Opportunity stems from action, and action comes from habit

Let’s start with a fable. 

A young man asked God to let him win the lottery. He continued to ask for this, every single day, for many years. 

Only when he was an old man did God finally respond. 

“Do me a favor,” said God. “Buy a ticket.”

Imagine that the lottery in the story is your ideal job (or fitness level or salary or relationship). Your most coveted goal takes the form of a prayer to the most powerful entity in the universe.

The ticket, then, resembles action. The preliminary, minimum requirement to even be in the running for your prized aim. 

But it can be awfully difficult to take action under non-ideal circumstances, which unfortunately for most of us, is all the time. You’ll never find perfect conditions for a certain action.

It is easy to take action when you are willing and prepared to take action. But that usually means you are happy, satisfied, and usually comfortable.

Often the most rewarding and most challenging action presents itself in imperfect conditions, the times when you are not at all ready to take action. Unhappiness makes us want to curl up in the fetal position rather than do something that requires effort.  

There’s no getting around this: you have to do things that you don’t want to do. Easier said than done, I recognize.

Even if there’s a long line and an hour commute to the ticketstand, buying the ticket must happen, as it’s the only thing that will put you in the running for your ideal goal. 

The magic happens when you can program yourself to take action as if it were second-nature. Make action a habit to ensure you take action when necessary, especially in the times when taking action is the last thing you want to do. 

Opportunity comes from action, and action comes from habit. 

Pursuing an ideal is elusive and difficult. It requires energy, foresight, and strategy. But because it is a challenging pursuit, the actions you take in the process beget fulfillment and maybe even enjoyment. 

Learning to make a habit out of taking action can usher in a great amount of joy and satisfaction. Action comes from habit, and it leads to success because energy is spent and steps are taken toward a goal.

The times when action seems like the most unbearable thing to do are exactly the moments when you must seize the action that demands your attention. Paradoxical, certainly, but necessary to level up and move ahead.

Putting in the work when you do not want to, in other words, is how to climb toward a goal. 

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