The last few days have turned my “I want” to much more of an “I will”. The deeper I get into Jen Sincero’s “You Are A Badass” the more I realize how unfocused I had been with simply considering my wants. Don’t get me wrong, it has been a valuable and possibly essential part of this journey to discovering my purpose. I now feel the urgency that comes from making a commitment and by saying “I will”. If you have a chance, please get yourself a copy of T.J. Hoisington’s “If You Think You Can – Thirteen Laws that Govern The Performance Of High Achievers“. His eleventh law says it all… “Creating A Sense Of Urgency”. It talks about the action that must follow the determination of what you want. As he says, it’s not a “fire-ready-aim” process, but it does require you to take immediate action. Or, in his words: “Once you are clear about what you want and have determined your highest priorities in relationship to your goal, take action NOW! Don’t put it off another day.”
I’m perhaps still at the start of this process and I may have approached this in my own way, but I am on the right path. I both want to & will be a writer. How this will develop and where it will lead is still unclear. I have yet to set a goal. So, let’s break down the process inside T.J.’s quote. The four steps are as follows:
1- Get Clear on what you want to do.
2- Set a goal or goals.
3- Prioritize your actions from highest to lowest impact on achieving your goals.
4- Take action NOW!
So, here’s where I see myself in this process.
1- In writing out this first 30 day challenge I have realized a few things. First, that Matt Cutts was absolutely correct when he proposed that doing something different for 30 days at a time builds focus, confidence, self-esteem, a sense of accomplishment, and most importantly… develops a sense of purpose! Thank you Matt!
*This past two months I’ve learned more from the daily Ted talks than I ever imagined possible.
- My health has not only become better for doing exercise daily, but I now crave it.
- My meditation is now yielding greater focus and I feel grateful for giving this gift to myself.
- My daily painting is developing both a deeper creativity and has released me from the self-criticism that bogged me down before.
- I went from looking forward to having a break in tasks to excited anticipation and a little impatience in starting the next 30 day challenge. Note: The list of texts is growing and is awesome!
- I went from feeling like a jack-of-all-trades imposter, to listening to the compliments of those who ask for my help, to being grateful for my curious nature and my love of learning, to having a sense of excitement about what’s next!
- I am and will continue to let go of my old stories, as I open myself to new ones: Watch Amy Purdy’s inspiring talk called “Living Beyond Limits”!
2- Imagine that I have hardly started to consider goals that use my passion. I touched on them with my desire to tell people’s stories for my feature called These Are The People In My Neighbourhood. I even fantasized and sent a question to the universe about how to become a Ted-ster myself. I let these dreams and ideas swim around my mind, borrowed a little of what I learned from Astro Teller on how to let go of all but the best ideas, and have let the universe reveal opportunities to me. I’ve come up with this short list of goals that will be shared on this blog very soon:
*The Podcast – Talented Teachers with my friend Richard Tardiff
*These Are The People In My Neighbourhood
*Odds & Ends – Everything from How To’s to My Why”s
*Get Out Of Bed For Ted – 30 days of challenging ideas & what we can do with them.
*TOMA Marketing – My writing & marketing services for those who ask for them.
*30 Days of Abstracting My Creativity
*Giving Forward
and many more… including the dream of writing a book or two.
The sky’s the limit!
3- My new habits are important to me and to my process, and I have committed to being flexible about how I practice them… In other words, there are enough hours in each day to write, read, think, and do, and then balance all that with being with my family & friends. My priorities are to write for at least two hours a day, post at least one blog post a day, read for at least one hour each day, exercise for at least 45 minutes a day, meditate for at least twenty minutes each day, eat at least two meals a day with my family, and connect with a friend at least once a week. What I want to & will add to this is at least one hour a day devoted to improving my blog. Yes, even to me this is still a little too vague, but I am leaving it as such for a little longer, because I have not decided on which direction to start with for the blog improvement. I will do it very, very soon.
4- Considering the last point, am I avoiding to take action NOW? Maybe, a little… but I don’t believe so. I have eight blog arcs in the works right now, I write every day as a priority, I keep my habits, goals, visions, dreams in sight with a growth mindset, and I am finally talking about them to those I used to fear judgement from… guess what, I’m continuously surprised by the supportive reactions. Laws of attraction in practice, I believe. I want positive feedback and that is what is coming in.
I avoid much of the procrastination I was such an expert at before and I’m sure this is because I am doing what I really enjoy doing. If I was reading this, I’d be thinking… “Good for f***ing you! How are you making a living out of this?” That question was my excuse to doubt myself. I really don’t want to entertain it anymore. In fact, since I’ve started with this determined mindset, opportunities keep coming. The money has started to flow in, and I feel like I’m doing something important. Something is about to happen and I am more than ready for it. I chose to be ready, I want to be ready. I will make writing the conduit to my life’s purpose. How would you like to join me in this? What can we do to help each other? What is your dream and how can I help you with my passion to accomplish it?
The New Renaissance Mindset 