Time for 3 Big Ideas!
Today we’re gonna learn:
1. Life’s 3 big questions and how to answer them
2. How to pick lasting ambitions
3. And The psychology behind staying on track
Starting… now!
Intro
Dream Big by Bob Goff.
Bob Goff is a New York Times bestselling author. He’s written many books, is the founder a nonprofit organization helping children overseas and is a Professor, to just scratch the surface.
Dream Big.
So you sleepwalk through life most of the time, then in those moments when you finally widen your eyes with anticipation, you can’t follow through…
This book is to help you end the repeating cycle of being encircled by flies, starting something new, losing interest, and then returning to the fly fest.
Get ready to dream big – and act big. He asks, “What will you do with your one extraordinary life?” and then gives you the equipment to help get you to the top of your mountain.
So what are 3 Big Ideas from this book?
1. The Ice Cap
Who are you? Where are you? What do you want?
Life’s 3 big questions; the questions that have to be pinned down before life-progress is even possible.
who are you is what’s “under the ice cap” of ‘you.’
*Ice cap throughout this part* you feel excited about things differently compared with other people. You have different likes and drives. “If we can learn what the core motivations behind our actions are, then we can learn where they came from and take the action necessary to make progress forward.”
He recommends counseling or talking to friends and family or meditating on your makeup by yourself.
Once you know what horse you’re racing with, you’ve got to find the starting line.
Answer the question where are you not in terms of geography but biography. He points out this is a moment to be honest because the more accurate you get, the better equipped you’ll be moving forward.
Maybe you’re:
- Trapped in your addiction
- Coasting in your marriage
- Selling yourself short, taking the easy route
- Living in fear that you’ll be discovered
- Going too fast, missing the moments with your family?
You can’t know how to get somewhere without first knowing where you are to begin with.
Informed by the first two questions you ask the final one, what do you want?
2. Sifting through Ambitions
Getting to the gold nuggets within your desires isn’t actually that difficult if you know the right steps to follow.
The first thing to do is to lay it all out. No big filter, just everything you want and desire. Should look something like his list… ***
Your list could include I want to “learn French, hike the pacific trail, ride an ostrich, perform heart surgery on the queen…”
Once you’ve listed all of your ambitions, it’ll be time to separate the ‘worthy of our time and effort’ from the chaff.
Put each ambition through the gauntlet.
- Is it meaningful? Which overarching purposes will these ambitions serve? Is this aim meaningful or expedient? *wink*
- Will it last? What’s the shelf-life? Will it matter in a year? Ten years?
- What’s its legacy – would you put your name on it? How would it be talked about?
- Is it realistic? Can you solve world hunger from where you are in your life? Would you ever really get the call if the queen suddenly needed a double bypass?
- Is it all about you? Living life with only you in mind is a ticket to a small world. There’s more fulfillment to be found in finding the smiles of others alongside yours.
- Is it someone else’s ambition? If you’re doing it for someone else and their expectations for you, consider if it’s the right thing to do to keep it on the list.
- Is it exciting? You can use excitement as a quick measurement of how much you really care about it.
The handful of ambitions that make it through the gauntlet should remain rock solid against the crashing ‘trial and tribulation’ waves of life.
“Worthwhile ambitions, when they’ve been vetted, have staying power.”
Now Instead of you as the usual fly feeding dilettante, you’re in position for a life of purpose, legacy, and fulfillment.
Now onto the finish line.
3. Preparing your path and mind
Time to be a quitter.
Really.
Clear the path for your ambitions by quitting things that you don’t need to do.
“Ambitions you value need space.”
He says he quits something every Thursday. It keeps life fresh and it keeps him free for opportunities. He asks, is this serving my ambitions or getting in the way? And if something he’s doing is just there for the free ride, he gets rid of it.
You have to be picky with how you spend your time because there are opportunity costs. You spend time, energy, and resources with every choice. Prioritize your ambitions and prioritize what you do for those ambitions within the time you’ve laid out for them.
The color of your spaceship matters way less than the propulsion mechanism.
Keeping focused on important and meaningful things requires no’s and plenty of room and intent.
Now with path cleared and course laid, it’s time to begin.
“The minute between planning and taking action is the difference between daydreamers and real dreamers.”
But this isn’t where we fade into credits -
The movie has only just begun.
There are going to be pressures that come with pursuing a fulfilling and purposeful ambition that desperately want to see you scowling with that cloud of flies again.
-Haters and naysayers. The people around you who don’t want the best for you, but want the safe and predictable you. It can even be friends and family members. Sometimes they don’t even know they do it but they expect certain things from you and when they don’t get them, they don’t like it, and you feel it.
-Comparison. He tells a story of an Olympian sharpshooter who in the last round for gold hit the center of the bull’s-eye – of someone else’s target – which lost him a place on the medal stand. Comparing ourselves to others is aiming for their targets. “We can tie our hearts together without tying our shoelaces together.”
-Fear. The big one. Fear leads to indecision and perfectionism and procrastination, a fear of failure that rests on a poor way of conceptualizing yourself and a poor way of conceptualizing failure.
Failure is normal. “Normal doesn’t mean pleasant, it just means common for people who will take the risks necessary to get after their ambitions.”
Who you are is not IF you fail - it’s how you fail. “A setback is a failure we need to understand. An impediment is an obstacle we need to navigate around or through.”
To beat the fear of failure is to understand that failure doesn’t define us, it informs us.
Making space for ambitions and knowing how to deal with the pressures of ambition will help keep you on track.
Now with your path laid out, your gear on, and your mind right, start toward that finish line, checking periodically to make sure you haven’t lost it.
Remember what you are aiming at and why so you don’t lose your way, and say goodbye to those flies!
Recap
Take the time to find out Who you are, where you are, and what you want, to bring your aims into view.
Be selective with your aims if you want them to last. Test them for their meaningfulness and importance.
To move forward you’ll need to prepare your path and your mind. Quit things and say no for the sake of your pursuits and change the way you think about failure in order to learn from it and keep moving.
This was a great book and Bob Goff deserves his status. His formula for achievement is laid out and supported with stories and metaphors and examples. And he’s a great storyteller, from heartwarming rock climbing stories, intense stories of his times overseas, and tragic stories with silver linings, all purposefully woven in to help fortify the concepts.
There’s not a lot in here that you haven’t heard before if you’re a self-improvement buff – but his style is unique in that he’s relatable and not better than you – he leaves his phone number in the book and tells a story of using the wrong thermometer.
It’s a book I’d recommend if you are looking to be motivated and entertained.
It might be necessary to point out that it has Christian themes but You don’t need to be Christian to get this book, the Christian instances aren’t necessary to the main points.
For more on the topics in the review and more from the book that I didn’t get to, like the importance of small steps and how to magnetize yourself for opportunities, go get the book yourself! Links below.
It’s been so long since we’ve posted. We bit off a more than we could chew with a big project that took us over a year that we thought we’d be done with by now that we still haven’t finished. But that is coming down the pipeline. In the meantime look for more shows coming from us!
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Bye!