Getting what you want....what do you want?

There are some people who seem laser focused on what they want out of life. Those people don't know the meaning of the word "no". Those people are usually the ones who change the world around us. They certainly change their world but often their vision is so clear and grand that it changes the world. Every one of us has this power whether we know it or not.

One of the biggest obstacles that people have is really deciding what they want. Think about it. That is amazing. Most of us would say that we want a ton of money. But why is it that so many people that have a ton of money are miserable. Money is not going to help your life find purpose. By the other token, people who have found a purpose in life have no problems finding the money they need to fulfill their mission. When you have something that you need to do with your life you find the way to finance it. Its not taking "no" for an answer because you can't live without moving towards your goal. Bill Gates did not start out with the drive to be the richest man in the world. Starbucks did not start as a company with the goal of having a shop on every corner of the world. Colonel Harland Sanders started by serving fried chicken to customers at his service station. Not one of these examples had a mission to become filthy rich. They all did, but it was simply a by-product of following their individual dreams. They all had a passion that had to be pursued at any cost.

Imagine that you had 250 million dollars in your bank account. You never need to work again. It sure would take a lot of pressure off, wouldn't it? So, what would you do? Take a minute to explore it. Dream a little bit. Doesn't it feel good to imagine that you could actually do anything that you want? Take the need for money out of the equation. Now come back to reality. Forget about the money needed but remember how good it feels to put yourself somewhere where you can do what you really want. Now...why can't you do it? No really, I mean it. Maybe you can't take your own private jet to travel the world, but you sure could do it if you really wanted to. You could get creative. You could stay at youth hostels. You could work really hard at your job for two years and put away extra money so you could take a year off.

This is the point where most people's minds immediately begin to come up with all the reasons that they could NEVER do that. As much as it felt good to let go and dream about it they say that it is not reality. It really can become your reality if you chose it. It might take huge sacrifices to do it. You might become more selfish, but if you chose it you can do it. You just have to decide if your ok going to your grave without achieving it. If that thought scares you then maybe it is time to take the first step towards deciding what you want. It all depends on how clear you are on what you want. It all depends on how honest you are with yourself. We have got to get out of the mindset that we can't do what we want because we don't have enough money. It is an excuse. There are tons of examples of people who had nothing and built fortunes because they used their mind to figure out how to get what they wanted. Money follows when great ideas are pursued with passion. Henry Ford said, "Whether you think you can or think you can't, your right."

Tomorrow I will share an uncomfortable thought about getting clarity about what you want.

Distractions

Maybe its just my ADD (I don't know if I am really ADD, but it wouldn't surprise me) but I am to easily distracted. I think that one of the reasons that I had to be my own boss is that I have found that I work differently than most people I know. I need to be doing 100 things at once in order to get anything done. I have the hardest time getting something done when it is not pressing or if I have a clear desk.

I think that we live in a time where it is getting harder and harder to get anything done. There is so much information that is instantly available....and I love it. But at the same time it has prevented me from achieving my goals sooner. While this book idea festers in my head and fills me with frustration I am much more inclined to open Facebook, check my emails, look at Cycle News online and IM a friend rather than sit down and type.

This is one of the main reasons that I stopped posting to my blog. As you can see, I only have a few posts before I started this experiment. My attitude was that if I had time to write about a race or event in my life then I was diverting time from working on improving my life. I find it ironic that I am returning to my blog to do exactly that.

Its so much easier to let myself be distracted and it takes much more discipline to concentrate on a goal. I know that I am displacing the time I should be using to more towards my goals but I just can't seem to break the cycle. Hopefully this experiment I've invited you to will help me do that.

This is all part of getting more focused on what I want. I have decided that of all the things that I want out of my life I am going to place writing a book near the top. Time is ticking away, its time to rearrange my priorities.

A public experiment, please help me.

A very public experiment.

I want to write a book. I have a burning desire to help others realize that their dreams are achievable. Unfortunately there are a couple of factors getting in the way. I can't seem to bridge the gap between having an idea and turning it into reality. Like most of us, I have these great ideas that pop into my head all the time. Then life gets in the way and they stay just that, ideas. Also, I know absolutely nothing about writing a book. That actually doesn't really matter to me. Sometimes not knowing "how its done" leads to a better approach. Before I tell you about my very public experiment you need to have some background about how I started my business, National Powersports.

National Powersports started because I had a burning desire to own my own business. I didn't know what type of business I wanted to own, but I knew that my time working for others was over. For over two years I had a hard time sleeping because I could feel the longing to turn this desire into reality, but I just couldn't get the idea clear enough in my head to know what to do. I read business book after business book. I read every magazine related to it that I could, but still I couldn't get the picture clear enough. It was agonizing. Emotionally I knew I had to do this, but in my head I couldn't figure it out.

Then one day I simply placed an ad in the newspaper looking for old motorcycles. The idea was simple, buy a couple bikes on the side, fix them up, then sell them quickly on the internet. I took the first action, even though I wasn't sure where it would lead me. I'm not even sure at that point I knew that this would be the business that I had been searching for. The important thing was that I did something. Sometimes I forget how simple it was. The clarity of what I wanted it to become developed along the way and is the key reason that it has become such a success. National Powersports is so well defined now that I forget that it didn't start that way.

I've got that longing again. Its been tugging at me for about a year. I love National Powersports and what it has become. I am so proud of the group of people that I have working for me and how bright and hardworking they are. The business is doing great and providing a nice livelihood for my family. But life for me isn't about just making money. Its not enough. I don't know why I feel that way, I just do. I see people everywhere underestimating their own worth. I see people living their lives unfulfilled and unsatisfied. Perhaps it is just my giant ego, but I think I can help. I just don't know how yet. I know that the book I write has to be more than an autobiography. Big deal, I started a business. It has to be about the actual steps that I took to change the way I looked at life and how those steps can help others do the same thing. I'm positive that if you have a burning desire to change your life you can.

Again, I find myself in a position of not having the answers yet, but having the burning need. So I am going to take a first step. I know that I have to get in the habit of writing down my thoughts. I am going to start by making a commitment to writing in my blog every single day for a month. Hopefully most of the posts will be about this process, but either way, it will be a commitment to write. I find that I do much better with commitments if I have somebody holding me accountable. Therefore I am asking you to help me. If you can find a couple minutes a day to read what I'm writing and maybe even leave a comment or two I know that I will have a much better chance to succeed with this experiment. If I don't write EVERY day in this blog please hold my feet to the fire and blast me with emails.

I'm about to change my life. Want to help?

Thanks in advance!
Nate