How do you really know when you have stumbled upon great idea? When others of higher fame and stature come up with similar ideas, as seen in this blog post from a week back by Tim Ferriss, The Big Question: Are You Better Than Yesterday?
My seemingly great idea is a simple plan to follow that will almost ensure you have a good life. The idea was so good that I actually came up with it twice, in two similar variations to the same theme, within a week. And I luckily had the foresight to jott both down in my Running Notepad list before I lost the essence of the idea.
What makes the plan even better is that I truly wrote it to be very simple to follow, even for someone who has found themselves in a dire situation, and are currently looking straight into what seems like insurmountable odds.
First, you start your journey to a great life by having just one good moment. Then, you work on having another one, and then another one. You’ll quickly find that working toward having good moments becomes addicting, and as you continue stringing some of your good moments together, back to back, and you’ll soon find you’ll have worked your way into having a few good hours, and then a few good days.
From there, just keep working until you are string together more and more good days, and those will quickly become good weeks, then good months, and then good years...all the way up until you can declare with all your heart you have led a remarkable and good life.
This plan isn’t easy, and it may take more time than you expect to string all those good moments into a good life lived, but the workload is enjoyable and life sustaining. And the good moments are just waiting to be had.
So start right now by declaring this moment as a good moment. Work on having more good moments, and keep stringing them all together. You’ll get to that good life, I promise.
Let’s say you’re shipwrecked. Assuming you’re free from any immediate danger (you’ve got a life raft and some supplies, there are no sharks or pirates lurking, etc.) would right now be the best time to debate with yourself if your nephew would rather have the Wolverine action claws or the Batman cape and mask for his birthday present next week?
You might think there are better things to focus on in a time of crisis, mainly surviving to the next moment. But what good is surviving to the next moment and the next moment and the next moment if you lose the sense of why you should be surviving. Otherwise, the alternative will start to feel more appealing and a lot less of a hassle.
When I when through my 2 days of survival training in the Air Force, the instructors knew that 95% of the cadets that were standing in front of them in the woods were basically on a camping trip and would never need any real field survival tips, but they taught us some mental tricks that would actually roll over well as basic life skills. The most important is the faith that you will survive, and the ability to keep those around you convinced of the same, despite the conditions you are facing. The common scenario for doom would be a group of survivors marching toward what they hope would be safety, where eventually, someone will start muttering “We’re all going to die...” Those words will quickly become a chorus in perfect lock-step harmony if not addressed immediately.
Take a look at the various aspects of your life. Whether it is the fear of more cutbacks and layoffs at work, or the strain of a spousal or parental relationship at home, all the battle plans in the world you can devise to survive an onslaught will do you no good if you’ve got nothing to live for after the war has been won.
Assuming you are not currently in the act of dodging bullets or arrows, now is exactly the right time to be planning that moment you’ll be looking forward too once you step off the field of battle.
"Second place is the first loser." Ricky Bobby (aka Will Ferrell) from Talladega Nights
Today we’ll have a little bonus ‘Quote & Question,’ as my wandering mind came across using a foot race as another metaphor for life. You can throw plenty of old clichés and adages to it: “The race is not to the swift,” “Slow and steady wins the race,” “Life is a marathon and not a sprint”…but then that line for Talladega Nights popped into my head, and my mind was off to the races (pun intended).
One of the few things I know for sure is that in life, you are always either in the lead or playing catch up. Whether you're in the middle of the pack or far, far out the race, if you're not in the first place, you are not in first place.
That was exactly what I have been dealing with in all aspects of my life, as the current economic conditions here is the US has found a way to stymie just about every well laid plan I had conceived in the past few years, and is doing to same to many of my friends and associates. Not only are more people finding themselves out of first place, they are finding themselves getting lapped. It doesn’t matter how far behind you happen to be in the race, if you’re not in the lead, you only register if you’re a threat to take the lead, and you only seriously matter if you actually take the lead.
With so many people unlucky enough to have lost a job recently, the people who are lucky enough to have jobs look like winners well ahead of the pack. In reality, most are just unlucky enough to be stuck where they are because of the lack of jobs out there. They are stuck in jobs they don’t like or jobs with no forward motion for the foreseeable future because of the overall lack of jobs. People are being given new and extra duties on their jobs that are not only insisting that they come out of there comfort zones at work, but some people flat out don’t want to do. It’s becoming a workplace reality for more employees to be overloaded with additional duties that need to get done, but have completely gotten in the way of their career pursuits.
And now, everyone seems to be behind, and all fighting just to place or show, not even targeting the person who is truly in the lead.
And that guy in first place is wondering why there are no threats to his top spot, and why he’s even running so fast anymore…
In a land where everyone loves a long shot, and the leader of the pack will often embrace the role of the villain, we have seemed to have lost it. No one wants to be on top for fear of having to defend their spot, and many racers are too far behind in laps to even make the race interesting anymore. We seem to all be fighting hard for the right to claim first loser than to be the actual winner.
The fourth P is finding 30 minutes a day TO PAUSE. Time to relaxing and unwind from the stresses of the past day so that you can prepare for a fresh one, also the proper time for reflection and putting it down on paper. Whether you call it meditation, prayer, or just finding a way to get out of your own head, the time you spend in a PAUSE from the everyday world will help you separate the important things worth having to worry about from the more mundane life aspects not worth the effort. You’re likely to learn that your life is unnaturally controlled by the more mundane items.
I was looking to challenge myself today in my writing, and found myself surprisingly fixated on wrestler Ric Flair's Space Mountain quote for most of the morning. Not sure exactly way the aging wrestler was in my thoughts, but somehow, inspiration struck because of it.
What you have below is the wisdom gleaned from words of the Nature Boy, one of the greatest athletic and theatrical performers I have ever witnessed. Give it a quick read, and see how much knowledge you can gain for use in your business or personal life.
"This ain't no garden party, brother. This is wrestling, where only the strongest survive."
Make sure what you are getting to is exactly what you want to get into, because chances are, you're going to find the path it takes to get there has plenty of surprises waiting for you just past your line of site. And by surprises, I mean obstacles to your progress and problems that will take you off course. Just know they will appear, and prepare yourself for the journey. Just make sure it is a journey worth taking.
"Girls, you can't be the first, but you can be next."
The world is full of pioneers. You don't necessarily have to be one to be successful and prosperous. In fact, you will probably be doing yourself a favor by following in the footsteps of someone who took the time to blaze a trail ahead of you.
“Space Mountain may be the oldest ride in the park, but it has the longest line.”
Once you’ve established yourself as the bonafide leader, everyone will want a piece of you. And you might be as great as you’ve convinced people that you are, but you are still only one person. Forget the myth of multitasking, you can only handle one request at a time, leading to a slow and plodding process of people constantly trying to work their way to get a little closer to you a little faster then you can handle. Let them wait.
"I'm a limousine ridin', jet flyin', kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin' son of a gun. WOOOO!!"
You've got little choice in your life but to sell yourself, your ideas, or you actual product to the world. If you’re going to sell yourself, you might as well be bold about it as possible. As long as you're not lying about it, sing your own praises to your hearts content.
"To be the man, you've gotta beat the man.”
This has to be Flair's most famous quote, and my second favorite of his (edged out just slightly by the Space Mountain quote). Put plain and simply, if you want something so badly, step up and try to take it. Talk is talk, but only those brave enough to put forward the action needed to make it happen will ever make it happen.
"Whenever they feel like it, the door's wide open."
Oh, and by the way, once you've scratched and clawed your way to the top, your role changes. You are no longer striving to get there. You are there. Now is the time to start striving to stay there, with plenty of up-and-comers looking to take you out, and has-beens looking to take back the spot they used to own. They're coming for you, like it or not. Might as well make them fight for it.
“As long as he understands this is Flair country, it is.”
As long as you’re at the top of the mountain, it’s your world. As long as someone else is at the top of the mountain, it’s their world. Pouting and complaining won’t get you anywhere. Hard work, determination, a little or a lot of time (most likely a lot) will get you somewhere. With a little luck, you’ll actually make it to the top of the mountain. But until you get there, make sure you give plenty of respect to the current king. They’ve earned it.
“My God, thank you. Thank you very much. I'm almost embarrassed by the response, but when I see this, I know that the twenty five years that I've spent trying to make you happy every night of your life was worth every damn minute of it.”
This comes from Ric Flair’s retirement speech to his fans, and the message here is simple. Be courteous to those who offer you support along the way of your journey in business and in life, and be sincere to everyone. Yes, EVERYONE! You can never give to many ‘Thank you’s.’
The third P is finding 30 minutes a day TO PONDER. Time spent reading, learning, and researching to promote mental growth. Your PONDER time is the equivalent of your brain signing up for a mental gym membership and seeing if it will take full advantage. With enough time, you can work through a solution to just about any problem that you find yourself facing.
Here are five super simple steps for getting the most out of life:
Believe: First you have to really know what you want to accomplish. Add to that the true belief that what you want is really possible, and you have the basis of a full start.
Endeavor: Work hard and fail. Work harder and fail some more. Just keep learning and growing from all the hard work and failure. Trial and error will get you their, step by step.
Persevere: Even though all that failing might not seem like the best way to spend your days, you won’t learn what is truly the right way until you figure out what is absolutely the wrong way. Have a little patience and focus on your belief that you’re doing the right thing.
Achieve: Eventually, you will get “there.” You may have found that you have arrived at a different “there” that you had pictured in the beginning, but you have still arrived. Life is filled with constant movement and changes, and your goals are at best a moving target from the start.
Time To Believe Again: You think you’re done? Far from it! Time to find a new goal to reach, a new dream to achieve, and start all over again from your new position.
The steps are simple, even if the reality of life makes there execution a little hard. Follow them anyway.
Go through your day doing more good stuff then bad stuff.
Don’t completely discount the bad stuff. Learn something from it.
Go to bed at a decent hour.
I am working on a few ebooks that I plan to sell for just $1. You’ve just basically read one of them. Would you be willing to pay me that dollar to get the same information again?
As I try to find my spot in the niche business of personal and business development, I am wrestling with the fear that with so many options already out there to choose from, no one will really want to send any money my way.
Larry admitted there are only so many ways a person could really say, "Save more, spend less," but the kicker was that everyone has their own way of saying the same thing. And different people from different backgrounds will only get the gist of a message, even a simple one, from different delivery styles and from different people.
That is why your mom doesn't listen to you but will listen to what your sister would say, even if your message is the same.
That is why eventually I will succeed in getting my message out to the masses.
The second P is finding 30 minutes a day TO PLAY. Time spent exercising with some level of intensity to improve your daily energy levels and overall health. Your PLAY time will ensure you have the strength and stamina to stand up to the rigors of your day, and extend your life to allow you the chance to live that life to the fullest.
Finding Time To Plan: The Four P’s Of Life Management Part 1
You are looking for a way to gain control over your life.
The answer lies in finding the time everyday to devote to the Four P’s of Life Management. The key is devote at least 30 minutes a day to each P.
The first P is finding 30 minutes a day TO PLAN. Time spent evaluating the days and actions that have already past, and planning and looking ahead toward the future. Your PLAN time will help you build the basics of a road map to future success.
Simple Life Coaching: Your Four Step Guide To Success
While I would never suggest that the route to full and lasting success can be obtained by the magic of the following four steps, the magic in the steps can go a long way of helping you to focus on your desired goal.
Step 1: Ask yourself what you truly want to be or achieve.
Step 2: When you wake up every morning, ask yourself if you have become what you wanted to be or have achieved what you wanted to achieve.
Step 3: If the answer is no, immediately come up with at least one thing you can do in the next 12 hours to get you closer to what you want to be or achieve.
Step 4: At the end of your day, review what you have done that day to help you become what you wanted to be or have achieved what you wanted to achieve.
From weight loss to success in multi-level marketing, anyone not asking themselves the simple question of what they actually want to achieve, and then not coming up with some sort of plan and holding themselves accountable to it can never expect to really make it.
All day today I have been trying to work through the general lack of motivation I have fallen into. It started from some dreaded projects at the day job, and has spilled over into the business/side-gig, hanging out with friends and family, exercise, walking the dog...just about every aspect of my life.
Then I came across a blog post from Seth Godin, who was seemingly reading my mind, since basically I’m just not in the mood. An excerpt:
You already know how to deliver excellent service that blows people away. You just don't feel like it. Your organization has the resources to buy that machine or enter that market or change that policy. They're just not in the mood.
I should know better, since my entire business plan deals with presenting information that should come as no surprise about how to manage media and office procedures for businesses and life strategies for your personal life. Not being in the mood is no excuse for not doing a good job. It is a direct violation of my 9th Rule Of Life (Explanation? Yes. Reasons? Sure. Excuses? No Excuses!). I’ve even coined a new mantra at the day job: I’m underpaid. You can either allow me to overproduce and overdeliver for the money you’re spending, or you can watch me give you exactly the service you have paid for. I think its helping. Especially now that I am determined to shake off my bad mood.
Your Daily Dozens: Creating An Active Daily To-Do List
A to-do list is a tool. It is not magic, but the results you will receive from working a to-do list can seem like voodoo or witchcraft for some, based on how unorganized and unplanned you pursuits have been in the past. This post will show you how to create a simple list with a bit of a theme to make it a little fun.
So why are we targeting a dozen items? Because ‘Your Daily Dozens’ sounds cool. If you just want to write down a standard ten item to-do list, or just a listing of as many things you can think off, is up to you.
If you are like most people who seem to do a lot of things in a busy day, but at the end of your days can’t really recall what you have actually accomplished, you will not come up with a dozen items before you get your day started. You understand that the emergencies of the day are different every day, and that you’ll find ways to accomplish things you would have never thought you would have to do.
Creating your list as a starter list will help you get a focus on what you need to accomplish first in your day. As your day goes along, and you gain more tasks you have completed, you can add them to the list. Don’t be ashamed if you don’t end your day with a full 12 tasks completed. And especially don’t be worried if your completed list, or even your starting list, goes past a dozen items. This is just a simple to-do list. It is just a simple tool for organization and prioritization.
Whether you want to use an electronic organizer or just a pocket spiral notebook, you will want to keep your daily lists together so that you can quickly compare your previous days’ efforts, as well as having a way to easily see what unfinished business items you will need to transfer to a next day.
I’ve got some New Year’s advice that you’re probably not going to like.
If you’re holding onto anything that has become old and useless, throw it away. If you’re holding on the anything that is constantly in your way or carrying around something that only has the purpose of weighing you down (excluding ankle weights for a workout, of course), throw it away.
This applies to the mental and emotional hang-ups that have been nagging at you since childhood. This applies to the relationships with people and organizations that do not empower you.
This applies doubly to all the old physical stuff that you’ve collected over time that you truly hate, and do nothing but get in the way and keep you from getting the new things you truly want.
Feeling cluttered and choked by stuff will make you push back any new opportunities that may arrive at your mental or literal door step. You might be afraid to let the opportunity see your place as such a disaster, or you might just know that you have no more room for more stuff, even if it is the good stuff.
Those hard feelings left behind by an old friend who never apologized from doing you wrong. Years of doubt of your success as you have been actively living it. Shoeboxes of old love letters from a lover three love’s ago, or worse, receipts from ten years ago, long reconciled.
In trying to live a life where every space is a place, if that space is just a place holder for something that brings misery, pain, or even no feeling whatsoever, and you could easily replace it with something that would instantly give you joy, what are you waiting for?
Welcome to my new blog. This is where I will chronicle the next phase of mis-adventures of my life. Thank you for staying on the ride, and for you newcomers to the inside of my mental mania, I will do my best to make sure the trip is both entertaining and educational.
Life In Fast Forward: The Blog is still a bit of a work in progress. Keep checking in for new posts and site updates.
About Blog
This blog supports some of the thoughts and interjections from the folks at Fast Forward Business Properties. Our ideas, things we test, and a few random thoughts will show up here.
Name: J. Cleveland Payne
Home: Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
About Me: News is my profession, so it only fits that I am a news junkie. I'm a radio show/segment producer for a news/talk radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas.
