Day 289: On Accounting for Taxe
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Everything you do has a tax attached to it.
For example, the tax on traveling is all the waiting around.
Disagreements and occasional frustration are taxes placed on even the happiest of relationships.
Theft is a tax on abundance and having things that other people want.
Stress and problems are tariffs that come attached to success.
Simply pay the taxes in life, and enjoy the fruits of what you get to keep.
It’s exciting to set new goals and imagine how your life will change when you achieve them. However, people often forget that everything in life has a tax attached to it. When they wake up to the reality that their goals aren’t all roses and require some sacrifices on their part or generate problems, their excitement fades away and their odds of success decrease.
As Ryan Holiday notes, there are taxes on traveling, relationships, and financial success, but they aren’t limited just to those areas.
If you want to become healthier, one of the taxes is that you’ll have a harder time when you eat in a social setting.
If you want to get more fit, you’ll most likely have to forego some other activities in order to make time for physical activities
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If you want to become a bestselling author or become virtually any kind of an expert, you’ll undoubtedly attract critics.
Thinking about the dark side before you even start working on your goals doesn’t sound like a good way to motivate yourself, but it’s necessary to acknowledge it and be prepared for the fact that any change in life — including a positive one — will bring some new problems with it, and it’s a price you have to pay to enjoy it.