I have been thinking about this subject a lot recently, why do some people seem to live the life of their dreams, and why do others struggle in quiet desperation to paraphrase Pink Floyd?
It actually struck me like the proverbial load of bricks this evening as I was preparing to leave my shop and drive to my home 40 minutes away.
As I was shutting down the various computers and equipment in my shop, I was talking to myself as I sometimes do, envisioning a time in the not too distant future where I was being asked by someone, perhaps a friend or relative, perhaps a reporter (who is inconsequential), how I had achieved what I had achieved (also inconsequential).
My answer centered around the phrase you can have, do or be anything you want, all you have to do is whatever it takes. Now I may be crazy but that just seemed suddenly more true for me than ever before - it seemed zen, it seemed deep.
Whether you watch Golf or not, you have probably heard of Tiger Woods. Tiger 'burst' onto the scene a few years ago now, as the youngest person to ever win a Master's. How did he get there? How did he get to 'suddenly' become the best in the world? Well, it wasn't suddenly, he first swung a golf club under the watchful eye of his recently departed Father at age 18 months or something like that. 18 months.
What the gallery and the sportscasters and his agent and his endorsement sponsors did not see was the hours of practice each day. Every day, Every week, Every month. Every year. For the next 20 years.
What seemed to be a 'sudden' arrival was in fact the only logical result for a plan set in motion fully two decades before.
Tiger practiced each and every day, whether he wanted to or not, whether he felt like doing it or not, whether he could feel the minute improvements in his game or not. His 'unparralleled natural skill' was not the result of some genetic gift, not the result of happy coincidence. It was the undeniable effect of consistent dedication to improving on the mechanics of each element of his game, drives, chips, putts.
So how do we apply this little bit of zen-deep thought?
Simple. Tony Robbins gives us something he calls his Ultimate Success Formula, a simple strategy for achieving. 1 - Decide what you want. 2 - Identify what is keeping you from having it right now. 3 - Figure out how to achieve it (the best you know how at the time). 4 - Take massive action. 5 - Notice what is working and what is not working. and 6 - Change your approach as necessary but remain focused on your goal, your outcome.
The key IMO is in looking not at the big goal (be the best golfer on the planet, win the masters, get endorsements, buy a Gulfstream 5 business jet), but rather in focusing on what can be improved on, no matter how incrementally, each and every day; how can I improve my drives today, my short game tomorrow.
So don't look to be an 'overnight success'. The wreckage and stress that follows real overnight success such as lottery winners is a terrible lesson in why it is so important to struggle and work, time and time again, to get what want. It is the daily effort, no matter how small, that cumulatively creates meaning for us, that creates value in what we achieve.
By 'whatever it takes' I am not suggesting you abandon all morality and ethos. In fact, quite the opposite is true. Doing 'whatever it takes' takes real morality, real commitment, real ethics. Doing 'whatever it takes' means lifting weights in the morning, even when you would rather be sleeping, it is discipline over short term comfort - not sometimes, but EVERY time. Lack of ethics, lack of morality is laziness, not commitment.
So now the challenge is to you.
What do you want to have, do or be?
What is keeping you from having it right now?
How can you achieve it (the best you know how right now)?
Take massive action
Notice what is working and what is not working
Change your approach as necessary but remain focused on your goal, your outcome, and you WILL have, do and be anything you want.
Whatever it takes!!
