For the last couple of months, I’ve been building a program that’s geared toward helping people find their passion and to excel at whatever they do.
In this Kiss Your Comfort Zone Goodbye mini-series we will be covering some of the material in the larger program in bite-sized pieces.
If you missed yesterdays article, you can access that intro article to this series, here. You can also listen to the intro via my podcast, here.
The ultimate purpose of this mini-course is to help you take bigger and better action so that you can start moving toward your goals and dreams.
Before we can really dive in, we first need to define some things from the ground up. I’m talking about defining what it is that you want and why you want it.
May Your Driving Force Be With You
If you want to experience the freedom of being a complete action taker who is willing to do anything, regardless of how scary it may be, you have to find something of major significance to drive you. A fluffy goal with little to no emotional backing is the fastest route to a dead-end. You’ll grow tired of it before you even begin.
For example, having a goal of a certain amount of yearly income alone is not a driving force. It’s simply a nice-to-have with no solid backing or support. There’s no reason other than to simply have it.
A driving force needs to be something much more personal and sacred to you. This driving force is a representation of you, your beliefs, your morals, your values, and everything else that defines you at the core of your being.
So answer why you need that yearly salary and we’ll be getting somewhere. Maybe you want to take your family on a vacation. Maybe you want to be debt-free. Maybe you want to be able to pay all your bills without being stressed. Or perhaps your salary goals allow you to donate more to a cause of your choice. No matter what your reason is, the emotion tied to your reason WHY you want what you want is key.
Discovering Your Driving Force
Discovering your driving force isn’t always easy. It can be rather daunting. Just narrowing it down can seem like an overwhelming task. Very few people ever take the time to define a driving force for themselves. Because of that, many of us go through our lives always wondering why we’re here and what our purpose in this world was meant to be. We never truly tap into our driving force, so we continue searching, always trying to reach our true potential.
So many people are living complacent lives, accepting mediocrity and frustration instead of aggressively pursuing something that makes them come alive – something for which they can express passion and joy, and even triumph! Everyone, somewhere deep down inside, wants to feel like their lives matter and like they’ve contributed to something in some way.
The Mid-Life Crisis
I’m sure you’ve heard of the mid-life crisis. At some point, usually in our 40s, we tend to have a shift in perspective about our lives and the world we’re in. We stop thinking in terms of “I have plenty of time” to “Crap. I haven’t really done anything yet and I’m running out of time.” Maybe it’s because health issues start to crop up sometime after we turn 40 strange things happen, like throwing out our back just by getting out of the car. Or, my personal favorite: I ended up with a bulging disc in my neck. Why? Well, I was rinsing my hair in the shower. That’s it! I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary and yet, our bodies start acting like we’re abusing them. Granted I was under a lot of stress at the time and I tend to hold my stress in my shoulders which tensed the muscles. Muscles are strong so when stressed that given the right conditions they can pull our spine or other joints out of alignment. Ouch!!
When we become complacent and accepting of mediocrity and frustration as normal, and just part of life, we forget to step outside of our comfort zone and try new things.
My goal is to help you change that and we’re going to start by defining what you want and why you want it. You may have participated in something like this before, but our goals change so be sure not to skip this exercise. Your driving force can never be re-examined or crystalized too often.
Exercise 1: Defining Your What and Why
Here is your homework for tonight.
Pull up a spreadsheet (you can also do this on paper but I personally like the ability to move, sort, or expand on thoughts in a spreadsheet). If you choose to use paper, take out a piece of lined paper and divide it in half.
You’re going to make a numbered list of all the things you WANT in one column followed by a column of WHY you want each thing or goal for your life.
Come up with as many goals as you possibly can. A lot of people like to come up with a list of 100 Goals, or 101 Goals. Coming up with that many as well as the reasons as to why could take you a few days, so for this exercise come up with as many as you can. Perhaps focus on your top 10-15 for now. If you have more time, that’s great. List more. You can always add more to the list as you have time. For now, we just want to at least get you started.
Keep in mind that the more you add to the list, the more you’ll discover about yourself and you’ll see so many new opportunities for yourself. As you start to work on some of your goals, you’ll also see that things start to get crossed off the list and that is such a rewarding feeling. When we set our minds to something, we start to see progress. Knowing what we WANT and WHY we want it is the first step.
So take some time tonight to build your list. We will be taking it another step further tomorrow.
Exercise Takeaway
The key to this exercise
Take me for example. I’ve always loved helping others to succeed. This started with me working with businesses to build websites for them that actually produced results. Then I moved into projects more specific to marketing and driving traffic to people’s websites. Through Simply Yes! Marketing, I consult businesses and entrepreneurs on strategies and help them to generate leads through targeted ads and sales pages. I also help people to succeed in living more joyful, compassionate, healthy and balanced lives on a holistic level through my Reiki and Massage Therapy practice. Soon, I will be on a path to help large groups of individuals to shift their lives into a life full of passion, joy
My goal and passion of helping others succeed hasn’t changed, but the method of delivery has. So never stop looking at what you want and why you want it. Don’t be afraid to keep reaching for the next level or that new opportunity.
If you’d like to share your lists of WHAT and WHY, feel free to reach out via the contact form or use the comment section below this article. I’d love to see what you come up with!
Tomorrow we’ll be taking a deeper look at our goals and talking about creating objectives so that you can start to narrow down the method(s) of action based on your driving force.
