It would be great if we had a compass and a well worn path upon which to set out to get where we want to go. Even as you look at this photo above up ahead this person can’t really see what is beyond those trees. Much of our lives is life this as well. We see only a short distance just in front of us and that is it. Recently, I had someone ask me if I used “Goal Setting” in my life and business to measure and accomplish things. This actually caught me off guard, usually I am the one asking the questions, but I had really think about my answer because what I knew this person thought about me and what my response was going to be would jar them.
My answer was; I use my vision and purpose for living and being in business to motivate me and to stay focused and to keep me moving forward. Goals are almost too confining to me, I explained. When I was just starting out in life, I indeed had very set goals I wanted to achieve and when I achieved everything I thought I ever wanted to accomplish, I asked “Now What”? That was the moment my perspective changed and my goals became something greater.
We are fast approaching the halfway mark in January when wavering begins to set in with those resolutions. Most of the country is in a state of frozen stillness. People are home trying to keep warm, their cars won’t start, they are on the couch, they are filling their bellies with junk and other things to keep full and warm, they can’t get to the gym to use that new gym membership, the days are still dark, short, overcast and the cabin fever is setting in, so back sliding is well underway. Those goals and resolutions seem like a distant past only a few days ago. Planning for a warm summer vacation seems like a great idea now!
While you are bundled up there on the couch take a moment to daydream about these things; am I living the life I want or am I completely off course; if I am completely off course, where did I go off course and how do I get back on course; and finally if I never had a plan in the first place how do I get a plan and stay on that course? Now if you are nice and toasty and on track and crushin it; take a long winter’s nap! When you wake, go help a buddy get back on track!
Have you ever been on a high speed train, like the ones in Europe or on the Bullet in Japan? A fantastic smooth ride, and you can forget you are traveling so fast and get so much accomplished on your journey. A great life plan can be like that high speed rail ride. What do you need to travel like that?”Great technology, knowledge, equipment, timing, fuel of some kind,…..what else do you need, plan to run it, a schedule, ….uh-huh….what else…..people to make it work, passengers, that’s all I can think of. ”
Okay so, some of those are what the train needs and some are what you need and we need to develop these a little bit more. All of us get off course from time to time, that’s normal.
Very few are on the great “rocket ride” from beginning to end. Some have one “rocket ride” and it is great, some may have a couple, and they are wonderful. (think lotto winner, think those who went to the moon)
Then there are those who know who and what they have a passion for and start out to pursue that, find it, and are able to live and work in that passion their entire lives and be satisfied with whatever their passion brings into their lives from hardships, to joy, to location, monetary gains, people, places or whatever that is, they receive fulfillment and satisfaction, because it fills that deep spot in their soul which is their passion. They never complain, they love every day, because they wake up and go to bed fulfilled. These folks are truly blessed! They are not motivated by money, place, or things. Their passion brings them their fulfillment.
Then there are others who are in a constant relentless pursuit of the unattainable. Never satisfied with what they have, where they are in a business, corporate structure, or money they can make, where’s the next deal, the next sale, they will never have enough, be enough, be at the position they think they should be in, have the recognition they need to have, or any of a million other things to quench the part of their soul which cannot be satisfied. This will be true in every other part of their lives as well. Those who love them will be left waiting and wanting at home and in relationships wondering when will it be my turn? When will I make the list? It is the “Pursuit – The Quest – The Eternal Hunt” that drives this plan of life. This person most likely reaches their “goal” due to their over achievement complex again and again, but because to their pursuit, never actually stops long enough to breath the “sweet air” at success before they are off to the next thing, actually in an almost dismissive manner. Sad, they do not stop to “smell the roses”, or to share the success with those who have sacrificed on their climb up.
Many are simply on the J-O-B life plan. These are people who clock in, do what is expected and not one ounce more and clock out, get their pay check on Friday, and at age 65 exit and they are done. They seem to grumble about everything, and are somehow never satisfied with anything.
Today (since 2008) we have many who are on the “I need unemployment benefits extension life plan, and I am entitled to it plan.” And for those of you working, you will be paying for their life plan until you die, and so will your children.
We also have those who are just so grateful to have a job and their life plan is to keep things as they are and do not rock the boat so happy stays happy, bills get paid, the family stays fed, and life goes on its merry way.
Do you know anyone who is on any of these Life Plans yet?
You may be one of the few who has really given some thought as to what you want out of life, and planned how you are going to get there. Bumps, detours and disappointments are all part of living and adjustments will always have to be made, that is what maturity is all about. Every parent on earth has at one moment not grumbled under their breath that they wished a child should come with an instruction booklet at birth! Luckily we have mentors and role models who are ahead of us on this road called life whom we can look to for help, guidance and gentle prodding to get us back on track when we go off track. These folks seem to be like a rare flower blooming high in the Himalayan Mountains. They have received education, training, skills, set out with a plan, worked the plan, and are getting some where in life, and are responsible citizens, who are contributing to society in so many valuable ways. These folks are growing families, starting businesses, helping in their communities, volunteering, becoming leaders, mentors, and yet their voices are largely silent. When life throws them a curve ball, the course correct, pick themselves up and march on. Oh yes, they have “pity party days”, but they don’t sit and stew for weeks and months, they get up and move forward. They learn from the event, or poor decision and move on.
Here are some firm foundational items to start you off on life 
planning if you have not started or you find yourself still wrapped up and off course.
- If you find you are off course and it is as if you just woke up and you are asking yourself: “Why did I do that? How did I get here? What was I thinking?” You are not alone in those questions! Think about what was going on when you made that decision, that put you off track. What was going on around you in your life? Most likely, you were being bombarded with lots of things coming at you all at the same time and you had little or no time to “process” what was going on. This bombardment comes in from many areas of your life, not in just the area where the decision was made and this compounds the whole issue which creates an “encumbrance” or a WEIGHT. Weight has a nasty habit of creating all sorts of other outcomes, like shame, guilt, f.e.a.r. (which is an acronym for “false evidence appearing real”) and these three alone will not help in your decision making process. Can you feel the weight of all of this just reading the description?
- The second thing which happens is being “entangled” in deception of any
kind. Yes, you heard me right, I am talking about out right lies, deception, misleading, falsehoods, gossip, slander, back stabbing another person, taking a deal away, stealing something, or someone from another person, that kind of deliberate, calculated, entanglement and you probably even bragged about it to others and felt very proud that you pulled it off. Whether you believe it or not, you have just created a spiders web or like an invasive vine you are about to become entangled in something which will eventually entrap you. You see this ploy of deception is very very hard to maintain. The body of lies tends to grow at such an alarming rate the liar eventually cannot keep truth from fiction. - We are meant to run the entire race from start to finish.
This means we are not to stop in the middle, or at the three quarter mark and retire. We are to run the entire race. There is someone somewhere who needs what you know, who can benefit from your body of knowledge, skills, who needs a mentor, a friend, your skills, someone to listen to them, to be grandfather, to help deliver food to shut ins, to answer a phone, to teach someone something, the race is not over until you have taken your last breath.
Are you still scratching your head? Would you like some clarity? Let’s have a chat. Leave a comment below, I’ll be in touch!
