How To Be Miserable

Yeah, I know. Ugly title.

But the truth is, I don't have to tell you how to be miserable. You already know. You may have perfected the art of feeling bad to a level that I may not have achieved yet. You may be the master as I am the student.

But I know something you don't.

You have chosen to be miserable.

No, you may say that you don't want to be miserable, that you want to be happy, that you want to feel the warmth of the sun on your shoulders and dance about like some crazed nun singing on a hillside. You say you want it, but you don't mean it.

If you meant it, you would have done something (anything) that would walk you towards the door to happy (or maybe just un-miserable). You would have gotten out of bed a little earlier and written that thing you want to say. You would have turned off the TV and spent time playing with that idea in your head. Maybe you would have taken an hour in the middle of the day and walked over to that company where you want to work and talked to someone (anyone) about what it's like to work there.

Have you perfected the art of window-shopping through life or are you going to make something happen?

Let's assume you want a better job and you think that's the way to be a little less miserable (trust me, having a better job can go a long way to being less miserable). You don't know how to get a job? Read a book. Read a blog. Email me. Ask for help.

At some point, you have to stop thinking about it and start doing it. So do it. Today. NOW. Write a resume and send it to someone. It doesn't have to be perfect, but having built one and sent it out into the world is better than having done nothing.

Remember, nothing is perfect, so stop waiting for perfection. The first program Bill Gates wrote sucked, but it made him a billionaire. Shakespeare's first play is damn-near unreadable. No one should ever listen to the first song Lady Gaga wrote. But by doing it, it got them closer to being where they are now.

Don't you want to be closer to happy?

Then you know the path. Get on it. Do something (anything) that gets you another step closer to getting it done.