Well here we go again. The New Year officially feels like it begins today with everyone heading back to work after the holidays.
For me the last few weeks have been all about choices and the direction I’m being sometimes led and sometimes pushed in (okay sometimes it feels like being shoved).
I’ve gotten a number of moving e-mails inspired by my last two posts so I thought it would be appropriate today to share a few thoughts about goals, and living your dreams and interpreting the events of your life in such a way as to make sense of things…
Ever since I was 8 years old I’ve wanted to be a singer/songwriter. You all know that by now. You also know that for some strange reason the very personality traits that made me really good as a song writer in only about 2 years of applying myself to it, took me basically the next 30 years to learn how to live with and how to get out into the world. Sensitivity and creativity don’t always make the best business partners.
In my 20’s a friend gave me a copy of the classic book “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill.
This is a book that basically says the same thing as “The Secret” but about 50 years earlier.
One of Hill’s main points is Persistence. If one is pursuing a worthy goal there will be obstacles. There will be setbacks. The main difference between the people who achieve greatness and those who don’t is the willingness and ability to push on even when it looks like nothing is working.
In example after example Napoleon Hill tells of people who gave up inches away from the mother lode. Those very same people, having learned that lesson moved on to create riches and success in their lives despite having missed great opportunities earlier.
So when nothing seems to be working, when you think you’ve exhausted all your resources following your heart that’s the moment to pick yourself up, dust your self off and keep asking the powerful questions.
- “How can I get to where I want to go?”
- “What is it I’m not seeing that when I see it will unlock this block and let me move forward?”
- “What’s the one question I need to ask that will give me access to all my resources?”
- Who can I ask for help who would benefit as much from helping me as I will from being helped?
- “Why does it work out better than I can possibly imagine?”
Sometimes persistence means taking a step back. Sometimes what looks like a “retreat” is really an advance in a different direction. Sometimes the best way through a wall is to take the long way around.The point is whatever happens we are the ones who attach meaning to it. So it’s always up to us to decide whether something is a setback or an opportunity to learn and change our approach.
So today, as you think about the year ahead. What do you truly want for your life? What kind of year would be so awesome and wonderful for you that you will look back 10 or 20 years from now and think, “2009 was the pivot point. 2009 was the year when it all started to come together”
All the experts tell us to write out goals down. Create a “vision board”. Focus on what we want daily. So get out a sheet of paper and in your own handwriting write out at least 3 things you want for yourself this year.
In the next few posts I’ll share with you some powerful tools from NLP and Time Line to literally “program” your future.
but before you grab the paper and pen.
go ahead and play the victory song video below and let it play in the background while you write. It’s all about this and is filled with powerful questions to get your unconscious mind working with you…
Keep writing those goals and resolutions. In my next post I’ll share the next steps…
Please leave a comment or share this with a friend!
Thanks!
-Mark
BTW This song can be found on my Thirsty For the Sky CD. If you’d like to invest in some of my music CD’s (and support the “Life In Song” Project) just click this link: Mark Shepard’s CD’s