Starting is Half Finished

In order to Win Back Life and start living the life of your dreams, you have to start thinking differently.

Start by thinking in terms of what you really would like to be doing with your life. Don’t think in terms of what you have been doing up until now, or even what you have been trained or educated to do.

Let your imagination wander as you begin to think about the possibilities. When we were children this was easy; no one had yet told us our dreams were impossible.

If you have ever done any brainstorming sessions, try this approach. Write down everything that comes into your mind. Do not filter anything. Do not dismiss any thought – just start writing. One thought will spark another; you may be amazed where you end up.

Through this exercise, you will begin to picture your ideal life. It may not be perfectly clear as of yet, but the outline will have been formed.

Once you have gone through this “mind dump” exercise, some consistent threads will emerge that point toward your purpose and on which you can start to build your new life. These may very well be things you have always know at some level of consciousness that you should be doing with your life.

Three Important Steps

Most things in life are easy when broken down into smaller steps (how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time).

Here are the three steps to help further determine your life’s purpose, that thing that deep down you have always known you should be doing with your life. Once you have defined this, all you have to do is find a starving crowd of people looking for what you know, and learn to make money by solving their top problem.

1. Determine Your Niche (Area of Expertise or passion)

Harvard University did a study many years ago in which they asked kindergarten children a simple question – “what do you want to be when you grow up?”. They then tracked these children over a 40 year period. What they discovered was that the vast majority of these now adults were doing something very similar, if not exact, to what they described as a child. The interesting part was that even if their employment had ultimately taken them in a different direction, they were still participating in something directly related to that which they identified as a child.

Maybe everything we needed to know we did learn in Kindergarten!

So…what did you want to be when you grew up?

• What is your passionate interest?
• What excites you?
• What do you love about your job?
• What do you look forward to doing on your days off?
• What do your friends ask you for advice about?
• What topic makes your friends say, “how do you know so much?”
• What do you chose to read about?
• What do you love to continue to learn about?

If the answer happens to be something where you don’t feel like you have adequate expertise, it is okay to pick a niche where you can learn, share your journey, build expertise and grow into an Authority.

2. Who is Your Ideal Customer and what is their biggest problem?

Now that you have an idea of your niche, start thinking about who your customer will be and what problem might they have that you can solve.

Remember Buechner’s statement, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”, and Zig’s famous quote, “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want”.

What do they have in common? They both understand that in order to fulfill yourself you must first fulfill others.

Fulfilling others comes down to answering two simple questions: “What to they want?” and “What do they fear?”

• First, understand  their Hopes and Dreams. This is their burning desire. You must figure out the One Key Benefit they want.
• Second, understand their Struggles and Doubts. This is their urgent pain. You must figure out the One Key Fear they have.

Remember, the fear of loss is perhaps the greatest motivator in the world. Focus more on solving their urgent pain.

3. Build a story around it.

People relate to stories. Stories are easy for people to remember.

The best stories use the “feel-felt-found” formula: “I know just how you feel. I felt the exact same way. Let me tell you what I found”.

• When you tell your story, tell the good; but more importantly, don’t avoid the bad. Showing how you have struggled (or are struggling) your way to success is inspiring. If you can do it, others will believe they can do it.
• Share your vision. Your creative thought is your vision. Paint a picture of what you want.
• Bring emotion. Your passion and determination create emotion; This is what fuels your vision.
• Take action. Expressing thought in the physical form (action) results in manifesting your vision.
• Remember, people show up for transformation in their life.

 

Finally, understand that it’s good to Fail Forward Fast. When you look back at your earliest efforts, they will look average at best. Therefore, go ahead and take immediate, massive, and deliberate action (think Ready, Fire, Aim) and don’t look back.