto the day’ as the individual carries through its life, or it may not be. If it is, then it may pass along its successful programming to the next generation. Such is called Natural Selection.

If the species is Man, what is Nature selecting for now?

That may be a bit unfair, as we are causing changes to our world perhaps faster than we can keep up.
On the other hand, ours is a unique species, in that our biologic imperative to succeed is somewhat subject to that knob of gray matter in our skull. For good or ill, our major powers are subject to the decisions created in our frontal cortex. That, which can be programmed to direct our energies in particular directions or no useful directions at all, can make us. Or break us.

When I started writing Yes, you can!, I wrote with the idea of reprogramming that knob of matter. It is hard, harder than I thought. Patterns, once entrenched, do not easily admit change. The very act of writing the book, a story a week, became much stretched. I am one of those that needs regimentation, and I have trouble enforcing on myself. Perhaps, you, too.

I have yet a far way to go, the need to ignore distractions, and the desire to find that passion that would drive me onward of its accord. That last may never happen. Until it does, or until my story ends, I will fight onward to find the ‘it’ I’m supposed to do. Meanwhile, among other things, I will continue to write.

It ain’t necessarily a living. But it is a life. I am going to do my best to live it.

So can you.

Yes, you can!