Wild Fantasies: Possibility, Probability, Prosperity.

Wild Fantasies: Possibility, Probability, Prosperity.

Visit the main Guidance For The Motivated site at: http://www.guidanceforthemotivated.com/

Often times what we desire in life, we leave untouched.  We're all rife with fantasy.  We have an extraordinary human ability to imagine ourselves entrenched in circumstances that have not yet manifested.  We fantasize about having what we don't actually have and doing what we've never actually done.  Every now and again we will actually feel inclined to act upon such fantasies, and in doing so we take a giant leap in going from the realm of fantasy to the realm of belief.

 
Not letting a desire pass the realm of fantasy certainly has its advantages, and we all intuitively know this to be true.  Risk averse, we keep our desires compartmentalized within this world of fantasy much of the time.
 
Fantasies are safe.  They don't involve much risk at all.  We know when we have a fantasy that we are certainly under no obligation what so ever to actually pursue it.  Our desires are thus kept with in the parameters of comfort, not requiring us to lay anything out on the line, such as our prized egos. 
 
Fantasies are also private, so long as we choose to keep them so.  As long as we don't reveal to anyone what it is that we really desire, we won't be at risk of anyone pressuring us into actually taking any related action steps.  We also enjoy the exclusivity of our fantasies.  No one has to even know about them.  They are all for ourselves, our very own creations.
 
For those of us who decide to be so brave as to take a risk in actually attempting to transmute fantasy into reality, a road map of sorts will be needed.
 
The first thing that you will need to do if you are to turn a desire or a fantasy into reality is to accept what it is that you want as an actual possibility.  If you are to see your desires manifest, you will first need to categorize them as an actual possibility for you and your life.
 
When we see something that we like, we often fail to recognize it as a possibility for our own life.  We see other people as having, doing, or being what we know deep down inside we would really like to have, do, or be, but we are often paralyzed by our inability to even so much as contemplate ourselves as being real candidates for those awards.  In other words, many of us are great at desiring and fantasizing, but we often have a hard time moving on to the next step because we don't actually see what it is that we want as a real possibility. 
 
When we desire something and can within reason determine that the something that we desire would actually be good for us, the next logical step would be to start planning the action steps that are needed in order to see it's fruition come to pass. 
 
For example:  "Having a certain business/education/house/relationship/body would be nice", to thinking:  "How can I bring this into my life, and what are the first action steps that I need to take?"
 
That step of shifting the desire into a plan will never happen if you can't even see what it is that you want as an actual possibility for yourself.  
 
So here's what you need to start doing:  When you catch yourself desiring something, be so bold as to take the next step and actually contemplate that desire as being a real possibility within your own life.  This step may take a while.  You may need to have the fantasy many times over before you are able to convince yourself that its manifestation is a real possibility.  Just keep at it.
 
The next step is to move from possibility to probability. 
 
Once you've recognized your desires as possible accomplishments, you will need to boost the possible into the probable.  This is going from thinking that something is possible, to thinking that it's achievement is probable, should you have the right plan and persistence. 
 
The key in going from possibility to probability is in rigorous planning.  When you plan, and execute your plan, you actually increase the probability that your desires will manifest.
 
The objective will be to plan, execute, and prosper. 
 
Here are the steps for manifesting your desires:
 
1. Recognize what it is that you want as a real possibility for you and your own life.  (If you can't even take this first step, then perhaps it is best that your fantasy stays within the realm of fantasy).
 
2. Become convinced that it is probable that you will end up having, doing, or becoming what it is that you want to have, do, or become.
 
3. Plan and execute. 
 
While you're at it, ask yourself this: "Am I willing to give up the comfort of my current situation in order to pursue something better?" 
 
If the answer is yes, then you may proceed.
 
Now ask yourself this: "Am I acting now, or am I waiting for some sort of guarantee that I will not fail?"
 
If you take nothing else away from this article, remember this:  Your desires will manifest into reality at the rate of your self-esteem.
 
Good, now go back and read that last sentence again.
 
Your self-esteem is like the engine driving you towards the life that you really want for yourself.  

Some people's engine (self-esteem) is not comprised of much more than a hamster spinning a plastic wheel. 
 
Other people have a super-charged V-8. 
 
All engine types are available to everyone, regardless of circumstance, and you can upgrade at anytime. 
 
Your plan of action will be like your navigation system. 
 
Not having a well thought out plan would be like trying to drive to a particular location, but not actually having any directions as to how you will get there.  "Hmmm, I think I'll make a left here."
 
The better your plan, the more specific your directions will be.
 
Once you are following a specific plan, you will need to periodically evaluate the velocity of your own momentum towards the goal at hand.  You will do this by evaluating how easily you are deterred from sticking to your plan.  
 
Did you go off your diet plan because you had to stay late at work?  You were easily stopped.  Your momentum wasn't that great.
 
Have you thrown in the towel on investing due to a recent market downturn?  You were easily stopped.  Your momentum wasn't that great.
 
As you gain momentum, you become harder and harder to stop. 

At the highest velocities, your momentum will carry you straight to your goal with little interference.  Obstacles will just seem to stay on the sidelines all together, or move quickly out of your way while you dominate them and any chance they have of interfering with you. 
 
So how will you know in the first place if what you fantasize about should be pursued further?  You'll just have to go within and consult your intuition, but that's a topic for another day. 
 
Now if you'll excuse me, I have my own fantasies to address. 

Excellence vs. Survival

Excellence vs. Survival

Visit the main Guidance For The Motivated site at: http://www.guidanceforthemotivated.com/

It seems that life can divide people into two contrasting groups: Those who are excelling, and those who are surviving. If you're not excelling, you're surviving.

Excelling entails growth and requires ambition. In a way, survival requires some ambition as well, but only the least potent kind. If you're surviving, you're motivated enough to feed and shelter yourself. The survivor keeps his or her health good enough as to stay ambulant and working, most of the time that is. The survivor does what it takes to bring in a paycheck each month, but the prospect of wealth is kept as a mere fantasy.

If the requirements are lowered, the survivor does less.

The survivor finds comfort in the familiarity that stagnation offers.

The person who excels in life is a much, much different being. Personal growth is a priority for such a person, and any sign of stagnation is quickly recognized and dealt with. The way this person sees things, it’s either growth or a spiritual death of sorts.

It’s possible to experience both modes in life, but not at the same time. These are states of being that are mutually exclusive. It’s either one or the other.

Each mode requires its own unique mindset. This mindset will tend to govern everything that comes into your life. The specifics of life will be dealt with according to this mindset.
It is, however, possible to jump from one mode to the other in a lifetime.

I've lived in both states at different times in my life. I know what it's like to be in survival mode. I've been there before. I've lived a life in which I went to work, putting in my nine hours each day only to come home, watch TV, eat a pizza and go to bed. Everything in my life was mediocre. On the surface everything seemed to be going fine, and in a sense it was. I paid my bills, attended family events, and even managed to read a book here and there, but excellence was not my forte. I was, well, surviving.

This period in my life was definitely a strange one for me, because it seemed to come rather abruptly after a period marked by years of excelling. In college, I excelled. Things just seemed to get better for me all the time. My grades were better every single semester, and my overall personal development seemed to be moving at the speed of light. I saw the world as interesting and overflowing with opportunity, and in fact it was.

So what happened? How did I fall into survival mode? The key here is that I didn’t fall into survival mode. I chose it. It’s always a matter of choice. You may choose survival mode, but you will never be forced into it.

As for my situation, I settled for a job that didn’t stimulate me and didn’t pay well. Instead of using that job as a stepping-stone to something better, I settled. To cement myself into full-blown survival mode, I made certain that my expenses would be roughly 105% of my pay. At the end of each day I was exhausted. Not even exhausted so much by the day's work, but more so by the mere prospect of having to do it again the next day with no foreseeable reward in sight.

The only solace I found was in mindlessly staring at sitcom reruns on Nick At Night that I'd seemingly seen hundreds of time. They were comforting. The problems on those shows were light hearted, and the character's silly antics were easy to chuckle at.

Days, weeks, and months went by with no noticeable changes in my situation.
My life was rife with redundancy.

Survival mode can really be defined by redundancy. If you're doing the same things day in and day out without making any notable progress, chances are you're in survival mode.

Now when I use the word "redundancy", I'm not referring to dogged persistence, which is often a requirement of great achievement.

Building a business, for example, often requires dogged persistence. There's likely to be some redundancy in such an endeavor, but this is redundancy that is a means to a hopefully well-defined end. There’s an important distinction here: If you're noticing redundancies in your life that aren't clearly directed at achieving a well defined end that you’ve decided you will achieve, then you have a problem that ought to be addressed.

My workout schedule involves quite a bit of redundancy. I go to the gym on the same days at the same times every week, week in and week out, and I do mostly the same style of exercise. This is all for the purpose of achieving a certain body composition. My goal is specific, and the repetitive nature of the whole process is what facilitates its accomplishment.

If you're not using at least a decent portion of your free time to move yourself towards accomplishing a specific goal, then you're likely to slip into a repetitive pattern that won't get you anywhere. For those working the typical 9-5, this is a common trap. Go to work, go home / eat / watch TV / relax / go to bed, repeat. This is survival.

Survival is getting by. It's doing just fine. It's paying bills, showing up for work, taking care of responsibilities, but it's far from excelling.

Excelling involves well-defined and lofty goals. It requires foresight. It requires a vision, and a plan of action for realizing its achievement.

If you want to excel, what you will not need is a lot of stress in your life. A common trap that the ambitious often fall into is a stress filled life. You'll want to avoid stress. Stress is not a requirement of goal achievement.

It's possible to excel in life in a calm and relaxed manner. When the goal is clear, and the plan is clear, doing so becomes possible. The key is to break the plan down into small and incremental steps. Stressful feelings come from being faced with too many possible actions step choices at once. The more you can break down your plan into small and clearly defined steps, the better off you'll be. You'll want to be able to accomplish one small thing at a time without the repetitiveness of having to think about each step over and over again.

The more you can break your plan down into clear steps, the more you'll accomplish with less stress.

If your goal seems to be stressing you out no matter how well you've broken down a clear plan into accomplishable steps, consider the possibility that you may be on the wrong path all together. Your goal should stimulate you and challenge you, but any related stress should not steam-roll you.

Pursuing your goals should afford you a rather calm sense of diligent conquering. You should feel like you're in the zone when you're working. This is the way I feel when I'm writing for this site.

When you're perusing a goal that is lofty, but you don't feel stressed by it, this is a clue that you are on the right path. If this is the case for you, then just keep doing what you're doing. If not, then you may need to make revisions. Your goal, or lack there of may need revision. Or, the goal may be right, but the plan may be insufficient. Don’t hesitate to review, revise, and recalibrate.

Also, goal achievement need not be perused just as a means to a better life. This is key. When you're really on the right path, the action steps you take in order to accomplish your goals will bring you a sense of fulfillment in and of themselves. You'll need not wait for the fulfillment to come once the goal is accomplished, but rather you’ll feel fulfilled all the way through.

If you feel this way now, then you're on the right path. If you don't, then consider changing the goal itself, or your attitude towards it. Remind yourself that your goals are not holding your happiness for ransom until you achieve them. You can feel fulfilled before, during, and after goal achievement.

Expanding Thoughts

Expanding Thoughts