Most days are great to wake up to.
Today, not so much. Not that “not waking up” would be better, it’s just that being dramatic seems to help. Obviously life is way better than I’m insinuating. But really, sometimes I wake up and wonder how did I get here. The dream of what my life was supposed to be and my reality seem very different.
I was once told by a mentor that “my best thoughts, my best plans, my best actions have brought me to where I am today.” Hmm. More forethought might reduce the distance between my red dot indicating “You are here!” and the life of my dreams.
I love Christmas!
Not so much the build up as much as the after celebration. Expectations are low and hope for a new start is high. I begin to dream. Make plans that this year is going to be different, better.
Today’s Thoughts for the New Year
One of my favorite quotes is from one of my favorite movies, Stranger Than Fiction. It’s about Harold Crick, an IRS Auditor who hears (in his thoughts) a female voice narrating his life in great detail. Disconcerting? Absolutely! Great life lessons and I recommend the whole movie, however, today the excerpt below is poignant.
Earlier, Harold hears the narrator say, “little did he (Harold) know that this simple, seemingly innocuous act would result in his imminent death.” Harold seeks the help of an English Lit Professor to see if he is really going to die. In this scene, the Professor, (Dustin Hoffman), tells Harold that his fate is not in his own hands and gives a great piece of advice for all of us.
Setting the Scene
Jim Rohn tells a story about a convention center in which he was speaking. At one time it was an empty undeveloped lot. Someone saw the lot and dreamed of a convention center in that place. They imagined the main hall, the ballrooms, the decorations, the handicap access, the landscape, the fountains, the parking, the restrooms. They put those ideas on paper and drew out each floor and every aspect and detail so we could see a picture of this dream. The architect drawing was then used to excavate, set the foundation and build it from the ground up. Not built in just any old way, but every type and color of material for flooring, walls, roof, doors, hardware, fixtures and decor as seen in the designer’s mind, drawn on paper and then built to the exact specifications on the plans.
Start with A Plan
Without this vision or dream, it would still be a vacant lot. It required time to sit and plan. It took creativity to imagine and create this picture in the mind. Great work and financial cost to actually bring it to reality, to build it.
Mr. Rohn continues by saying that “building a life is a lot more important than building a house” or convention center, “yet we treat it (planning our life) so carelessly and so casually. So, I’m asking you not to be casual for what you want. Start designing your future for yourself, for your family, for your business, for your future – decide what you want.”
We’ve all heard that if you “fail to plan, you plan to fail.”
My personal reality: if I don’t have a plan for the day, life will give me one. And at the end of that day, the life I want is still a carrot I can’t quite reach. Our life, the one we’ve always wanted, comes out of daily implementation of consistent, careful, thoughtful design. Some days will be rained out or some things built will need to be taken apart and redone, but great things are built one day at a time from a specific plan for each days effort.
This year, let’s get off the “red dot” bronco.
Aspire to more than a one month New Year’s resolution. Create a new habit of taking time daily to dream and design this life. And out that dream, create a habit of determining and committing to the specific tasks to accomplish the next days work on the dream. With these two, the vision of our life to be, fleshed out with the next steps of action, we can begin each new day purposefully and tenaciously, knowing that tomorrow’s actions will complete another small piece of this very significant and meaningful construction project called our life.
So, next time you see me, let’s talk about the pancakes and if today, as previously planned, was the one we’ve always wanted!