THE BENCH: EASY? NO WAY

THE BENCH has one core lesson that will go, perhaps against many of today's desires in our society.The world has slowly but has taught generations that if you get good at just posting messages, or just dress up and do a few selfies, that you can get the great life. The pandemic made many feel that the stress of work or being in offices was just too much so they just stay home and hope that this is as good as it can be. at some level, I can understand much of this.

1. I order whatever I need and the next day the box is at my door
2. I need to "talk" to someone and I just Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever them and the message gets out and WOW, look at how many "friends" I have and never left the house
3. I get checks for staying home, I get what I need by posting a few messages and maybe I become an "influencer" and get some money for that?
4. I never really sit and have a face to face talk with people, I never really have that discomfort of agreeing to disagree, or debate ideas as you can say anything if you never see anyone.

But, I hate to break the news, no matter what , much of what you see and hear is that unique situation that like being a professional athlete, happens to the 0.001% not the norm but the extreme exception. These get lots of attention, but truly rarely happen. Success, in whatever manner you decide is your level of success, take just hard work. I have real friends, that today are successful, but what you see is that success, what you never see or want to take the time to learn, is they worked hard, they failed, they got back up and worked harder and smarter time and time again. They invested, yes invested dedication, hard work and it took years, plus some luck to have whatever they have today.

Success is not "INSTANT" gratification. It is wanting to get better, wanting to do better, showing up each day, working really hard at it and in the end, you will get what you wanted. BUT to feel there is a short cut, some way to avoid hard work at anything in life is a lie. You want a great marriage, WORK AT IT. You want to have nice homes or "stuff" yes work at it. You want to be part of a community and give back in time, show up and work at it. You want true friends, guess what you have to do more that be on Instagram! WORK AT IT.

The time has come to put the phone down, walk outside smell some fresh air, take a walk with a friend or your partner, really talk, not just stare at the screen all day and perhaps most listen. Get human again, get the benefits of that. THE BENCH has taught me, anything you want is all about being present, show up, invest in the person next to you and in what is important but in the end, YOU HAVE TO WORK AT IT!