I think everyone has just about beat this poem to death with books, and webinars, and speeches, and those status-wide images people plaster on Facebook, and I’m not going to do that to you, instead I’m going to tell you about something that made me think on a Monday morning.
Have you ever read The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost? If you haven’t I’ve added it to the end of the blog, you can read it after, but for now…
The Road Not Taken Leads To Awesome
I was piddling about before work and saw someone share a video titled, “A Pep Talk from Kid President to You” – it caught my attention so I figured I’d check it out…
First, about 30 seconds in I flashed back to this… (Don’t ask. My mind is weird like that. I just remember stuff from way back randomly).
Anyway, about a minute or so in The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost was referenced. Specifically, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I– I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference” was what was quoted, but whoever wrote that script made a pretty powerful statement.
What if there were really two roads? I’d take the road that leads to awesome!
Truth be told, for me that was the end of the video because I couldn’t think about anything else.
How The Road Not Taken Lead To My AWESOME
There’s a really long story to how I got where I am today. I’m still on my journey of course, but I wasn’t always here, working from home, being able to help out my family, and so on.
Proverbially speaking, I’ve not always chosen the road not taken, and it’s probably the reason I had so many hardships, but I did eventually wise up, make a decision and take action and it leads to awesomeness.
I’ve been working from home for a good few years now, first as a private contractor working remotely for clients; eventually becoming an entrepreneur and small business owner, so my Monday mornings aren’t the typical nine to five that everyone’s used to.
To give you an idea of my typical weekday, I wake up between 7:45 AM and 8:45 AM depending on whether I feel like sleeping in or not. If I have to get up earlier I will, but I don’t have to commute anymore so I make up the time difference with some sleep.
Quite a few people have said I should keep waking up at that time and get in more work, but to be honest I think they’re not happy unless everyone else is waking up the same crazy time they are and in the same boat as them. They gotta get up way early and I guess they think I should too, but I remember when I was working regular jobs that I used to wake up at 4, 5 and 6 am depending on the job or shift and I HATED IT!
I used to think, “Why would any sane person do this for the rest of their life?! Oh my goodness! Even the sun has better sense than to be up before noon!” So when I started working from home, that was the first thing to go… and it went quickly once I learned that it’s not the quantity of the work you do, but the efficiency of how you work that makes the difference. (In other words, work smarter and not harder).
Had I jumped on the road not taken by many who knows? I would probably still be trading hours for dollars, doing things I don’t like, and spending my life in an office somewhere instead of with family. What about you?
Are you willing to travel the road not taken by many? Click here now.
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
– Robert Frost
