Have you written down what you want, lately?

Not what you have to do, or all you HAVE to do.

I mean:

Have you held a pen in your hand and let words come out of your mind so you can see them on the paper?

Not just any words. Phrases…sentences…paragraphs even.

And not just about anything.

What are your goals? Your hopes? Your dreams?

You have them. You think about them. Now, it’s time to acknowledge them, write them down, start working on them, and most importantly…ask for help in achieving them.

One of my mentors (who I never met, by the way) said:

“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

That was Peter Drucker, and today his words are as important as ever.

Tomorrow (August 13th, 2016) I will race in the USA Triathlon National Championships here in Omaha, Nebraska. This event comes at a point in my life where a LOT of hard work, schedule conflicts, injuries and plans had to happen to get here.

How do you choose a goal that’s big and break it down in to something you can not just dream about, but manage?

How do you achieve what seems impossible?

• Change how you think, you’ll change what you believe.
• Change what you believe, you’ll change what you do.
• Change what you do, you’ll change what you achieve.
• Change what you achieve, you’ll change what you accept.
• Change what you accept…well, that’s the key isn’t it?

Let me explain:

Think to Believe.

A lot of people try “will power” to work on their to do lists and projects. They think that the “Future Them” will be totally lined up with the “Current Them,” and they make these long, unclear, incomplete lists of “Should Dos” (not really Must Do Items).

The thinking that I’m talking about here is more than just letting your mind wander. It’s directing your focus. It’s taking those thoughts that might otherwise flee, and grabbing on to them. Holding on to them. Expanding, magnifying, and even feeling them.

This afternoon while I was Carter Lake here in Omaha after I registered for the race and racked my bike in transition, I stood on the platform where we’ll start the swim. I looked down the line of buoys and held my focus there for more than 3 minutes. I saw myself swimming along the line. With my feet in the water, I imagined the noise of a thousand athletes all pushing for the same goal.

Believe to Do.

When it comes time to Do (to Act, to Work, to Get It Done), you can’t hope your way through. It won’t work to think that you can do it. You have to believe. You have to know, that no matter what at some point after you begin, there’s going to be a “there” that is different than “here.”

Maybe this is where it all falls apart. You see, too many times people do this wrong. And, look, my hand goes up in the air. I used to do it wrong as well. You see, what you DO is going to map to the world you believe is possible. So, as I’m writing this blog post, do I believe it’s possible for me to publish it?

Do to Achieve.

Doing. Doing. Doing. Tell me, when do you call it done? You see, there are SO many things you’re managing (me too, by the way) that don’t have natural end points. There is no goal line to being a good husband. To taking care of my home and land. To spending time with my friends. To serving my clients. To… you get it.

Your “doing” needs “done.” Of course, it’s all along the way. (Or, somethings things are IN the way, but that’s for another post.) You need to achieve more, and you need to call them done. You need to be able to say, “What I set out to achieve is complete, and now I have a NEXT thing to work on.

Achieve to Accept.

Another mentor I learned a lot from (and, another one I haven’t met…yet) is Dr. Lorraine Monroe. Years ago, she spoke at a conference and a friend bought me the AUDIO cassette. In there she said one line that I listened to so many times, I started to wear down that part of the program. She said,

“You get what you accept.”

That changed my life. That one sentence made everything different. Whether it was about my profession, my relationship with Jodi, my health, my friendships… all of it.

Occasionally, people around me “call me out” for when it seems like I’m rude to people I’m with. You see, I’m that guy. That guy. If in the course of a conversation you say something that offends me. If you do something offensive. If it seems like you’re on a side that I’m not - and never - going to visit, I’m going to walk away.

Don’t get all uppity here, just ask yourself when YOU stayed in a conversation with someone LONG past the point where you thought you’d ever want to sit with them again. If it has ever happened, rest assured, you got what you accepted.

Accept to… Think again.

You see, here’s the interesting thing (and, I’ll bring this back around to Triathlon now)…once you start accepting things to be a certain way, you’ll find that you can expand on that thinking. It’s powerful stuff to have a thought and then magnify that thought, and then do it again!

When I started accepting that I was a competitive Age-Group Triathlete, I made it more and more ok to think bigger and bigger. I practiced with that in mind. I planned with that in mind. I traveled with it in mind as well.

60 months from now, you’re going to be doing what you’re doing, having what you’re having, thinking what you’re thinking based on who you spend time with this week. What if you started to change that up a little…might you change the kinds of Goals, Hopes and Dreams you think of?

See you out there, I got a race to rest for…