Means or end


We can always do better is the default thinking.

What’s wrong with that?

The challenge is better is subjective and it also implies that we have not done something well. It is always looking into the future so everything becomes just a means towards a mind projected end. So there is no focus on the ‘doing’ just the outcome.

We could choose to accept what we have done, learn for sure, but perhaps to say we did this thing or another element really well, how can we do more of what we did right next time.

The key is to focus on the ‘doing’ with all our concentration, being in the moment, instead of the focus being on some imagined future outcome. So the means is the end. The outcome is a distraction and a drain on our positive focus as we start to engage with anxiety about the end.

The means is the end and not a means to an end because when we focus on the end we are lost right now and do not produce our best. The end is a projected outcome that doesn’t exist. The doing right now is all we have and that’s what counts.

Our sunset

One day the sun will set on our journey.

There will not be another opportunity to say ‘I love you’, to say ‘sorry’, to tell someone how much they matter to you, to do the right thing, to speak up for what you care about, to start that project, to take the plunge into the unknown.

The trouble with waiting to say or do these things is that none of us knows when our sunset will be.