Life! By Design_ 6 Steps to an Extraordinary You - Laura Morton [63]
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson had it right. I have found over the years that success is fundamentally predicated on finding what you are passionate about and then becoming relentless in your pursuit of every facet of that thing. To me, having the power means tapping into your greatest potential. It’s what gives you the Michael Jordan drive, the fuel that feeds the engine to keep moving in the right direction in spite of the adversity and challenges you may meet along the way. Once you gain that power, you can focus on the new routines and rituals (i.e., do the things) that will create the success you desire.
This is where you get into what I call “inspired action,” which is all the individual steps you must take to carry out your vision. This step is about creating structure in your life and doing things that bring you joy and power. This isn’t just about a single area such as business or work. It includes all areas that make up your entire core.
When I first went to work for my father, I created a five-year plan that mapped out what I believed it would take to achieve my goal—running his company. It was a simple strategy. Year one was all about learning the back office of his operation. I worked with the receptionist, accountant, office administrator, the guys in the warehouse doing shipping and receiving, and learned every other job that started at the bottom until I knew I could effectively move on to sales. I wanted to know all about the business from the ground up. I figured that would give me an edge over the other people in the company who didn’t have those same experiences to draw from.
By my third year in the company, I wanted to be a vice president of sales. Year four, I wanted to work in marketing, and year five, be president of the company. Interestingly enough, I didn’t achieve that goal in five years, but I did finally achieve it after nine years. It took me the first five years to figure out that you have to be in action 365 days a year, doing the things that lead you to the eventual pot of gold in order to achieve that goal.
Looking back, I understand that my five-year plan was unrealistic. As I assessed my progress, I can say that I performed all of the right actions, but it took me four years longer of being in inspired action to become the person who earned that goal. The lesson I learned from this experience was to not be attached to the time frame but instead to fall in love with the process. This is one of the things that gives you the power and then leads you to your goal.
Whatever your vision, if you’re miserable in the process—the doing—you will never find the power. You must embrace the action, the steps, and be present in the moment and with who you are on your way to becoming.
One of the ways I make myself okay with the process is by asking myself questions such as:
What do I love about doing this?
What do I love about who I am becoming?
What do I love about being disciplined?
Questions like this are designed to shift your focus away from the pain and toward the pleasure of meeting your goal.
When Deepak Chopra was a speaker at one of my seminars a few years back, he taught our group to be present each and every day by meditating for ten minutes and asking three questions:
Who are you?
What do you want?
What is your purpose in life?
I found it interesting that Deepak told the group not to answer the questions. Just ask them. For him, the process of asking is enough because the most important thing is to have a questioning attitude. It’s what gives you insights that you would otherwise not have. I say, take that exercise one step further and answer the questions whenever you are in inspired action toward a goal or a vision.
If you get stuck, ask yourself some simple questions such as:
What gives my life power?
What can I do to change the previous outcome?
What can I change about my behavior to achieve my goals?
Success is predicated on finding what you are passionate about and then becoming relentless in your pursuit