Singular Focused Living
Hi Friend
My goodness what an incredible week! Last Saturday my bride surprised me with taking kayaks on the Mississippi River. It was a beautiful day and incredibly fun. It reignited an old dream of mine to canoe the Mississippi from start to finish. Turns out lots of people do it every year. I had no idea. It's back on my bucket list.
Then I went to Chicago for the ImpactEleven bootcamp which is for speakers. I crashed with my son. Tuesday was my birthday and I got to have dinner with him on that day, which was a fabulous gift! Who knew 55 years of being alive on planet earth and the best gift is simply a meal with my kid?
Also, the Thunder won the NBA Championship, which is just unbelievably cool. I was in OKC when they came to town. It was a huge get for Oklahoma, because the state had no professional sports. I grew up in Ohio where there were five professional sports franchises. Moving to a college-sports-only-state was always a little odd.
It was a winning week. I sat through three intense daysof speaking biz content and being around some amazing humans. I'm always inspired most by the calibre of people in the audience versus the content on the stage. It's a good reminder about what I do and what makes the biggest impact.
DREAMS
I actually had the opportunity to canoe the Mississippi when I was 22 years old. My job gave me the summer off to do it. However, I was offered an opportunity to participate in something I believed to be my calling. I chose that. I don't regret it. It's interesting how we have multiple dreams/desires/hopes, but generally speaking we can only do one at a time.
Dreams = decisions. So many want to "live their dream" but try to hold on to multiple options simultaneously, never getting to do any of them. Singular focus livingenables the possibility for our deep desires to be realized. It's ironic that the FOMO on lesser hopes is what debilitates us from achieving the greater.
MINDSHIFT
What if you only had one goal this year and pursued it with every ounce of vigor?
PRIORITY
The bigness of life is found in the smallness of actions. There are speakers who started speaking 2.5 years ago and already made a million dollars in speaking fees in one year. WHAAAAAT?! What the heck am I doing wrong?! I suspect intentional focus on the most important things.
Have you ever wondered why others are achieving at levels you don't? We tend to make excuses or spotlight their advantages. I mean, surely it's not the way we're approaching life and our dreams. It must be some secret they're privy to, that we are not. It couldn't be as simple as a determined exclusive priority that they pursue relentlessly... could it?
MINDSHIFT
What if you reviewed the last month of your life to discover how many different pursuits you're chasing and to what level of dogged-determination you're applying?
IMPACT
I normally like to use my birthday as a 6 month check-in on how I'm navigating the year. I was unable to do that with all the activities going on. We only get so many years. It's likely I have less ahead of me, then behind me. How's your life going?
I love being on a river. It's the ultimate life metaphor and a total joy. I'm grateful for the 3-hour glimpse of what it's like on the Mississippi. I'm glad, all those years ago, I chose to skip it and pursue something more meaningful.
Not all dreams bring the same fulfillment or create the same impact!
SHIFTING
I hope this week you check to make sure the dream you're pursuing is best one to go after - and that you are giving it your sole attention and unparalleled effort. #ShiftAway
