The C.A.T. Principle – Global Ebook Awards GOLD & SILVER Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014 & 2016

Traction: Is It Happening for You?

It’s already been more than three weeks since 2016 struck as the end of January nears. Buried in mid-winter the year is off and running. Have we acted on our New Year’s resolutions? Are we gaining traction on those things important to us? Is it happening for you?

When we think of traction, we think of tires. We think of the ability to drive through adverse conditions, be it rain, sleet or snow, without losing course, without losing direction. Traction binds us to the road when hazardous conditions prevail. It keeps us in control; it keeps us on track.

Life is no different. We either have traction or we don’t. It is one thing to proclaim New Year’s resolutions; it’s another to gain traction on those resolutions. Do we keep on track for those resolutions we’ve made, or do we slide off the road into the ditch of failed attempts, lost chances, and forlorn hope. Do we give up when the slightest problem arises, or do we dig in and seek the traction that belongs to the victor?

Traction isn’t something that just happens; we have to make it happen. It’s our decision, it’s our choice. Do we have the courage to carry on? Do we have the self-discipline to see it through  (see Self-Discipline: The Cornerstone of Meaningful Action…)? For it is courage and self-discipline that make for traction, and without them life’s paths are but a slippery slope.

There is no greater enemy to traction than distraction. When our ability to focus is impaired (with or without alcohol), our ability to gain traction suffers. Have to watch that T.V. show instead of writing that report, have to gossip on the phone instead of getting that work-out in, have to eat that fast food instead of making that healthy meal, are all distractions par excellence. Little though they may seem, the sum total of small distractions is the foundation of a distracted life, and a distracted life is a wasted life.

If we view life as a God-given opportunity to create with purpose, to create with meaning, and to create with thought, then anything to the contrary is but a service to a squandered existence. That’s not to say there isn’t a time for leisure and relaxation. Leisure and relaxation have their purpose, but let them become the dominant force driving our lives, and traction becomes nothing more than abstract hope.

“You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks,” British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) is known to have said.

And let that be a lesson for us. Do we desire a life of distraction meandering from thing to thing, person to person? Or do we desire a life of traction with aim and resolve, making room for the things and people that truly matter?

The onus is on us to create the traction we desire…is it happening for you?

For more, check out The C.A.T. Principle: Change, Action, Trust – Words to Live By, a Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of 2014, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. See the latest Amazon reviews here. Now revised and expanded, and a Nominee for the Best Self-Help Non-Fiction Ebook of the 2015 Global Ebook Awards.

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A 2014 Global Ebook Awards GOLD Winner for Best Non-Fiction Self-Help Ebook.

2015 Global Ebook Awards Nominee for Best Non-Fiction Self-Help Ebook