We are always practicing something….
I heard something the other day I loved, “We are always practicing something.” That is a pretty powerful statement if you pause and think. What do you practice daily? You see this question doesn’t only pertain to training for a marathon or preparing for a speech, you practice life. Now that you have paused, I’ll ask again… “What do you practice daily?” Do you practice integrity? Do you practice the core skills of your trade? Do you practice leadership? Do you practice personal accountability and positive thinking? I’m sure you see the flip side of this coin now and where this note is headed. Do you practice making excuses? Do you practice shifting blame? Do you practice searching for that “silver bullet”? Do you practice the art of “I’ll do it later? Do you practice goal achievement or delusions of grandeur? You see, whatever we practice we become better at….so understand that you have practiced your entire life to be where you are and who you are today. What would your closest friend say you mastered through practice? Your partner? I write this not from the soapbox, but from personally standing in front what Debra Seaver, (a brilliant colleague of mine) would call a full length mirror. So what do you really want out of life? What might you need to practice daily to achieve that?
A couple of thoughts about life mastery….that is what we are talking if I wasn’t clear earlier. This subject is tough, it is work and your life will not change unless you want it bad enough. I thought paragraph two in this note might be about “ways to practice for life mastery”. Frankly only ten percent of those that read this would actually implement those how to’s long enough to change their life. So this paragraph is actually about what YOU want because until you figure that out, see the work required to achieve that and still are not swayed from that path only then will you start practicing what is required for the life you desire. How do you know what you want? Quick exercise on values…list your 5 core values…no seriously write them down. Are you done? So what are they? Let’s say #1 is family….what have you done lately to enhance those relationships? If that truly is your #1 value that is where the majority of your effort is spent right? So what is your “family practice”? Are you afraid family might be work and you don’t want it to feel that way? I thought that way too until I realized that the vision for my family life was not going to be achieved by the actions that came natural to me…so that tells me it is going to take effort to achieve the vision I desired in my family life. Knowing family might be work is it still your #1 value? Once you have your values aligned and in order it is time to define benchmarks while thinking without limits…five years is a good place to start. What I want you to do is pretend that we are having a conversation 5 years in the future, in this conversation I want you to be able to tell me the last 5 years were phenomenal….what would have to happen in your life in order for you to say that. Use your 5 core values as areas for this exercise. WRITE THEM DOWN and they must be specific and measurable. For example,
- Family – Annual Family Reunions, Only working 3 weeks per month, etc.. college fully funded for children
- Personal Growth – First Book Published, Master Toastmaster, Fluent in Spanish & French
- Business – Net Worth 7MM, 1st Book Published with deal for 2 more, 25% equity share in 2 businesses, passive income to cover expenses. Help my wealth determiners achieve their 5 year goals.
- Health – 6 Pack, 170 Cholesterol and 120 over 80 BP, Maintaining a weight of 175lbs. Annual ½ marathon completed.
- Friendships – Annual Guys trip, 1 financial opportunity to a friend every year, monthly gatherings of all friends. 12 new friends per year. 1 annual trip with friends.
Do you see how this works? It starts by defining what you would fight for and I mean fight to the death, not just a playground pushing match. Do you have even a single goal you would put in that category? Understand it is not the end of the world if you don’t, just practice asking big questions about your life daily and the clarity will come at some point. Also understand that the above exercises create moving targets, life changes can change your core values and alter your plan, be OK with that. Life mastery is about succeeding in the storm, not just enjoying the nice weather.
In closing, self help gurus show us how to think, provide us very trendy advice on life mastery and it is all very entertaining, but truly profound once you understand why you push forward when the universe conspires against you. This clarity is a prerequisite to obtaining everything that has escaped you in life, a prerequisite to unlocking your dreams. Again, without that clarity, practice asking bigger questions about your life and until clarity is realized “act as if”.
another late night blog post by Brett Boettge – TL|CEO Keller Williams Realty
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