Yes! I survived the plague! And sorry for the absence eh! I sure hope that no one out there was holding their breath for the last couple of years waiting for me to post. Ok...so my readership peep count is not very high. But one can dream, right?
My absence wasn't because I had a mental breakdown over the "you know what." It was more about not wanting to add to it. It was the topic of discussion no matter where you went. I really didn't want to contribute to it. Think about it. How many times did you get together with friends, family, or the kinda strange people wearing tinfoil hats sitting in a park on a bench not knowing the bus really doesn't stop there? We found ourselves constantly talking to others about something related to the "you know what?" Every single F%&$#ing time!
Sometimes we tend to get focused on things that we have no control over. It consumes us and causes lots of anxiety. But have you ever been in a situation where even though you had no control over what was going on, it was the only thing you could think about. Like damn! Why is the self checkout line at Walmart slower than the human lines? We really just need to take the mindset bias that evolves from these situations and just break our state just like your mom did when you were making lots of noise whilst jumping on the bed when you were a kid. Her threatening a shoe throw stopped you dead in your tracks because you knew she was accurate. Those situations trigger our fight or flight perceptions which then triggers the same anxiety you would feel if put in a dangerous situation. Just like navigating the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store during the "you know what." Mind you, if the anxiety was because you are in the path of a massive tsunami or Sharknado, I would definitely recommend running to higher ground or into a cave. Good thing Sharknados only happen on the coast.
But how do you stop that loop? How do you break your state? Unfortunately there is no easy answer to doing that because you first have to become aware. Awareness is the hard part. One you aware, you only have one box you have to check off in those situations. And that's the check box which asks if are you in a safe place and is that really an avocado flying at your head? If you become aware that you have no control over what is going on and can confirm that you are safe, then what? Well folks, that is where a growth mentality starts to take hold. Because once you shift yourself away from the uncontrollable, you can now focus on what you CAN control.
This is one of my favorite quotes that totally sums up growth for me:
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
– Harriet Tubman
Whenever I read that that quote I just go "WOW!". We are all dreamers to some degree. Dreams do not just what happen in you sleep. The also get created when you are awake. When you start thinking about a new project, a new house, a different job, a trip, chopping down a tree. No matter what it is, anything that you visualize as a focused goal is considered a dream at first. For people that become aware and move toward change, this functions as a catalyst for a shift towards a growth mentality. It includes the little things too. I had a dream that my cell phone bill was down to zero. I imagined myself paying it and felt the emotion of how amazing it was to have a zero balance. The context of that is just to simplify exactly how a dream can become a focused goal. And that a focused goal can then be shifted into reality through action taken by you. The first part of focused goal setting is to dream of how it would feel to attain that which you dreamt of achieving. And here is the awesome part. It is easy to dream of something that you can feel the positive emotional energy of achievement for. It is just the first step towards that action which is the hardest. But what Harriet Tubman was really driving home was the formula of how you can affect change on many different levels. The formula is simple and easy to apply to anything:
Strength + Patience + Passion = Change
You dream by reaching for the stars with a purpose for wanting change. You use your strength to put it into action. And you temper all of the above with patience. You need to be aware that focused goals, and life in general, have to be treated like a science experiment. There is no such thing as "mistakes" or "failures." Only results. Having that patience is knowing that when you are not getting the results you dreamed of, change parts of your process to get a different result. Like hitting the side if your computer when the printer doesn't work. Did that work? No? Then try something else like banging your mouse on your desk. All you need to be is aware that your goal should be fluid and constantly evolving.
The source of that dream is passion. Some people out there, such as Elon Musk, have that passion and on a grander scale. I mean, who else had the idea to have booster rockets land by themselves after a major rocket launch? What about the patience required to just try, and try, and try again? With every "try," changes were applied to the process to finally get the result he was looking for. And why didn't anyone else try to be develop the same idea? Its because Elon's dream was fueled by his personal passionate dream of producing self landing rocket boosters. He had the strength to put that dream into action. And the result is we now have booster rockets that land by themselves. And that change shifted his business. How cool is that? And Elon, if you are reading this, thank you for being such a great example of how this all works. And if you are ever in Regina, Saskatchewan Canada, we should have a beer!
So there you go. I really wanted t to hammer home the point that you all have the tools within you to accomplish anything you put your mind focus towards. Just be open and aware that your idea can evolve. Use your passion to dream big. Have the strength to put that dream into action. And have patience in your process to make the necessary changes for your goal to evolve. And always try, try, and try again!
Be amazing until next time!
Glenn
