Goals

Direction Part 1

/ bjstagner / Leave a comment

IMG_59125C97E164-1

Click here for the fully formatted version

Direction

“It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behaviour is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction.”  – Warren Buffet

“Where are you going?”

Some may answer this question:  Physically by saying: “Well, I am going to work, the gym or home”.  Others may answer the question, temporarily by saying: “Well, after work I am going to the market for food”.  Whilst others may answer philosophically by saying: “Who is really going anywhere and are we really here?”.  Yet others will answer, brutally by saying: “I am going nowhere!”.  The latter may be the most honest answer in some cases.

So it is time for you to ask yourselves this question, “Where are you going?” 

This question is not being addressed in the temporal, meaning the immediate (such as what you are doing for lunch), but there are many immediate answers which lead up to the answer of “where are you going?”  

As we open our third dialogue in the Mindset series on this very topic, we know a disciplined mind which has made the tough, however correct decisions, will now realise there is a need of Direction in their life.  This is an unavoidable part of a successful life, one in which the Disciplined mind has developed, continual practice and application of the proper decisions will open up to the reality that Direction is needed.

Listen carefully, at this stage or point in life…

  • Wishing is useless…
  • Hoping is pointless…
  • Floating is deadly…and
  • Talking is a cheap byproduct of wasted time!
  • My friend, there is a grave difference in talking, planning and wanting to do something and actually DOING it.  

The word “Doer” is defined as “a maker, a producer, author; a performer; one who obeys or fulfils the law”.  The “doing” is vitally important, it is where Discipline and Decisions are revealed.  It is where our life takes on meaning and purpose, it is where Direction is revealed in us and through us.  Many will talk and even more will plan, plot and plod, but the doers in this life are far and few between.  The difference between doing and talking, is merely a choice.

The direction we take must begin with an:

Order

Outside of an order, structure if you will, chaos and uncertainty are created.  Fear will weigh one down in a bog of mindless rebuttals of failed choices in life with out order.

The first step of structure within the order of direction is a:

Cut

Herein we find a twofold manoeuvre in the order of direction.  There are simply somethings we must cut out of our life if we want to have a successful direction.  Be it reaching a physical, spiritual, emotional or mental goal.  It really does not matter what or where the goal is, what matters at this point is dead weight be removed.  The things which are hindering you from the success you so dearly desire need to be cut off.  There are dead weights holding many people back, some are unhealthy choices and others may even be people in their life, if you want success – Cut them off!

Secondly, we are to allow a cut in, successful living comes when a direction is cut in a person’s life and cuts deep. We are to cut away the weights, we are to cut away the hinderances  and actions which serve as a distraction and deterrent to living a positive life forming and shaping our direction within a disciplined mindset making the proper decisions.

Do you want to be successful? If so, cut out the weights and cut in the wins!

The second part of having a direction in order would be a:

Cue

A “Cue” is  defined as “a thing said or done to serve as a signal”, in other words, it is a wake up call.  There must be order in the direction of life; structure and schedules to follow such as one will obey (i.e. DO) through the mindset of discipline.  Yes, it takes work, most certainly it will require sweat and great effort.  Many times our biggest enemy is ourselves.  A disciplined mindset desires to make the correct decisions to go in the right direction.  In order for this to occur, integrity is required.  We all have short comings, character flaws which only serve to deter us from our goals.  A cue should serve to wake us up to our discrepancies so we can make the needed corrections enabling us to move forward in the successful direction.  Herein is where honesty leads the way, integrity within oneself allows a true assessment which  reveals the areas in needed correction.  True success will never happen outside of integrity.

Finally, under the heading of order we must:

Continue

It is here our order is found and will flourish.  Here we are, having learned the disciplined mind and decisions made, the direction is clear.  There must be an order, a doing; it is not enough to know, it is not enough to hope, wish or dream… there must be a DOING!

Doing… it is where the rubber meets the road, the difference in talkers and doers, the difference in those who have had big dreams and little do’s and those who have said little, but done much.

Where are you going?  Floating will not work, hoping, wishing and dreaming will not get it done, there must be a Direction….  Remember how it all started,  there is a Vision, Plan and Goals operating in the Disciplined Mindset.  Then there are three Decisions to make: Set the BAR, Be Better and Blame Not.  Now it is time for progress in the right Direction, which begins by having things in order.

 

“We must have direction by taking the correct and accurate steps in life to ensure success.”

Decisions Part 3

/ bjstagner / Leave a comment

Mammatus Lightning bolt, Nebraska, USA

 

Click here for the fully formatted version

Decisions

“Life is made up of moments framed by the choices we make and minutes we live.” – Stag

Decision /dɪˈsɪʒ(ə)n/ noun – “a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration.”

There are some days we just want to stay in bed whilst there are others we cannot wait to charge the day.  Herein is where discipline plays its most vital role, for it enables us to make the pure and proper decision  which will aid in our success even if it is succeeding the mere moment being tempted to quit.

Be Better

Thus far we have come to understand in making the decision to ‘Be Better” requires one to not Settle but rather to Stand.  This may sound like an easy task, but there is a third attribute required whilst one strives to be better, one in which will function to solidify the first two which is, we must be:

Strong

To Be Better, means we must not to Settle and we must STAND, but in order to achieve both we must be strong.  Herein is where most will muddy up the water so to speak.  Everyone will be tempted to settle back and click the cruise control in life.  We find this especially true when it comes to business and home.  In business, anyone can start a company, beginning requires no great talent, in reality.  A little money, a catchy phrase and a few people who believe in what one is peddling, there you go.  It is the building and maintenance which is difficult.  Being able to stay out of the fringe elements yet in front of the competition requires being strong.  Having a passion for continual growth within self and the surroundings requires a strength, such strength very few people possess.  Again, anyone can start something, it is the building, growing, following through and finishing strong which has become a massive rarity in our world today.

It is seen in business, school, sports etc… we hear phrases like: “Well I’ve done my time…” or “We put in so much work…” or “I think we have done enough…”

Let me say this and make it clear, there will come a day when we are not able to do physically, mentally or emotionally the things we can do now, and yes, twenty years ago you may have worked harder in the body than you are capable of doing so today, but that does not mean you have to be weak.  You do not have to be weak in mind or body, you have a choice to be strong! Just because you cannot move as fast as you once did or you are not as strong as you used to be, does not mean we quit, it surely does not mean we settle, it means we are to STAND where we are and be STRONG in who we are!

The same is true in the home, our relationships.  Marriage requires work, it is a regular and honest examination of yourself to ensure you do not hit the cruise control button in life.  I have taught for twenty years, always continue dating your spouse, keep the ‘honey’ in the honeymoon and keep the honeymoon hot.  We should be passionate about what and WHO we love and for that reason keep both of them hot.  This may embarrass some who are reading this, but just think about it for a moment, when a new business is started and begins to grow, there is a buzz an excitement about it, things are fresh and fiery.  The same is true when you begin dating.  If the business is going to be a success, it will do so by maintaining the buzz and the burning desire to be the best.  Guess what, the same is true in our relationships, if it will be the best relationship two people can have, then you are going to have to maintain the buzz and burning desire to love, honour and appreciate one another.  Now, maybe you want to have some stale, boring marriage, not me!  I don’t want boring in my business nor in my home at the end of the day I want to finish strong in life with fervour and a fierce attitude toward life striving to be better every single day!

When all the dust settles and you can see clearly…there is a realisation which sets in…It is not only for your benefit to be better… there are countless others who, believe it or not, are depending on us.  Be the best you, NOW and stop comparing yourselves to what you used to be.  Time moves on and waits for no one and therefore we must move with it…Just BE BETTER!

These are two of the three major Decisions we must make in our life to set the Bar and to Be Better.  Here is the kicker, to repeat myself, when all the dust settles and we begin to see clearly, the realisation sets in, there are countless others who are depending on us to be Strong… to Stand… to not Settle…and to just BE… Better…

Decisions Part 2

/ bjstagner / Leave a comment

Mammatus Lightning bolt, Nebraska, USA

Click here for the fully formatted version

“We have this one life to live and to live requires decisions.”

Decision /dɪˈsɪʒ(ə)n/

noun – a conclusion or resolution reached after consideration.

We began this second topic of Decisions by establishing the fact we must choose to set the Bar… What I mean is we must make the decision to set the bar, to lift up the standard as opposed to simply talking, reading or listening to great plans and ideas of doing so.  Our second decision is a choice to: 

Be Better

We saw in our last edition the decision to ‘Be Better” requires one to not Settle.  Well secondly, making such an important decision includes taking a:

Stand

Can I say something right here, which may come across a bit strong?  Man, take what you want!  I am not referring to stealing, I am making a statement of STANDING!  Success in this life requires one to come under the realisation, NO ONE in this world will do it for you.  If you want it, go get it. 

You must take the opportunity to stand, to seize the moment and capitalise on the opportunity given to press toward the mark.  You and you alone must take the initiative to set the goal then destroy it.

Let’s be honest, anyone can hit a mark set by the mediocre norms in society.  Again, to Be Better, simply means to just be better than yesterday, to be better than last week, last month or last year. We should set goals based upon the plan established through the vision within the disciplined mindset and make the decision to PULL THE PIN.  Execute the decisions of setting the Bar and just Be Better, that’s all you have to do.  Remember, to DO NOTHING, is a stagnant path ending in failure!

Now you may be asking, “why should I stand?” (Well, in reality, I am going to ask back “why not?”).  Why wouldn’t you stand?  We must get it through our head no one, in reality is a second or third class citizen.  Even when others are treating them as such, you do not have to accept someone else’s view of yourself giving them the power to determine who or what you are or may become. 

So, if you will buy into the idea the power to be better is within yourself, why would you settle and sit?  There is no rhyme nor reason for it.  Therefore stand, for we have no excuses to quit, we have no reason to settle, but rather every purpose to stand.

Fine, maybe things haven’t worked out the way you planned or dreamed.  Sure, there may be something wrong with your dream, but, this is beside the point…

Even when you feel like sitting… STAND!

Even when you are tired… STAND!

Even when you are at your wits end… STAND!

Mikko Salo was asked why he doesn’t lie down after a completing a chest-to-bar Fran in a time which would have placed him first in the event at the 2008 CrossFit Games.  His response was quite methodical, yet definitively disciplined, he said “I once read an article about it: when animals surrender they go lying on their back,” Salo explains. “From then on I decided I would never go lying on my back. It’s a sign of weakness and surrendering. I’m never lying on my back.”

“Just STAND… go get what you want and just Be Better!

Discipline – Goals Part 2

/ bjstagner / Leave a comment

 

graphic design

Click Here for the fully formatted version

Goals Part 2

“You cannot reach what you cannot see, goals must be achievable, attainable and applicable.”

Striving for excellence isn’t a hobby, it is a lifestyle.  It is a lifestyle shaped through habitual living of daily repeated processes which require labour to overcome the temptation of following choices leading us away from the success we so greatly desire.

So, what this means is the temptation to quit and follow the status quo of a sedentary society will come, it will be a battle we face, sometimes every day.  Just remember, don’t sacrifice the permanent, upon the altar of the immediate!  

Goals – Attainable & Applicable

Our goals, as mentioned before, must be achievable, whilst at the same time they are also to be Attainable and Applicable. 

Attainable in the fact our goals must bear a realistic purpose within your daily walk.  Say for instance we set a goal to walk on water.  Well, the reality is we will fail in reaching this goal; gravity in conjunction with the solid v. liquid equation will win every time. (There was only One person to ever do this and none of us are Him).  Why? You may ask.  Because there is no PURPOSE for it, walking on water was a sign, and we are not living in an age of signs.  The same holds true for our goals, in every aspect, they need to be attainable, not so much as making them so simple they are without labour; there must be a ‘cost’ to reaching goals based upon our plan encouraged through the vision.  Attainability does not remove the sweat and pain of the victory.  It does in fact, insert the purpose for setting the goal which will in the darkest of moments assist in pressing us forward to reach beyond our assumed limitations.  Once we see the goal and realise its attainability, then we see clearly the third requirement… which is applicability. 

Applicable is much the same, whereas the attainable portion of our goals asks “to what end?” (i,e. purpose), the applicable part addresses the question of “why such an end?” (i.e.product).  Asking oneself, ‘what is the end goal?’ at the outset is vital.  It will determine the strategy, the requirements, the price one is willing to pay in order to produce the reward at the end.  This method of evaluation allows us to count the cost and assess whether or not the end is worth the means.  

Sometimes, within this functionality we are faced with a greater cost than worth.  This does not always mean an instant ‘redline’ through the goal, but rather a separation of the two.  Meaning, maybe your goal is to increase your earning potential by 50%.  This is a great goal, but when measured through the lens of applicability, you find it will cost you too much time away from family, friends or other aspects of your life.  Instead of removing the goal, you extend the time limit.  Rather than striving to succeed in eighteen months, you extend the date to thirty-six months and all is well.   

So, what goals do we have and why? To what purpose are they going to serve and why?

Attainability and Applicability,  two key avenues working seamlessly within the goals of a disciplined mindset.  Just remember, these latter two are pointless without the first one of Achievability being accomplished.   Without recognising the Achievability of our goals, we will never understand their attainability and applicability,  much less meet them.

“We don’t always see the victory, even when it is there.”