How Do I Get There?
The question was originally asked in reference to having a
spiritual calling and not knowing how to get to the point where
you're actually serving humanity. It's no different if you are
an entrepreneur with an internal calling to successfully run
your own company, a musician with a calling to perform on stage
for large audiences, or a writer with a calling to see their
books published. It's really all the same. If you have a vision
in your mind's eye of yourself happy and successful while
performing your daily work, then you have to figure out how to
get there from where you are today. There are basically three
approaches that you can choose from.
The first one is to just do whatever feels right at the time.
This is can involve intuition, divine guidance, or some form of
following the end of your nose. Logically, this approach should
have you wandering in circles, not really getting anywhere, or
at best arriving after a long indirect journey. Most of the
time, this method won't get you anywhere but back where you
started with a lot of stories to tell. The ironic thing is, that
there are folks out there who have amazing success with this
approach. It's almost as if a little bird is on their shoulder
whispering in their ear and pointing the way. In all honesty, I
cannot tell you not to use this method if it's what works best
for you.
The second approach is the classic goal setting concept taught
by many coaches. Research like crazy what the normal logical
steps from Point A to Point Z are. Find out exactly how long it
will take to achieve each and every step along the way. Then
figure out your own personal time line incorporating your family
obligations, personal level of motivation, and any other
dynamics that might effect your ability to accomplish the goal.
Then you plot out a very carefully laid out plan of step by step
mini-goals to accomplish in order until you arrive at the
desired destination. Not very exciting but it has a really high
success rate. People who can do their homework and really follow
a plan every step of the way have a fairly high chance of
succeeding. However, I've also seen folks who use this method
and never get anywhere. Their well laid out plans keep getting
sidetracked or they keep hitting these mystery walls that keep
them from moving forward.
The third method is a reverse of the second method. You look at
folks who are already successfully at Point Z and visualize how
your personal Point Y looks just before you step into Point Z.
Then you visualize yourself successfully doing Point Y and how
you got there from Point X. Then you visualize yourself
successfully doing Point X and how you got there from Point W...
and so on and so on. It's something like reverse engineering.
The idea is that you still end up with a well thought out plan
of steps to take but they are visualized as to how you
personally would most likely have arrived at that final
destination. I have only recently heard of this approach and
don't know what kind of success rate it has, but it makes some
sense to me. I suspect that it could work fairly well for people
who are into positive affirmations and using positive
visualizing as a form of motivation.
Personally, I use a bit of all three blended together. For
example, let's say that I see myself as a dynamic witty guest on
the Oprah Winfrey Show. I would take time to imagine how that
came to be... How did she come to get my books in her hands so
that she could fall in love with them? and go backwards from
there. At the same time, I research everything I can get my
hands on about my industry and have a rough outline of the step
by step plan from where I am now to where I'm going. I don't
write it in ink though. I pencil in my goals, but am open to the
spirits, intuition, and whim of the day that may send me down a
trail that will get me closer to the end goal. I may decide that
I'm going to go from Point A to Point B and then skip Points C
and D because according to my research they are not all that
helpful. From there I'm going to Point E and then jumping over
to L. How I get there isn't quite known yet, because I'm going
to trust my intuition, happenstance, and those little voices in
my head to guide me. I also leave it open for complete changes
in direction. Nothing is ever really written in stone.
I spent years beating myself up for taking so long to get to my
spiritual calling. I have not accomplished all that I set out to
do nor have I accomplished all that the spirits have asked me to
do. I haven't even come close to the visions they originally
showed me of my future, but I am definitely on the right track
and am enjoying the journey without guilt over timelines. That
would be the most important thing I could tell you. Enjoy the
journey from Point A to Point Z for in the journey is the life
stories. How would life be if we could simply snapped our
fingers and poof we were suddenly transformed into whoever or
whatever we wanted to be without the lessons and the wisdom
gained from the journey?
Yes, we should love the goals we are working towards, and the
blessings we will receive for accomplishing them. Love of our
dreams gives us the motivation to work through the many many
steps involved in achieving them. Life should be a series of
wonderful adventures we experience on the way to achieving our
goals. Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge