Our Own Personal Groundhog’s Day

What if you had to do the same thing every day for the rest of your life? How would you feel about that? Would you know what that thing is? Are you already doing that thing? Those that are great in this world have put in the time working on the same thing day in and day out. It sounds boring. It might just be boring. The question then becomes, what is your priority? 

There have been countless books that have come out that talk about success and how to become great. Habits, 10,000 hours of purposeful practice, Grit. What it comes down to is being willing to put in the time into the same activities every day. Let’s take a look at a man that had to do exactly that.

Phil Connors in Groundhog’s day wakes up and he is stuck living the same day over and over again. At first he can’t believe it, he doesn’t know what to do and he’s frustrated. He just wants to get out of the cycle, he wants to go on with his life, and yet here he is stuck in the same day with no way out. He fights it, he resists it, he’s rude, and aggravated. No one around him really knows what is going on because he is the only one that understands that he is stuck in time. They are just living their lives like it’s the first time. 

Does this sound familiar at all? 

How often are we living our own lives in some kind of loop, obviously not the same day over and over again but maybe pretty darn close, and taking it out on everyone else that is around us? Most people in our lives, especially those that we work with, may not even know what is going on in life and yet they get the outward expression of whatever we are feeling on the inside.

Groundhog’s day is right around the corner. If you haven’t seen the movie, I strongly suggest you do. If you have, well, rewatch it because it’s a classic. If you happen to have not seen it, a light spoiler is incoming. Once Phil embraces his situation is what makes the movie truly great. He flourishes, he brings so much enjoyment to the town, to himself, and to those that are around him. He learns so many lessons, he provides value to so many different people, and his entire existence seems to change. Sure, he is living the same day over and over again, so he has a step ahead of everyone, and the fact remains that he is making the most of the time that he has. 

The movie isn’t really all that different from our lives. Sure, we don’t know every little thing that is going to happen around our town every day so that we can go save it. At the same time, we can take a lot away from how much more joyful the second half of the movie is from the first. Taking action, learning new skills, being of contribution, connecting to a community, generally working to improve ourselves on a regular basis. Taking action every day to move forward a mission, business, or a cause. That is our Groundhog’s Day. It may not be the same day, and if we work to create, every day, a day as good as Phil had I bet we’d get to the end of our movie and be pretty pleased with the ending. 

What are those things you would want to wake up and do every day? What are the actions you’d like to have the opportunity to do every day when you wake up.

What does your Groundhog’s Day look like?