The First Step

The First StepWanting to change careers? Thinking about doing something out of your ordinary? Looking to start building your retirement career*?

Do it.

If you want to be a writer, write.

If you want to be a painter, paint.

If you want to be a leader, lead.

If you want to run a marathon, run.

Many passions you can do while still holding down a day job. I’m not saying that it will be easy. Strict time management, missed engagements, and sacrificed sleep will replace aimless Internet surfing, meals with friends, and warm blankets on a cold Saturday morning.

Are you willing to do the work? Are you willing to valet cars at night while you write your book during the day? Are you willing to skip your kid’s soccer practice and use the quiet time to paint? Are you willing to run your miles after dark in the cold weather to train for your marathon?

I wanted to write a book, so I did. I wanted to learn how to fly an airplane, so I did. I wanted to be a chef in a restaurant, so I did. I was bored and decided to jump out of an airplane, so I did.

Some might call it your “Bucket List.” I call it my “Things to Do Before I Die” list – it’s a little more obvious and blunt for someone with my personality type. Regardless of what it is, it starts with a first step.

You might say, “Oh, but I wish I had a little more time.” Or, “Oh, but if I only had some more money.” Or, “Oh, but this isn’t the right place.”

Stop with the “Oh, buts”! There is never enough time, rarely enough money, and probably not a good place.

I have quote on my wall that says, “How did you work on your dream today?” Each day, every day, I do at least a little something toward my dream.

Show up. Do the work. Get it done.

Take that first step.

Here’s my challenge to you. You have one week to take that first step, whatever you think it is. If you do it, it’s your passion. If you don’t, that’s ok. It’s not your real passion. Move on to something else.

There is no substitute for doing. There is no replacement for action. There is no surrogate for movement.

Every action begins with a first step. If you want to change your lot in life, take that step.

Now, go do it.

 

*Retirement career – your dream career that you put off doing until retirement that brings you pleasure and keeps you active.

 

QUESTION FOR YOU –

How did you work on your dream today?

SOMETHING FOR YOU –

For the awesome first chapter of the forthcoming book Better than Average: Excelling in a Mediocre World, send an email to me and you score it for free!

_____

Todd Brockdorf
Better than Average Guy
Author, Speaker, Consultant
[email protected]

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Thinking – The Other White Meat

Forget certifications. Forget technical skills. Forget high-priced degrees. The three skills that are needed most in the new world of work are initiative, creativity, and the ability to think. Demonstrate those skills and employers will come running.

It’s the later, thinking, that we investigate today.

Thinking – it’s the new white meat. It’s actually a yellowish gelatinous meat as you look at the brain, but that’s not important now.

We are no longer cogs in a wheel. We are no longer told to rinse and repeat. We are expected to initiate, perform, and accomplish.

Systems may be established, frameworks may be outlined, structures may be defined, but there is flexibility within those confines to get the job done.

And you are expected to find a way to make it happen.

Thinkers corroborate diverse data to get an overall design.

Thinkers search for deeper meaning in the swampy sea of statistics.

Thinkers take the silver platter that is handed to them, melt it down, and create an elaborate candelabrum.

As more transformational leadership practices enter the workplace, more thinking will be expected. If you examine the four factors that compose transformational leadership, one is “intellectual stimulation.” It is the idea that leaders allow their followers to think independently and they encourage creativity. In other words, transformational leaders believe humans are thinking beings.

Are you ready to think in this new world of work?

 

QUESTION FOR YOU –

What’s on your mind?

SOMETHING FOR YOU –

For the awesome first chapter of the forthcoming book Better than Average: Excelling in a Mediocre World, send an email to me and you score it for free!

_____

Todd Brockdorf
Better than Average Guy
Author, Speaker, Consultant
[email protected]

 

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