Okay, it's getting near to the end of the first month of the year and most of us have thoughts of warmer weather and longer days that lay ahead. For some of us, the promises we made to ourselves at the beginning are already showing signs of weakness. Whatever our promise, we may be experience what staticians refer to as "regression towards the mean", which means that if a variable is extreme when it's first measured (I'm never going to drink another soda..ever!),it will be closer to an average, when it's measured a second time.
When I work on material for a presentation with an audience, or working with an audience as a performer, I try out some pretty wild ideas, ideas that I know may or may not work. What I eventually discover that many of my ideas or goals are lofty and sometimes stupid big, but they eventually flatten out. What I'm left with after this regression, is something worthy and good.
Playing it safe with our resolutions or goals is a sure fire way to stay comfortably where you are. But wild ideas and even ridiculous dreams, can awaken your spirit of adventure. There are those that say your goals should be "doable", and bite sized, and there is some research that suggests that small, step-by-step plans are the most effective. But, we still need a wild hair, a hair-brained scheme, a big damn idea that will shake up our imaginations. If the imagination isn't involved, then we live our lives like a two dimensional board game, competing in win/lose propositions all the while our creative energy is draining away.
Look at your goals, your ideas, your dreams....are they too big to fit in your head? What do you want to make? We have to recognize our prejudice for having step-by-step game like instructions for achieving our goals and creating our ideas. It's fine and good to plan the steps, but why not start with big...even impossible sounding ideas. If we don't sketch out ideas that provoke our imaginations in big ways, then we're running the risk of courting boredom as a lifestyle, shorting ourselves on potential, and giving away our time and energy to things that don't actually energize us.
So, now that your New Years resolutions are peeling off the bumper, start over and ask yourself what's the big idea? What do you really want for yourself, your family? Are you shuffling around, or stepping confidently towards that idea, that thing you want? Do you have a journal of ideas? (NO! Why not?), a map, a page, anything that shows you where you're going to go?
You don't have to know HOW you're going to accomplish this thing, you just need to start with some big ideas, and say yes to getting your move on.
1.) Spend 1 hour, every other day, doing nothing but drawing, sketching, writing, and clarifying what you want? You can't accomplish everything, so be careful not to list too many things. Write it as a narrative! Do this for 1 week.
2.) Week 2-Now that you have a few ideas, ask yourself if they are wild enough? Ask others to listen to your hair brained scheme. Specifically, ask people if they have any ideas on how to help you accomplish this thing?
3.) Convene your advisory committee. Invite friends, influential others, to help you with your ideas. Don't suck the life out of them with long winded diatribes on what you're going to do. Instead, give them a simple hand out that describes what you want to accomplish, your big ideas. Invite them to support you, challenge you, to help you get there. Give them bonuses if they help you score a goal.
4.) Take one room of your house, and clear out a wall for your imagination The bigger the better. Now it's time for you to be crazy and to scare your friends and family. Start posting everything you can think of that is part of your dream. Pictures, planning sheets, mind maps, and your project planning sheet. In a few days, weeks and months, your wall will be full of ideas.
5. ) On the wall next to, or part of that, have big squares for the months ahead, and slowly fill those squares with Post-It notes that include what you're doing that month to get this project done. Not screw around...do it!
6. ) Finally, somewhere on this wall..put what you're going to get for accomplishing your goals? What are you going to buy as a reward for the big and small wins? A dinner out? A new watch? A new car? Rewards are important.
If you're worried about a wall being too messy, then perhaps you'd be better served doing it on small paper. Personally, if what you want to be big, and you want to be successful, then make your wall big, messy, obvious, crazy, fun, wild and useful. Use the wall, interact with it, play with it, share it, take pictures of it and send it to others.
If you do this you may find that creating new things for the world is both challenging and rewarding, and doable. Sure, we always tend to regress towards our comforts, but playing up the big wall and thinking like a bad ass lifts you higher, and can give you a sense of real, tangible momentum.
Have fun! Make Cool Stuff! Make Money! Get Rich? Repeat!
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