I’m enjoying this new lesson on success.

I usually spend my time striving.  Working for something greater.  And I’m usually falling short, so I push myself harder.  I focus and discipline myself even more.  And it wasn’t working.

Last week, even though I only had a few bucks, I decided to stop putting off the little things that maintained my sense of self worth.  I had a networking appointment cancel on me, so I went and had my car washed.  I changed the oil.  I picked up my dry cleaning.  I bought a bunch of new socks.

I knew I needed to accomplish each of these errands for three days to three months, and all of them I put off because it was easy to save a little bit by putting that minor expense off.  And putting it off.  And putting it off, until, I find myself 7,000 miles over the last time I changed my oil!  I haven’t been that negligent of an automobile since I was old enough to drive.

And man, I felt it.  I felt kicked out of shape, and in need of some regular, routine maintenance.  I scraped together two hundred bucks and I took care of myself for an afternoon.

And suddenly, I felt alive.

I felt like I was the purpose that I was living this trip through creation for.

Everything I did, I did because it mattered.  It mattered to me to do it.  To feel it.  To experience it.

To live it.

And I jumped up with gusto, and decided I was ready to play this amazing game called life with all that I had, and I deserved the rewards that were there for any man with skill and will to acquire.

I did not need to achieve these things; I needed to acquire them.

They were not out of my grasp.  They were not out of my reach.  I simply needed to decide that I was worth this greatness, this abundance that surrounds our every breath.