Earlier today I was actually rolling on the ground with my newborn. He’s six months old. As I was actually hanging out with him for a little bit, my phone went off. Normally I have my phone turned off, but I wanted to check the message. As I was checking the message, in that moment, I realized that I wasn’t being present, so I just set my phone down. Now, it wasn’t more than about 10 seconds that my little boy [Bodie 00:00:38], he actually saw the cell phone on the ground and went for it, and that was the fastest I’ve ever seen him move.
I picked the cell phone up quickly and grabbed it, and just put it in my pocket, but what I noticed was right away, he just turned and looked for the next toy, and went for that and grabbed it. And what I thought immediately was, “Wow, this reminds me of multiple conversations I’ve had this week with clients but also with friends,” where they’re actually stuck in one particular lane, one particular problem or one issue in their business or relationships, and they’re actually focused on it. They’ve got tunnel vision on that problem without actually moving forward and then being able to pivot like my little son was able to do. Now, I get it, he’s an infant and maybe there are all kinds of things going through his brain. But as soon as I took away his potential toy, what he saw as something amazing, his dad’s phone that he never gets to touch, he went for it.
But when I took it away, instead of crying and lamenting over the loss of something that he actually really wanted, he just pivoted and went towards something else, and got it. Now, he was going after what he wanted. I really love that and the whole idea, but at the same time he was able to kind of release emotional attachment to the actual object itself, and pivoted, and realized his real goal was to play. He was there to play, and playing was exactly what he did. And because of that, he didn’t do what I thought he was going to do. I thought he was going to go for my phone. I pulled it away, and I thought he was going to start crying and looking at me, kind of like, “Dad, why did you take that toy away from me? Give it back,” that kind of attitude.
That’s the attitude a lot of us go through, right? I certainly have been in that situation where I’ve gone through it. So what I want you to think about is where in your life, wherein your Five to Thrive, grab your journal and write it down, where are you just so tunnel-visioned on getting a particular outcome that you’re not looking broadly at the possible pivots you could be making to get really what you want? For example, let’s just say you want to learn conversational Spanish. That was one of my goals. And you’re so stuck on taking a particular course and taking it to the end, that you miss the opportunities around you where you could actually be having conversations with other people, reaching out to friends, other opportunities.
Or let’s say in your body, let’s say in your body you really really want to try out for the varsity soccer team or something along those lines. I know we have a number of college students that are watching this, so imagine that, imagine you’re doing it. Now you’re training and you’re really working out hard, but sometimes you can’t get to the gym. Now, what’s another outcome or what’s something else that you’re missing? Why are you going for that? What can you pivot and do right now rather than just being focused on one tunnel vision? So in this example, it’s not actually landing on the varsity team, but it’s actually the way you get there, the way you want to.
So for my baby, for Bodie, it was actually playing. That was his outcome, he just wants to have fun. He’s a kid, he’s at the moment. I love it, it’s awesome watching him, it grounds me. But that also makes me realize how often maybe I’m not grounded, or how often what am I going after in my life that I really wanted a different outcome? So that outcome in business could be a certain revenue. Maybe you want reoccurring revenue, maybe it’s an extra $10,000 in your bank account, or maybe for you, it’s $10,000 a week in recurring revenue, so it’s just coming in. They’re called ‘mailbox money’, right?
So maybe you’re focused on one particular solution, one particular issue or the way of getting there, one avenue, which is putting blinders on you so you’re not seeing all the possibilities to get there. And then I ask you another question, why do you want that money? Why do you want that goal? Maybe you want that money so you could spend more time with your family. This is something I caught myself up in, right? I was working so hard to get money so I could spend more time with my family, and it hit me. This is years ago, I was like, “I don’t have to work more, I make enough money. All I have to do is spend time with my family. This is ridiculous.”
So I shut down my laptop. I remember the day I did. I just shut my laptop down, and walked out and hung out with my family. I realized I was busting my butt to be able to spend time with my family, and while I was busting my butt to be able to spend time with my family, I wasn’t spending any time with my family. It made no sense, right? We often do that. I’m sure you’ve fallen into this too. So grab your Five to Thrive and look at that. Where are you not being the newborn and you’re actually chasing a goal or a dream, or one particular avenue, but you’re missing everything else out?
I hope this gives you some new insights within you and allows you to take one more step to being the author of your own story. Remember, go over to authorofyourownstory.com, where you can get the latest tips, tricks and techniques right to your inbox. And make sure wherever you’re watching this, whether it be YouTube, Facebook, iTunes, Stitcher, wherever you are, Spotify, make sure you subscribe and I would appreciate a solid, heart-felt review. So this way we can get this message out to more people. That’s it for me today. Remember, go out and be the author of your own story.
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