It’s been a few weeks since I shared THE THIRD DECISION FOR SUCCESS from Andy Andrew’s book, “The Traveler’s Gift”. How did it go reading the third decision? Did you keep reading the first and second decisions too? For the sake of time, I focused on the one reading each day. The habit has been set in motion and it’s all about keeping the momentum inside and out. Now, it’s time to learn THE FOURTH DECISION FOR SUCCESS. 

THE FOURTH DECISION FOR SUCCESS 

I have a decided heart. 

A wise man once said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Knowing this to be true, I am taking my first step today. For too long my feet have been tentative, shuffling left and right, more backward than forward as my heart gauged the direction of the wind. Criticism, condemnation, and complaint are creatures of the wind. They come and go on the wasted breath of lesser beings and have no power over me. The power to control direction belongs to me. Today I will begin to exercise that power. My course has been charted. My destiny is assured. 

I have a decided heart. I am passionate about my vision for the future. 

I will awaken every morning with an excitement about the new day and its opportunity for growth and change. My thoughts and actions will work in a forward motion, never sliding into the dark forest of doubt or the muddy quicksand of self-pity. I will freely give my vision for the future to others, and as they see the belief in my eyes, they will follow me. 

I will lay my head on my pillow at night happily exhausted, knowing that I have done everything within my power to move the mountains in my path. As I sleep, the same dream that dominates my waking hours will be with me in the dark. Yes, I have a dream. It is a great dream, and I will never apologize for it. Neither will I ever let it go, for if I did, my life would be finished. My hopes, my passions, my vision for the future are my very existence. A person without a dream never had a dream come true. 

I have a decided heart. I will not wait. 

I know that the purpose of analysis is to come to a conclusion. I have tested the angles. I have measured the probabilities. And now I have made a decision with my heart. I am not timid. I will move now and not look back. What I put off until tomorrow, I will put off until the next day as well. I do not procrastinate. All my problems become smaller when I confront them. If I touch a thistle with caution, it will prick me, but if I grasp it boldly, its spines crumble into dust. 

I will not wait. I am passionate about my vision for the future. My course has been charted. My destiny is assured. 

I have a decided heart.

Andrews, Andy. The Traveler's Gift 

Taking humble steps seems to be the big message at the moment so this week’s blog feels appropriately timed. In a recent interview with Jude Schweppe for Season 06 of The Artful Podcast, we discussed humble steps and how they are one of the most important things you can do to get unstuck and move forward. Oftentimes, we get in our own way because we have some internal standard set that is much higher than it needs to be. Done is better than perfect. We are trained at such a young age to work towards perfection and straight A’s — then it was A+’s, and then Advanced classes, skipping a grade, graduating early, and so on. During critiques in art programs and art schools, we can go through years of anguish and torment over our work, how to stand out, and how to be the best student or artist in the room. If you are in a class that isn’t a strength it can be agony getting to the end of the semester just to get the credits for your degree. With social media, we have a constant vehicle for comparing and contrasting with other creative work, other businesses, and other lives that seem smarter, better, fitter, more creative, more successful, and greener on the other side, as they say. Meanwhile, each of us has our own inner demons, skeletons in the closet, challenges, problems, and struggles that we are dealing with internally. 

But there is hope. There is a way forward. By knowing ourselves and our needs, experimenting, course correcting, and most of all, taking small humbles steps each day. Our journey in life and in business is not linear. Some of us wish that it was, but alas, it is not. For every two steps forward there will be a step backward. For every mountain climbed, there will be another summit that waits for you on the other side. No matter what your plans are in life, they will not always go according to, well, your plan. I grew up hiking and backpacking sections of the Appalachian Trail and other national forest areas like Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. I loved being in the outdoors and having the time to be with my thoughts and dreams, and usually, a friend or two to connect with along the way. I remember learning the lesson about there never being a final summit — the hard way. Heh! But I’m a mountain goat, and love to go up hills — now, but not back then. With each valley that we would come to we would stop and take a break for water and to rest for a few minutes. With each valley we would come to I would dread the impending uphill ascent. We really felt it on one Spring Break during college when my friend Mark and I decided to backpack eighty miles in six days along the Appalachian Trail. It was then that I started to realize that the rise and fall of the mountains were a metaphor for life. I started to embrace the suck going up the hill and then the moments of bliss as we ascend to the summit and get a glorious 360-degree view of the surrounding area. And then we would begin all over again, heading down to another valley, and so on and so forth. 

What guided us to our goal was our decided hearts. We knew where we were going. We knew our intentions. We knew how we were going to get there, but we didn’t know what it would be like along the way. We didn’t know what we would encounter on our path. We didn’t know what the weather would be like and if we’d need to hunker down underneath rhododendron plants through a torrential rain storm. We didn’t know if we’d meet cool professors at our shelter that would catch a buzz with us and talk about physics, mechanics, and modifying a Super Beetle into a race car that beat Mustangs and Corvettes in street races. We didn’t know what was around the corner, what was at the top of the hill, or just passed the river crossing. It was our decided hearts that led us to our goals. Our decided hearts and a map. You need to know where you are going. By clearly envisioning a compelling future for yourself, you have the beginnings of a map to get you there. It starts now. This moment. Where are you now? What do you want for yourself and your family? What do others have that causes you to feel envy? Our envy helps to guide us to the things we want in our lives. Being upset at what others have and not doing anything to change your station in life, causes resentment, anger, and frustration. It just takes a switch in mindset. Choosing that you are worth having what you want in life is all it takes. You are worthy. You are enough. You have all that you need to succeed in life. It is within you and within your control to go after it. But you have to ask yourself the question. You have to take ownership of your dreams. You have to ask tough questions like “What do I want?” And dream big, dammit! Get creative. What have you got to lose? 

My invitation to you is to pull out a piece of paper and a pen. Write down the one hundred things you want to do before you die. It seems like a lot. Just do it. Get playful. Get curious about yourself. Explore all of the crazy things you’ve had hidden in the back of your mind. Write them down. See where it takes you. See what comes up. See how awesome it is when you have more than a hundred things! ;) It might not all come out in one sitting. That’s ok. Come back to it this weekend. It’s fine. Just start. Take that small step. Then let your heart be decided as you begin to reverse engineer how you’ll achieve all of those bucket list items you’ve manifested on paper and in the universe. Want to scuba dive? Ok, what’s first? Taking a class? Getting a certification? Don’t know how to swim? Take lessons. Learn to swim. An interesting tip though. You don’t really swim when you go scuba diving. You actually don’t move much when you are diving to conserve air and energy and to not touch marine life with your hands or fins. You just need to know how to tread water. Once you start your certification you’ll meet cool people and hear about great places to go to get your open water certification. That’s it. There you go. There is the beginning of a roadmap for how to learn to scuba dive. Want to be a graphic designer and currently work in IT? Start watching YouTube videos, sign up for Canva or GIMP, and commit time each week to learning (input) and practicing your craft (output). Document your process, share your journey, and ask friends, family, and peers if they have any design needs that you can help them with. It’s all about understanding the life that you want for yourself and then giving yourself the space and permission to go for it — with a decided heart. You are your North Star. Let your heart and your intuition guide you to the life of your dreams. Don’t wait. Start today with one small, humble step. 

If you’d like help discovering what your compelling future looks like, reach out to me. I’d love to help you uncover what that might be. Did this resonate with you? If so, I’d love to know what came up for you. Feel free to share in the comments or send me an email.