Three Questions To Ask Yourself Before Defending Your Dream
Before you begin the journey of living the life you love, you need to ask yourself these three critical questions:
Where are you right now?
Where do you want to be?
What is your plan to get there?
Let’s examine question #1 today and we’ll answer the others over the next two days.
Where are you right now?
Be honest with yourself. You’ll never move forward if you cannot acknowledge where you are. Here’s an example. Many executives I know have the most difficulty with this question. I ask them ”How are you REALLY doing? Are you where you thought you would be ten years ago?” Their answer is typically one similar to this: “Oh yea, I mean, I have a nice house, great job, two cars, beautiful kids, awesome spouse, etc.”
Excellent. Let’s examine this a little more closely. You have a nice house. Unfortunately you had to be relocated five times around the country to get that house. I know, I know - the company paid for the move. A very good friend of ours lives in a modest home in Cincinnati and is one of the happiest people I know. Their house is full of love. When we go there for dinner we don’t have to be dragged into water cooler type conversations about who’s doing what at work. We don’t gossip about people. We have stimulating conversation while our kids play in the basement or back yard. We never discuss how much we earn or how many toys we have. Their family has stayed together as a unit - living together, vacationing together,etc. They have their moments just like any other family but they don’t let the meaningless score card mentality get in the way of their success and happiness.
The scorecard mentality is simply when someone feels as though they need to “keep up with the Joneses” instead of living their own life. They keep score against the rest of the world and that determines how they are doing in the game of life. The only thing you should be keeping score of is the impact you are making in the lives of people you interact with on a daily basis. A nice house is not helping many people outside of your family and truth be told, your kids would substitute more time with you for less square footage anyday - just ask them. Your kids would rather you drive to their dance recital or baseball game in a bombed out ‘78 Pinto versus keeping your Lexus parked at the office past 6pm.
Life is passing you by. What are your plans to start living life rather than life living you? Here is a good place to start: Where are you right now? Be honest. Be truthful. Be prepared for a not-so-sexy answer. The good news is it doesn’t matter what your past is like. Anyone can start right now and make a new beginning.
Tomorrow we’ll examine the question “Where do you want to be?”
Sam Crowley
P.S. Stay tuned for the email announcing the most anticipated motivational launch of the year! The Everyday Is Saturday CD and membership site. Two champion coaching clients were given access to the Everyday Is Saturday CD and their testimonials will be on the sales page. Lives are being changed worldwide!
To leave a comment on this post click the title
