Yesterday we looked at some qualities of successful people, and if you're anything like me you found some areas that you can improve in your own life. My guess is though, you already possess most of those qualities in adequate amounts. The fact that you are even here, reading these pages, shows that you have a clear desire to improve yourself along these lines. My suspicion is that we are not yet succeeding because we have not yet become clear as to what it is that we really want to do with our lives. We have not yet decided on our Clear Definite Aim.
We did, however, spend a few days thinking about our favorite activities and our strongest skills. We have decided which tasks we perform that engage us so completely that time drops away and we are able to work effortlessly for long periods of time without tiring. Wouldn't it be nice if our favorite hobby were also the way that we earned our money? Then, we could play all day. But surely there's more to it than that. I was about to say that you can't get a job watching TV all day, but then I've seen some security guards who do just that. What I will say here is that I believe we can create for ourselves whatever kind of job that we can imagine. We just have to be creative. That's the Imagination part Napoleon Hill talks about.
Money comes to us because we add value to the world. If we're on the couch watching House, we're not providing anyone value. If, however, we get an idea while watching House that we turn into a screenplay of our own, or if you're a doctor watching House and you get an idea that helps you save a life, now value did ultimately come out of that activity. What will turn our favorite activity into revenue is a creative idea. We must use our imagination to figure out a way that we can use our best skills and our favorite activities to provide a much-needed service to the world. This will require thinking outside of your everyday TV-shaped box.
For example, it's one thing to be a writer; it's another thing to be a writer with a message; and it's quite another thing entirely to be a writer with a message that the world is ready to embrace. If you are a photographer, you probably have thousands of world-class photographs sitting in your files. How do you package those in a way that they can become revenue for you? Or if you're not feeling particularly entrepreneurial, how can you find someone like, say, National Geographic, to pay you lots of money to travel all over the world taking pictures? Or maybe the thing you really want to do is that one crazy dream that came out as the answer to yesterday's question, that wildest dream you have that you've never pursued because it's just not practical. Maybe, just maybe, it might be possible that if you were to really do that one crazy thing, it would be the one change that would make all the difference for you. I'm just saying.
As we've been saying all along, we must start right where we are, and we must start at the beginning. Once we decide what we really want (and we're a long way yet from deciding that, aren't we?) we can't just quit our current jobs and jump into our dream jobs. Life doesn't work that way. There's karmic momentum that we have to contend with. We must continue to carry on with our current lives, making sure to do everything in that Certain Way, consciously developing the character traits of success. No, the beginning doesn't involve taking radical action; the beginning involves dreaming. Before we can claim our dream life, we must first know exactly what it looks like. To borrow from both Hill and Wattles, we must determine what precisely is our Clear Definite Aim, and we must continuously hold a Clear Mental Image of that before us as we go about our current activities.
Of all the steps and obstacles that we will encounter on the journey to our heart's desire, deciding a Clear Definite Aim is by far the most difficult. It is why most people never even get started. Most of us want conflicting things. For example, I want to travel all over the world, but I also want to sing in the local community chorus and grow a garden. I really like my current job at the pool store, and I know I could turn that into a money making enterprise that would reward me handsomely, yet it conflicts with my lifelong desire to see the world and to have several residences scattered all over the planet. I also want to be an internationally known writer and speaker, and I can't see myself having time to do all that and build a pool store empire.
We are all of us juggling conflicting desires that cancel each other out. We are also further confused because some of what we think we want is actually what someone else wants for us. Many of us are trying to fulfill our parents' dreams or our spouse's dreams. Perhaps we have chosen our current profession because it is what was expected of us. If our goals and our career have been chosen to please someone else, then our participation in that activity will always lack the passion necessary to drive us to success. We must choose our own dreams, even if it outrages and scandalizes our tribe.
So how do we untangle this knotted mass of conflicting dreams and obligations? We use our imagination, of course! A great way to find out what we really want to be, do, and have is to take the Passion Test. Developed by Janet Bray Attwood and Chris Attwood, The Passion Test helps you to determine your top five passions in life. You can take the Passion Test online, but they will first ask you to sign up for a 30-day free trial. You can also pick up the book at a bookstore or check it out from your local library. It will be well worth the time and money involved to get the full version.
In the meantime, though, here is the Cliff Notes version:
First, make a list of everything that you are passionate about. In this stage it does not matter that you might have conflicting desires; this is the brain dump portion of the exercise. Don't censor yourself: Coffee made my list, because first thing in the morning I am passionate about that first cup! Write down everything that you will be, do, and have when your life is ideal. Everything. For now it doesn't matter how you could ever accomplish any of these things, it matters only that you want them. DREAM BIG! Remember that we are looking for your passions, not your goals. "What's the difference? A passion is how you choose to live your life. Jack chooses to live life as a multimillionaire. A goal is something you aim to achieve. The goal could be stated as 'to earn $2 million within the next year.'"
Next comes the test part. Got your list? Look at the first two items on the list. Of those two desires, which one is more important to you? If you had to choose one and let the other go, which one would you keep? Now, take your keeper and compare it to the next item on the list. Of those two desires, which is more important to you? Continue to compare the items on your list, judging between two at a time which is most important to you, until you reach the bottom of your list. The last one standing will be labelled Passion #1. Then take the next item on your list and repeat the process until you have chosen your top five passions. If you get stuck, ask yourself this question: "If I could be, do, or have 1 and it meant that I could never be, do, or have 2, would that be OK with me? Which one matters more."
Here is an example from the book to show you what they mean:
Jack's initial list:
- Being of service to massive numbers of people.
- Having an international impact.
- Enjoying celebrity status.
- Being part of a dynamic team.
- Having a leadership role.
- Helping people live their vision.
- Speaking to large groups.
- Having an impact through television.
- Being a multimillionaire.
- Having world-class quarters and support team.
- Having lots of free time.
- Studying with spiritual masters regularly.
- Being part of a spiritual leaders network.
- Creating a core group of ongoing trainers who feel identified with my organization.
- Having fun, fun, fun!
- Helping people live their vision.
- Being part of a dynamic team.
- Being of service to massive numbers of people
- Having an international impact
- Creating a core group of ongoing trainers who feel identified with my organization.
Here then, is today's study question:
What are the top five things that you are most passionate about being, doing, and having in your ideal life?
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