I’M PICKING UP Good intentions

ITS GIVING ME EXCITATIONS - FEELING THE BEACH BOYS VIBE WITH SUMMER HERE…

The problem with Mathias’s good intentions in Not Yet Too Far Gone is follow through. Journal 4 is a short 4 page study but has some important takeaways. As we thought about guiding everyone through the book, we saved the majority of the words and heavy lifting for the journals with the most, ummm lets say, content. 

In #4, there is a base acknowledgment that I would drink too much. Of course nothing worthy of a problem, however something to note to myself. As AB points out, there is a dark threshold that is passed in Journal 4. 

Hiding drinks.

Typically, people would see a red flag if someone has to hide or sneak drinks. My internal flag was more of a yellow flag. Proceed with caution. By caution, I mean proceed and take great care to hide it from everyone.  

Back to the good intentions, they are all over the journals. It’s not specific to 1-4, it's a theme throughout. Good intentions is one of the main ideas for those who may write a book report for their teacher. Mathias always wanted to be a good person, despite his actions. You’ve heard it from me before, and I’ll say it again, it’s about the follow through. 

Intentions are great. I’m so glad you want to do well. Now go do it. Drive those good intentions into action.

Another Stoic quote ‘Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be - be one”. Thank Marcus Aurelius again for that one.

Luckily this principle can be applied to every aspect of life. In my experience, following through as a professional will set you ahead of most of your competition and peers. Talking a good game as husband is easy, doing all the things isn’t. I always have the best intentions for my golf ball, but the follow through on that leaves a lot of room for improvement.

Let's pick up those good intentions, and walk the walk with them. I am not perfect in this, however I am better than I was before. The upside of being an addict is that I can always look back and realize how far I’ve come. 

So I got that goin for me. Which is nice.

Chapter on Journal 4 is available below, talk to you next week!

- Mathias John