It’s another scorching day here in Vietnam. Rather than leaving today as I had intended, I’ve decided to spend one more night along the coast of the South China Sea in Hoi An. This is a beautiful little town with beautiful little beaches and beautiful little old ladies wearing traditional Vietnamese cone-shaped hats.
There’s a cool ocean-breeze blowing inland today. As I sit here in the shade of a fig tree next to one of the canals that pass through the old part of town, a fisherman just now came over next to me and cast his line into the water. As it flew by, glimmering in the mid-day sunlight, I caught a glimpse of the tiny minnow dangling from it’s hook.
This little minnow got me thinking. While in the western world we’d just buy our fishing bait in a store, since I didn’t see a shopping bag in his hand, I assumed he had caught it himself. Of course, he could have just eaten the little fish right away but instead he chose to use it as bait, casting it back into the water and waiting for a bigger fish to bite. When he catches the next fish he’ll have another decision to make, eat the fish, or cast it in, yet again, and wait for a bigger fish.
Since I love analogies so much, I couldn’t help but apply the principles of catching fish to the principles of catching dreams. It’s perfectly fine to go after the small fish, what you do with them once you catch them, however, is what determines your level of greatness.
Tonight as I waited for the “walk” sign to cross the busy 6-lane street near my home here in Los Angeles, I chuckled as I remembered my recent trip to Egypt. Have you ever played the classic Atari game Frogger?
Crossing the street in Cairo (even when not wearing high-heels and balancing a package on your head) can be a challenge. For the less adventurous, it may even be impossible. There are no crosswalks, no traffic lights, and a never ending stream of moving objects in between you and your destination.
As the light changed and I made my way across the LA street quite effortlessly, I realized an interesting correlation exists between crossing the street in Cairo and accomplishing just about any major goal you set for yourself. Your success in either task has everything to do with your understanding and execution of five key points:
Be Confident; Be Brave. Courage is obviously vitally important. You have to believe in yourself and your destination has to be important enough to warrant the risk you’re about to take.
Don’t Hesitate to Take the First Step. If you hesitate to take your first step, you’ll miss a narrow window of opportunity. The more times you hesitate, the harder it becomes to take that first step and eventually you may find yourself paralyzed by fear.
Focus on your Goal and on the Present. What would happen if you just bolted straight toward your goal without taking into account your current surroundings? Yeah, disaster! Though you’re always aware of your final destination, your life literally depends on your staying focused on the present moment.
Plan your Route One Step at a Time. Though the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, as unpredictable as human behavior is, there is no possible way to calculate your exact route in advance. You’ll have to rely on your intuition and level-headed decision making to arrive safely.
Keep Moving! Newton’s first law of physics tells us that a body in motion tends to stay in motion. If you can’t go forward, go sideways. The angle of your approach may change but as long as you just keep moving you will always reach your destination.
Eventually, I figured out how to get around Cairo on my own. That’s not to say the first time I crossed the street it was a piece of cake, it absolutely wasn’t. To learn, I actually had to begin by crossing with a local guide — or rather, a human shield! But the more times I did cross, the easier and easier it became.
With the help of your own guide, or mentor, and the steps above, even the biggest most difficult ’streets’ of life will become manageable. Now all you have to do is choose your destination.
What if everyone who spent their time at a meaningless “job” suddenly found themselves filling their days with “meaningful work” instead. What if this work were so meaningful, so personally satisfying, that the reward and true motivation for getting up in the morning were no longer money, but rather the satisfaction of doing the work itself and the resulting feelings of joy.
As I was eating dinner tonight I caught a glimpse of this very foreign world and I imagined for a moment what it might be like to live in a society as complex as ours, built not on the principles of economics, but on the principles of love. Sure, it sounds very utopistic, but what if everyone were doing their “life’s work”, what if we were all being that person we were born to be? Could a society like ours actually function? At first I began to think that some tasks, like the mass transport of goods and raw materials, would be just too boring to be loved by anyone. But then I remembered that of one of my best friends who is a truck driver swears that she loves her work so much that she’d even do it for free!
Would you work for free? If the true value you find in your job is mostly monetary, then you are being robbed. While feelings of emotional fulfillment and joy can’t be bought, they can be earned. Start exploring your passion today by asking yourself, “what kind of ‘work’ would I do for free?”
Though I never understood exactly how or why, from a very early age I knew I wanted to be my own boss. Over the years in my search for the ‘perfect’ business I tried to accomplish this goal in a number of ways: stuffing envelopes, buying vending machines and freelance designing among others. Unfortunately, none of these ventures lasted very long. But why?
Eureka! I had figured it out. In all the businesses I had attempted in the past my only motivation was money. When the green stuff didn’t appear as easily or as soon as I had liked, I dropped the idea and went back to work for someone else. What I needed was something that would transcend my desire for money - something like.. fun! And so, in 2007 my best friend and I dipped our toes into the fun business as producers and promoters of nightlife events.
One year and one successful event later, as impossible as it had once seemed, the party people were sick of partying. What was once fun had turned into a dreaded chore and our core motivation was lost.
It was then that I began to realize that real success must be driven by something more valuable than money and something even more enduring than fun. Real success is driven by a deep-seated and meaningful core motivation. It’s a very personal thing which is many times inspired by our life’s greatest challenges. Find your core motivation and you will find your purpose.
“A vision without a task is just a dream, a task without a vision is drudgery, but a vision with a task is the hope of the world.” –Unknown
What if everyone who spent their time at a meaningless “job” suddenly found themselves filling their days with “meaningful work” instead. What if this work were so meaningful, so personally satisfying, that the reward and true motivation for getting up in the morning were no longer money, but rather the satisfaction of doing the work itself and the resulting feelings of joy.
