Funny. I just happened to be reading this book, when its lessons coincided directly with conversations I had at an event I attended…that changed everything!
Well, not changed, exactly. Sped up. Enhanced.
Simplified in a way that created massive expansion in my ability to decipher, plan, and build!
That’s the beauty of simplification.
When you remove all your awesome ideas from your constant attention and get that “30,000 ft view”, the complex is reduced to one clear web; easily defined, maintained, and adjusted.
You become able to act on something intricate and daunting, by understanding the one simple goal it all represents.
This is the biggest breakthrough I’ve had in awhile
I’ve even experienced this exact same breakthrough, but more at like, the 12,000 ft view, sometimes the 800 ft view, every now and then a little higher.
All these simplifications of the complex have kept the Road Trip moving forward. And this ability to achieve them and get better at the act of spotting them has been a regular part of my thinking since the late 90’s.
But this one seems to have trumped them all
And even that is not an accurate representation of what just happened for me, and by default, the rest of you.
All the other “next steps” led to this one. And they’ve all been incredibly important.
But this recent tipping point came from discovering “The Kaizen Way” by Robert Maurer, Ph.D.
I learned of it inside my Teaching Sells course where Sonia Simone from Copyblogger was referencing it, as she frequently does.
The book simply states (and I’m paraphrasing),
To reach the Big Goal, you only have to take the tiniest next step toward it. Then repeat.
Journey of a thousand miles-type thinking. (Begins with the first step, in case that quote’s new to you.)
I was already leaning toward the conclusion I just arrived at. But this book sped it up and gave me peace.
And that’s another powerful tip for you
The book’s main intent is not the basis of what just happened to me. But reading the book allowed me to make certain connections with older material in my head.
These new connections sort of righted my ship. Brought me back to True North.
An ocean of content neatly fit itself into a Dixie Cup
In trying to formulate my “next tiniest next step” I experienced something I guess I’ll now call a “Consolidation Wave“.
I needed a tiny step forward but I’ve already accomplished and built so much that there weren’t any “tiny” moves left to make.
I actually needed help in making the biggest move of all: specifically identifying my target audience in a way that encapsulated all that I am, want, and know.
The book shed light on something inside me that turned this colossal act into a tiny step. The Big Bang in reverse. Clarity of the overall mission was gained.
And I experienced a peace that is hard to do justice in words. At least in brief.
The secret is in the study time
It’s a big part of why I start EVERY day with reading.
(I know there are other preferred types of learning. Identify yours and make it into a daily thing, if you wish to succeed.)
Often, the book’s content is not what becomes valuable.
And this little book (I read it in two sittings) provided both the quiet and the nudge.
Hopefully, the words on the top of my home page now accurately define what ITGTLW is all about.
They seem to. They definitely explain the very nature of all I do and think about at all times, every day, going back over 18 years now.
- What am I?
- What am I supposed to be doing that I also enjoy?
- How do I make use of all I’ve experienced?
- Who needs what I have?
Weighty material to ponder, I can tell you that.
It gets heavier when the years roll by and the answer doesn’t seem much clearer.
Or you realize you keep returning to the same conclusions without being able to expand on them in a way that meets all your needs.
It’s a process and it requires patience and fortitude
And addressing those four things above is what makes up the bulk of my site.
Remember, this site is not only for my own needs and your needs out there. It has an even higher purpose than that.
This is the stuff I want my son to know and act upon to become something incredible to the world, in a way that brings him profound peace and satisfaction.
And frequently, the price will feel too high.
Yet he, you, and I must all persevere in the face of whatever arises if we’re to become whatever we were meant to be.
This is my legacy. To him, most of all, and now to you fine folks as well.
