How Good Do You Want to Be?

“How long are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?” – Epictetus

One of the sad truths of life is that we often think of ourselves as nouns. Finished products. We try, we fail, and it means we’ll never be able to do it.

We get our hearts broken, and we decide we’ll be forever alone. No one will ever love us. We should just buy some cats and dogs…

Ever thought about the fact that you are born useless? A lump of flesh? You can’t even walk, can’t feed yourself. You’d be dead within a few hours, if left out all by yourself. That’s if you’re somehow lucky enough to even survive that long.

Remember how it felt to learn to walk? To talk? Of course not. But you did learn to do those things, and became quite good.

It’s never how good you are. You are not a noun. You are a verb. You are not a finished product. You are a work in progress.

The road is always under construction.

It’s not about finding yourself, but about creating yourself.

It’s not about how good you are, but how good you want to be. How bad do you want it? What are you willing to do in order to become good?

That’s all that matters.

I am saddened by the fact that people’s self-imposed limits stop them from achieving greatness.

You were born empty. Naked. Useless. Dumb. Unthinking.

You become who you want to be.

Through sheer power of will and hard work.

Never forget that.

Because the world will do its best to make you forget it.

Published by Cristian Mihai

Became Internet famous by the age of 23. Never recovered. I write short author bios all over the web. I’m an acquired taste. Don’t like me? Acquire some taste.

22 Comments

  3. So funny, the line on we get heartbroken…before I met my husband David I had my heart broken and I thought, well I will try again, but I also was fine with just getting 3 mini dogs and living alone. Incredibly glad I found David and did not give up.

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  11. Great writing…I agree mostly.

    But “You were born empty. Naked. Useless. Dumb. Unthinking.” – this is not true….A soul’s intelligence….wisdom….energy….even a child was born isn’t useless, dumb, unthinking….it is beyond….perhaps the eyes can’t grasp it. We are born naked without layers….I see beauty in the word naked. Here I’m using naked in a different sense….With time, unfortunately humans tend to cover themselves with several layers….because that’s the “right way”. Later humans work to get rid of those layers….to be naked again….which is the purest form….if you ask me.

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  13. Thanks for giving such eloquent expression to these ideas. I think it’s so important for folks who have an interest in self-growth to not define themselves too quickly. Timothy Leary said something in an interview once that has stuck a feather in my cap: “You’re only as young as the last time you changed your mind.”

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  14. Sometimes it takes a hard road and a steep journey to be and stay good inside , once you prove yourself to that , then there won’t be anyone telling you wrong….
    Loved the article BTW 🙂

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