How to begin?

How do you begin?

First, decide what you want.  Set a goal, right now and write it down.  It has to be something that you are PASSIONATE about.  The goal has to be something that you are willing to SACRIFICE OTHER THINGS FOR IT!  If you aren't willing to give up the three hour a day X-Box habit for your goal then your goal is either: not big enough to make you grow; or you don't really want it bad enough.  It's true that small goals can be the stepping stones towards bigger goals, but you will have to be willing to make sacrifices along the way to you ultimate goal.  Is it worth those sacrifices?  If a goal is so small and simple that pursuing it is as easy to you as breathing then it isn't a big enough goal!  And, I promise you that once you achieve your big goal and you look back at what you thought was a sacrifice today you will realize that it was really an investment (guaranteed or your money back)!

Second, cast away your fears!  Many people won't start their "thing" because they are afraid.  Afraid of the unknown, afraid of failure, afraid of what others will think, afraid of success (hard to believe, but the last one is very common). Cast those fears away!  Others are waiting for one brave soul (YOU!) to show them the way to overcome their fears; to show them it's okay to start; to show them that you don't have to have a highly detailed, completely thought out plan that took fifty years to develop before you start!

• In general, the world forgives and forgets your failures
• You will be remembered mainly for your success (Do you remember Thomas Edison's Electric Pen?  Or his 1,000 unsuccessful light bulbs?)
• So if you fail, it's no big deal ... try again or try something else for the first time

Third, set your deadline!  Deadlines add the pressure or urgency that you need to accomplish great things.  Imagine you are trapped in a sinking ship and the cabin you are in is filling up with water.  Your deadline is to get out of the room before you run out of air.  A pretty extreme and unlikely example ... but what if you had that kind of urgency with your goals?  Be ever aware of the deadline you set, don't let yourself down, this is likely the pressure that YOU need to keep YOURSELF focused on YOUR goal!

• Step 3B ... announce your goal to one or more accountability partners.  They don't need all the details ... but they can make sure that you continue to work towards your goal!  They also may be one of your resources in the fifth step

Fourth, create a road map, make your plan.

• You know you are starting at "A" (where you are standing today, with the skills and resources that you have accumulated)
• You want to get to "Z" (this is the goal you set above in step one)
• And, you know how much time you have (your deadline you set in step three minus today's date)

Aim, Fire ... Ready! (Yes, begin now! Don't be foolish ... but don't wait until you have everything figured out.  As my father-in-law told me "if you wait until you are ready, you'll never get married."  He later said "if you wait until you are ready, you'll never have kids.")

Fifth, this is really part of Step Four above but needed to be highlighted, so ... gather the knowledge that you need!  Along your path you will bump into walls and step on landmines.  Around marker "M" on the map or plan you laid out your plan requires that you set up a website.  You don't have to learn html code by "M", you just need someone at that step that can get it done so you can move to "N".  Gather the knowledge you need and/or recruit the expert assistance.  There are NOT many things in life that you can do without help; as my dad always says "no man is an island"!  The important thing is that you stay passionate.

Sixth, re-assess and if necessary update steps one through four.  There is no shame in changing directions (goals).  If you get part way down the road to your goal and realize you leaned your ladder against the wrong building, don't be afraid to climb down and move your ladder.  But keep in mind what Zig Ziglar said (paraphrasing) 'it's hard to hit a goal you can't see, it's impossible to hit a goal you don't have!'

Have a great day!

Where do you begin?

You begin in the only place that you can begin -- RIGHT HERE!

I read a quote a while ago that I found truly inspirational and enlightening:
            "Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go;
             they merely determine where you start.” – Nido Qubein

Your only choice is to start where you are.  You can wish, hope and pray for all of the things that would make your journey easier, better and quicker.  But you don't need them.  The things you need on your journey you will discover during your journey.  The education, the contacts, the continued inspiration ... it's all out there!  But you can't do a time warp.

• You can't go to bed tonight and wake up in the morning with a college degree or specialized training
• You can't go to bed tonight and wake up with ripped abs
• You can't go to bed tonight and wake up with extra zeroes at the end of your checking account balance

That's not how life works.  Again, you can wish, hope and pray but these things won't work without your hard work, your dedication, your focus and your passion.

Your only choice is to create a "map" to get you from where you are right now to where you want to be. If you want to get anywhere with intention, you have to have a plan.  Otherwise, as Yogi Berra said: "If you don't know where you are going, you might end up somewhere else."

Have a great day!

When do you begin?

When should you start?

Today!

If you don't start today, then you won't start until tomorrow ... and tomorrow never comes!

Start small:

• The acorn becomes the mighty oak
• The baby step becomes the journey of life
• A tiny apple seed grows into a tree that produces thousands of pounds of fruit over it's life
• Opening a book becomes a decade of learning
• Opening your eyes to the world around you becomes a lifetime of living

Taking a small step today can become something phenomenal tomorrow.  Don't put it off until tomorrow.  You have to "strike while the iron is hot!"  When an idea comes to you the pursuit of that idea needs to start immediately!

That spark (a.k.a. idea) needs to be turned into a fire and it will need fuel.  The spark can't last too long without out fuel.  Even worse, what if someone else gets that same spark, but does something with it?  Your idea for a new product or service is now someone else's idea!

You might be thinking "but Tubby, I don't know how to ... I'm not ready ... conditions aren't right ..."  Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Your motto needs to be "Aim, Fire, Ready!"  If you wait until you have everything you need to guarantee success, if you wait until your are ready, if you wait until the conditions are right -- you will be waiting a long time!

Have a great day!

Are you like a river?

Have you ever felt as though you were not in control of your thoughts, body, circumstances ... your life?  Do you feel as though you can only head in one direction, as though the course you are taking in life was predetermined for you? Do you sometimes feel like you are a river or a stream?

No doubt you have seen a river or stream in action.  It flows in one direction (downhill).  Many rivers are calm or placid ... perfect for relaxing on a tube on a hot summer day.  Other rivers have points where they move rapidly (hence the word rapids) and are turbulent.  If you are in the river at these points you don't control your actions, you are at the whim of the river.  If you are an experienced rafter, you may be able to manage or cope until you get through the rapids, but for most of us it's "hang on until it's over!"

The river has no choice ... it's going to go where it's going.  It has to stay within it's banks.  It has to continue to flow downhill.  There are points where it can go uphill (briefly), but it is going uphill only to elevate itself to a point where it can resume going downhill again.  And still, on the surface, it will appear to be going downhill.

Yes, over time the river can and does wear down soft parts of it's banks, but it is only to find new ways to go downhill (hopefully you aren't like a river in this sense). In the short  term, the river has no choice, it stays within it's banks and goes downhill.  Unless, suddenly there is a seismic shift - an earthquake!  The land is shifted, the river's course is disrupted, it heads off onto a new path or paths.

Far too many of us wait for this sort of seismic, catastrophic, exterior influence to happen to us.  We are content drifting on a path downhill, never changing direction, never growing ... until we are forced in a new direction by some sort of seismic exterior influence.  Loss of job?  Sudden loss of a family member or close friend?  A diagnosis from your doctor that you will die if you don't make changes today? [Cue Tim McGraw's "Live like you were dying"]

Why must you hit rock bottom before you change?  I'm telling you that you don't!  You are not a river, you are not bound by imaginary banks.  Your life can flow wherever YOU CHOOSE it to flow!  The only boundaries that you have in life are the ones that you believe are there.  How is it someone else can become a doctor, engineer, teacher, astronaut or POTUS.  It's because they made a choice, they set a goal, they believed they could achieve that goal and if someone told them they couldn't they ignored them!

It's one thing to believe you can't do something if it's never been done before (which is still wrong and will be the subject of a future post) ... but when hundreds (maybe thousands) of people change the course of their lives daily, what's your excuse? 

Have a great day!