The Choice Hour - Get off the "Someday Isle"!
"There is always something that I have to do on my own!"
"I have a brilliant idea, I will start it someday"
"I have got something unique, just trying to find time to start working on it"
If you are resonating with one of those thoughts or phrases, I strongly recommend you to read on. And importantly, get started!
What is this "Someday Isle"?
The very first thing is to understand the "someday isle".
There are 1000 good excuses for failure but never a good reason - 'Mark Twain'
Where is this "someday isle"? This island is all around us, probably we are on it and spending most of our time on it.
What do people do on it? They think, dream & fantasize about things they are going to do someday!
Who are they surrounded with? They are surrounded with people who are spending a vacation on this island.
What is the main topic of discussion? People discuss excuses to each other of not doing what they wanted to do! "I didn't find time", "It is not the right time to start", "My situation is much more different & difficult than his", etc.
They ask each other, why are you here? And not surprisingly, their answers are largely the same.
Probably 80% of the population lives on the 'someday isle' . It is surprising that we all know what needs to be done in order to achieve what we want. However, a vacation on this special island prevents us to start with it. It is said that if people make as much effort to work towards their goal or idea as much they do to make excuses, they will surprise themselves.
The first thing you can do is to push yourself off the island.
How to push yourself off the island?
"Losers make excuses, winners make progress" - Brian Tracy
Let's do a back calculation for the time everyone has! Remember this is the same time which a successful person has as you have. There are 24 hrs, take out 9 hours of your job. Subtract another 2 for your travel, 7 hours for sleep. For the remaining 6 hours, give about 2 hours to your family commitments and you have 4 hours on the table. Out of these 4 hours, think for a minute and ask yourself, is it possible for you to spend an hour a day on something that you always wanted to achieve? It may be writing a book, working on a tech idea, a startup thought, losing weight, finding your dream job, etc.
This one hour is your hour - The Choice Hour! Make the most of it! If you need a change, you have to do something different! You need to push yourself off the "someday isle".
Write down that one thing! Make a plan, break it down and work towards that plan each day during the choice hour! At the end of each day, ask yourself, what progress have I made towards my idea or goal? If you do this for a month, without fail, you will surprise yourself!
Do give it a try, and then help others. Stay motivated.
Note - Inspired by Brian Tracy's concept of "Someday Isle"
The article was originally published on my LinkedIn profile