Quit Dreaming and Start Doing!

Gaining an Edge, Get Better, Go Full Speed, Goal Setting, Motivation, Never Quit, Personal Mastery, Professional Development

Depositphotos_48129475_m-2015I was listening to my Lawn mowing playlist while cutting the back 40 last week and Rockstar by Nickleback came on.  There are some words of wisdom in this song:

I’m through with standing in line

To clubs we’ll never get in

It’s like the bottom of the ninth

And I’m never gonna win

This life hasn’t turned out

Quite the way I want it to be

Tell me what you want?

I want a brand new house

On an episode of Cribs

And a bathroom I can play baseball in

And a king size tub big enough

For ten plus me

Yeah that’s what you need!

I’ll need a credit card that’s got no limit

And a big black jet with a bedroom in it

Gonna join the mile high club at thirty-seven thousand feet

I want a new tour bus full of old guitars

My own star on Hollywood Boulevard

Somewhere between Cher and James Dean is fine for me

So how you gonna do it?

I’m gonna trade this life for fortune and fame

I’d even cut my hair and change my name

Then they go on singing about drugs and parties, etc.  In spite of the singer’s quest for a hedonistic lifestyle, the points are pretty important for the rest of us, particularly the little growling questions the singer asks between each stanza.   I think we all go through these phases:

  1. Tell me what you want.  If you talk to most people, they want what they don’t have and might even envy others who have those things.  Wanting and doing are two very different things though.  Instead of wanting things in general, be very specific (brand new house, bathroom I can play baseball in, king-sized tub big enough for 11 people)
  2. Yeah that’s what you need.  Be sure this is really what you need!  Do you NEED it or just WANT it bad.  Either is ok, but be clear.  Will this make you happy in the long term as well or just satisfy an immediate need.  Be clear!
  3. So how you gonna do it?  A goal with no plan is just a dream.  If it’s something you want, put together a plan and a strategy.  What will it cost?  How will you raise the money?  How will you implement it?  How will you hold onto it?  Nothing good comes easy.  Be sure you’re up for it!

There it is.  Three simple lessons from a lawn mowing song.  Profound if you ask me.  This week, stop dreaming and get busy doing!