To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.” – William James
Carpe Diem is my official mantra for 2011.Boldness is my “brand” this year – my motivation as I move through each day. If I have learned anything over the past two years is that I alone am responsible for my destiny, I am either working my plan or I am working someone else’s, and I’d rather be working mine, wouldn’t you? Each year I count my blessings as I become more and more aware of the fact that “time” is of the essence and limited, therefore I must make the most of every day, every step should lead me closer to my goal!
Seize the Day sounds great, but what does it really mean? I think it means to act boldly, but the bottom line in order for what you “do” to have impact you need to do it with a purpose, with a direction, as part of a strategic plan.
I mean, what climber reached the summit of Mount Everest by waking up one day and deciding to “Seize the Day”? No, the idea to conquer came first…then the bold decision to do it, “this is what I want”, then came the detailed plans, acting daily on these plans, seizing each day knowing that each step was a step in the direction of “the dream”! Just knowing you are working to achieve your big dream is the motivation required to attack each day’s goals, knowing that it is all part of the journey.
With each day come new problems and with those we must respond with bold new solutions. Life experiences teach us that there is no end to what we can accomplish if we believe and persevere. What stands in the way of accomplishment are our “fears”. It would be a “no-brainer” if we knew the results of our efforts before doing them. That is the boldness challenge, to stretch yourself, to relentlessly keep trying until you achieve your goal. Don’t think for a moment that every plan as first laid out works, but if you have a plan, you can see how you are doing, measure your progress and then you can adjust the plan where it might not be working.
In the movie “Dead Poet’s Society”, Robin Williams addressed his class stating… “There’s a time for daring and there’s a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for.”
Day 11 of Gary Ryan Blair’s “100 Day Challenge” series talks about boldness and how we should take our first bold step each day by identifying our goals and committing to achieving them. He gives five steps to accomplishing this and I have included them below along with my interpretations.
Clearly Identify Your Goals
We have all heard the saying “If you don’t know where you are going…how will you know when you get there?” The mere act of creating a goal and writing it down improves your odds of achieving it! Similar to any successful strategic business plan, there are short-term and long-term goals. Long-term goals should be broken up into smaller measurable goals along the way, otherwise you tend to lose interest before achieving the end result. However, for this blog we are talking about short-term, daily goals. Setting daily deadlines forces us to focus, act quickly and trust our own instincts. We don’t have time to second-guess ourselves. We all know that change is hard, and that is one reason why achieving our goals is challenging, because it requires us to change. Goals require a dream…and a belief that dream can become a reality.
Develop a Strong Bias for Action
As a marketer, I know that identifying goals involves more than just saying that you are going to do something. It requires a plan of action, a list of steps along the way. Even on 24 or even 8-hour goals, you need to break it down to executable steps that all lead to your final destination, your end goal. If today’s goal is to close one lead by 5pm…then the plan is to determine the most promising leads in your arsenal and decide what you are going to do to close that deal today. Now if all of your leads are cold ones and you have not followed up in several months…obviously your plan of action is going to have to be rethought…right? Perhaps the goal might need to be to move 3-4 of your leads to the hot list today.
Trust Your Instincts
One thing that most of us have a problem with when it comes to our goals are that we allow other people or circumstances to cause us to second-guess them. Your instincts are the impulses of life moving in and through you, they are your lifes learned experiences. Whether you call it a hunch or vibes, we all have known the power of a “gut feel” Acting on these intuitions are what separate the dreamers from the doers. I highly recommend the book “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell in which he stands as testament to the fact that snap decisions often turn out much smarter than those that are dwelled upon and examined.
Choose to Punch Your Own Ticket
What this means to me is that … don’t let the naysayers take away your dream. Your convictions are your own and no one can take them from you unless you let them. Don’t be a victim in life, be responsible for you, take charge!
Ask Bold Questions and Take Bold Action Challenge those around you
Challenge yourself and those around you. Don’t be afraid to ask the bold questions, force them to defend their position. Have them try to convince you that something cannot be done. The flip side is that you must be prepared to argue the point as well. In the end you may be surprised at how empowering your convictions can be at swaying others to your point of view.
One final note that Gary states in his Day 11 session is that when an opportunity presents itself…step up and take action to seize that opportunity! Sometimes opportunity disguises itself as a problem – you need to look beyond just the problem to the opportunity!
