You can’t make footprints on the sands of time by sitting on your butt… and who wants to make butt-prints? – Bob Moawad
No one said you had to be alone when leaving footprints.
What does that mean?
This is an interesting quote, talking about making footprints in the sands of time. The sands of time is another way of saying making history, and you can’t leave your mark on history sitting on your butt.
If you want to make footprints, the quote implies, you have to get up off your butt and get moving. Sitting on your butt won’t make you a great part of history, unless there is a category for laziest person on the planet. In that case your butt will become a footnote in history.
The quote finishes by asking the obvious question, who wants to make butt prints in the sands of time? Who wants to leave their mark on history by being the laziest, do nothing-est person around?
I know I don’t want to be known for that, do you? I doubt it. We might not necessarily want to be world famous, but we will be remembered by our friends and those who are less than friendly. For what do you want to be remembered?
Why is action important?
Well, what will you accomplish by sitting on your butt? It’s a fairly obvious question, with an equally obvious answer, right? Not a lot is going to get done while seated. Yes, you can read, you can learn, you can type on the computer, but that’s not the point of the quote. Even while seated, you are still taking action.
We all need some down time every once in a while, that’s a given. All work and no play makes for a very burned out and prematurely old person. That’s not my goal, and I hope it’s not yours either. But the rest stops need to be brief, then we need to get back on the road, or not much will get done.
One of the things which action does is keep us from becoming bored. It also helps our to-do list get shorter, moving things from the to-do column to the done column. That alone is reason to keep up the activity. The momentum and the good feelings which come with getting things done help us get even more done. And that’s a good thing.
Where can I apply this in my life?
Where in your life has your rear end become stuck in the sand? Where have you ceased moving forward on projects or even whole sections of your life? What is holding you back? Why aren’t you taking action? Yes, these are intrusive questions, but if you’re going to quit making butt prints and start making foot prints, they need to be answered, right?
One of the things I’ve really not done much of for quite some time is singing. I used to do a lot of it, with choirs and such, but now it’s mostly in the car or in the shower. For me, that’s a big part of my life (music, that is). The main reason is that it takes time, and I have other priorities.
Yes, I could make it a priority, but then something else would have to give, and I don’t see that happening any time soon. However, making it happen is simply a decision away. And I’m looking at where I might be able to set aside a few hours a week to get back into it. Unless I use that time for working out, which is another one of my butt prints at the moment.
As I have done posts about managing my time before, I’ve already squeezed nearly all the dead time out of my schedule, and prioritized everything at least twice. That means that I can’t do much besides stay busy with what I’m already doing and plan for the next available opening in my schedule.
What were your answers to the questions at the beginning of this section? Where are you ‘stuck’? Are you just sitting there? Are you delaying taking action? Did you sit down one day and then forget to get back up and get walking again? Did you become discouraged, and decided to sit it out for that reason?
What can you do to take even the smallest step? I guess the first step would be to stand up, right? What would that take? What is holding you back at the moment? In what are you lacking? Motivation? Access? Equipment? Time? Money? Ideas?
Take a moment and answer the questions for one of your ‘butt print’ areas. What will you need to find or do to get things started again? There is always time for the important things, so if time’s the issue, what can be set aside to make room?
Take a few moments and try to figure out what you can do. I’m sure you already have a great big list of what you can’t do, but set that aside. Focus on what you can do to make things happen around the edges if you can’t figure out how to get at it directly.
It might not be today, but if you put your mind to it, eventually you will get your butt out of the sands of time, and start putting one foot in front of the other. Footprints in the sand, I like the image.
From: Twitter, @Inspire_Us
confirmed at : http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/192972.Bob_Moawad second from bottom 8)
Photo by (matt)
