Map It Out and Do It

Today’s the day you’ve decided to take action and start living a better life. You’ve thought about it, even talked about it but today is the day your entire being, body, soul and spirit, is aligned with the idea of actually taking the action necessary to life a different, wildly meaningful life and contributing to making the world a better place as you humbly differentiate yourself from who you were yesterday.

Taking action unlocks the door to your new life.

What are you going to do?

Today’s the day, but what are you going to do to start living your new life? Then, after you’ve done it, what will you do after that? What about tomorrow or the next day?

While taking action has gotten you through the doorway to your new life, having a detailed plan is the map keeping you on track, getting you from where you are to where you want to be.

You’re taking action and each step (or action) that you take moves you a little closer to the life you desire. Every step is cumulative and moves you closer to where you want to be – if – the step you’re taking is in the direction of what you want. Steps taken this way, or that, are steps taken and are not without value, as these missteps often have meaning, education and knowledge that can be used when you resume your journey to your new life. Taking deliberate steps focused on moving you closer to your destination gets you there more rapidly.

Having a map is an invaluable tool in navigating your life, keeping in mind that you must allow your internal GPS allow for recalculating based on new information as it becomes available along the way. So, if you’re ready (and I know you are) let’s get to mapping out your journey.

Reduced to its simplest form, your map is based on my grandfather’s formula:

What You Want + What You Do = What You Get

Let’s start at the very beginning (a very good place to start), according to grandpa’s formula, you need to know what you want.

What Do You Want?

Doesn’t really matter what you want, long as you know what it is. Whatever your destination is from losing 20 pounds to accumulating a million (or a billion) dollars, and everything in between, you must know where you’re going and have an idea about when you’d like to get there.

By knowing when you want what you want helps to make your thought more real as you move toward it and it begins to materialize. The “when” offers you periodic intervals to review your progress and can keep your observation skills honed on clues to see indications that you are nearing your destination. Without an estimated time of arrival (ETA), you could wander endlessly and be lucky if you ever arrived at all.

Once you have a clear idea about where you want to be and when, write it down. You have to take the idea from the invisible ethers and invite it into your 3D world by delineating it on paper. You can do it on your computer, but I think it’s better to create a physical map that you can hold in your hands as part of the conversion from thought to real world, as well as having a copy on your other devices, so that you can have access to it at any time on any device.

Now that you have a starting point and an ending point on your map, you can chunk your when into manageable sections, that can be reviewed and adjustments made if necessary along the way. Let’s say you wanted to lose 20 pounds in five weeks. Divided into weekly chunks, that would be a weight loss goal of four pounds per week. Every week you can weigh in and see where you are in comparison to where you want to be and decide whether celebration or buckling-down is more prudent for you for the next week.

[Wk 1: 4 LBS] – [Wk 2: 8 LBS] – [Wk 3: 12 LBS] – [Wk 4: 16 LBS] – [Wk 5: 20 LBS]

With manageable chunks or mile markers, you can have maps between each to optimize your advancement along the way. In this example, you might specify a particular diet plan each week to keep your weight loss goals moving the way that you want.

In this manner, each week could have a daily list of things to do to accomplish your goals along the way, such as eating meals of a particular content at specific times with healthy snacks in between and a 20 minute exercise break. At the end of every day you can review your daily progress and celebrate when you’ve successfully completed your daily to-dos, as well as each week’s celebration – including rewards for achievement – for meeting your goals.

Your commitment in the doingness – or taking action – to follow your map will assure you arrive at your destination. Keep moving and maintain a positive attitude. Use whatever skills and tools you have access to in making your dream come true. Use your imagination to visualize you, celebrating at the end of the road. What does it look like, feel like, sound like, smell like and taste like?

Keep On Keepin’ On

Keep it moving. Don’t let nay sayers dissuade you, knock you down or derail your journey. This isn’t about anyone else but you. Certainly things will come up and thwart the best laid plans and intentions, but don’t let it get you down and by all means,

Don’t Quit

To be the hero in your own story, stay focused on the prize even in the face of adversity. No broken hearts or spirits are allowed (for long) decide, “Ain’t nothin’ gonna break-a my stride…” For god’s sake, don’t quit.

You got this.

Sometimes Things Don’t Go as Planned

You may be a doer (you know I love doers, happen to be one myself) and if you are, you may find yourself at risk of finding yourself in awkward situations resulting from your tendency to do a thing (rather than just sit around and talk about it, like other folks).

We all have to deal with fear of the unknown whenever encountering a new opportunity in uncharted territory. While some people allow this fear to overtake them, some of us rise to the challenge, muster up as much courage as possible and forge a new path through an unfamiliar terrain.

While many onlookers watch us in amazement doing things like nobody’s business, they are thinking or caught saying things, like

Wow, I wish I could do that

Or alternatively

Whoa, I’m glad that’s not me

Depending on the circumstance.

sometimes-things-dont-go-as-planned-swing-batter-batter-swing
Swing batter-batter, swing!

It’s not unlike a batting average. You have to swing at a lot of balls to hit a few out’a the park. The more you swing, the more you are going to totally miss. Some will be good base hits, and a few will be home runs.

Regardless of your confidence level, if you keep swinging, your chances are you will do one of two things

You will achieve a level of success or competence

Or

You will learn something and do things differently next time

Of course, there will be those who will internalize the circumstance, fueled with self-doubt will bail out of the game altogether; never to play again because they believe they were better off not having tried at all.

Nonetheless, there are those moments when things do tend to get awkward, or embarrassing. Not just in business, as we tend to apply these very same stormtrooper methods to other areas of life also.

All the while, our friends continue to look on in amazement, uttering those very same lines, “Wow, I wish I could do that,” or, “Whoa, I’m glad that’s not me.”

Being the doer that I am, I have a laundry list of faux pas that could fuel a career as a stand-up comic, though I remain focused on my personal mission and message. So, I’m more likely to find myself staying on track, rather than try my muster at the local comedy club. But, it is great fun and entertainment to swap stories with other doers who have similar tales to tell.

Although, I’m tempted to relate a few of those stories here for your amusement, I don’t really see any value in memorializing the most awkward or embarrassing moments of my personal and/or professional life. Suffice it to say, that no one who is gathering enough courage to go where no man has gone before (or, at least where the individual has never been before) is likely to do so without dealing with challenges, obstacles or unforeseen occurrences, only to find themselves thinking, “Well,

“That’s not the way I planned it.”

How could anyone have known?

Okay, maybe a little more due diligence may have avoided this or that. Maybe a better background check might have been warranted. Maybe projections were off, finances could have been handled better, packaging or branding should have received more attention, and what is it they say about location, location, location?

The list goes on and on… because hindsight is always 20/20. And this is how we learn.

Sometimes all the education, practicing and planning in the world cannot adequately prepare you for that moment, when you’re staring down the pitcher, noting the position of all the other players on the field. Bases are loaded as you wind-up… It all comes down to this.

Crack!

That ball travelling at 80 MPH lands smack dab in the pitcher’s mitt.

It happens.

Just as Tennyson wrote, “Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all,”

it-is-better-to-have-tried-and-failed-than-never-to-have-tried-at-all

It is better to have tried and failed, than never to have tried at all.

This is the most common regret of those approaching this life’s exit point: “If only I’d…”

Don’t let this be you.

Dare to do that thing, and…

Don’t quit.

Quit Now Don’t Quit

Most people have had a dream, maybe even pursued it or gave-it-a-go once… The virgin attempt did not go as planned, so they gave up; quit.

One might resign one’s self to the belief that some people were just destined to be pawns in the game of life, thinking

“If I thought for a moment that I might have been beckoned by a higher calling, answered the call, and failed; why wouldn’t I conclude that I was not one of the chosen ones and just give up?”

Dont quit

Do you think Paul M. Zoll just woke up in the middle of the night with an idea of building a mechanism that you could surgically implant into a human body that would shock the heart into beating properly when necessary churned out a working model on the first attempt?

How many attempts do you think it took Percy Spencer to come up with a machine that would heat your food using microwaves?

What if Wilbur & Orville Wright had given up the first time they crawled out of the wreckage of their first attempt at flight?

What if Josephine Cochrane quit after her first attempt to create a device that would free housewives from having to wash dishes in the sink failed?

What if Les Paul would have given up when his first experiment at trying to create guitar that could be amplified without a microphone went up in smoke?

I can tell you the answer to what if.

If these individuals would not have answered the call to see their vision come to life, and pursued it with such dedication to not let countless failures dissuade them…

Someone else would do it.

When an idea desires to be born into our reality, nothing can stand in its way. The idea appears in the minds of many individuals at the same time… Many people can participate in the birthing process… and it can go through many stages before someone answers the call and is willing to accept the commitment to endure the birthing pangs that will bring it to life.

Sometimes, the idea is born as a futuristic story, like the nonsensical science fiction which has become present day science. Things that could not have been rationally conceived of, were making themselves known via minds that could do nothing more than document their visions in fictitious stories.

When laser technology was making itself known, Arthur L. Schawlow accepted the challenge as did Gordon Gould and Charles Hard Townes, all at the same time.

How many times have you (or someone you know) come up with an original idea… thought it was a good one… only to see it appear in the marketplace, with no credit to you (or the person that you know who had the idea)?

That’s a perfect example of how the universe evolves.

Have you been given a vision that yearns to come forth?
Did you try previously and fail?
Is your idea still waiting, or have you been given a new one?

Fear of failure is the mechanism, more often than not, keeping us from wanting to accept the call.

Plus, there’s no real responsibility; if I don’t accept the call, it will just go to someone else. It’s not like the world will suffer due to my reticence.

Here’s the rub:

You have come to this world for a reason.

You have a special purpose.

Are you ready to live the life you were born to live, contributing your innate skills and talents to the larger community, proclaiming your message to the world?

Are you a part of the growing populace awakening to answer the call?

Isn’t now the right time to start singing your song?