Tag: 750words.com

‘Why’ power

Posted on by philipdodson

OK here we go another 750Words, it’s day 7 and I’ve showed up everyday. I have already written 4,600 in six days, that’s about a tenth of a book.

The compound effect is already kicking in, a small step every single day makes things happen. If someone had said to me last Monday that I had to find time to write 5,200 words in a week, I would have laughed. My Uni dissertation was 10,000 words and that took me an age. Well, I have written half that in a week, in less than 4 hours in total. Mind you as a student I had a slightly different focus!!

I now feel it is getting easier each day to do. I am sure there will be days, when the novelty has worn off, that I will find some days when it’s more like a chore. But I have noticed that the most successful people do the hard work whatever.

That’s one of the biggest learning curves I have had, is that life is full of repetitive and mundane things, that simply have to be done. What happens a good deal of the time is just as the momentum is going, we give up.

Then we realise that was a mistake and we have to start over again. Each time you stop and start, it becomes harder to get going again. It’s like a car, the hard work is accelerating to a ‘cruising’ speed. Or going for a run, the first part is hard, but once you are in your rhythm, it’s easy to keep going.

Life is like that, it’s the starting that is hard and the over-thinking of things is where the procrastination creeps in and the voice in our head starts to convince us it’s OK to not do something.

We become experts at creating excuses not to do something, instead of stopping the talking and just getting on with the doing.

Then we find, that once we get going it is not so bad, in fact it really is 10 X easier than we anticipated.

However, life isn’t a short-sprint either and many of us are guilty of starting, getting some momentum going, then seeing some results and relaxing.

Then we start to find the ‘doing’ a little repetitive and mundane. We give up, we see the initial success. But what happens then is that we realise that stopping leads to things not going the way we wanted.

Then we remember the hard part of starting and we go off again telling ourselves that it’s hard work etc. and we’ve find it even harder to start again.

So the key thing is to start quickly, not allowing too much over-thinking, then do the ‘doing’ by small steps that you build upon. The momentum will build better if you increase things over time, a step at a time.

No good charging off on a sprint at the start of a long race, it’s just not sustainable.

The one missing element however in all of this, often the reason successful people plough on through the hard graft, is your ‘why’ power.

I always thought that anything was possible through sheer determination alone. While this is true in the short-term and in extreme situations in life, longer term you need something far stronger. Will power runs out for all of us without the ‘why’ power.

Your ‘why’ power is obviously unique to you and what drives one person, will not be the same as the other. So we all have to search inside ourselves and work it out.

It could be family, recognition etc. etc., and it will be tied directly to your values.

Values are the corner stone of everything in our lives. If you haven’t yet worked out what they are, then I really recommend doing so. So few people bother to work out what they are and write them down. Even fewer live their lives by them.

Whenever we comprise our values, we will feel uncomfortable and that won’t go away all the time that remains the case. We will not be happy if our values are compromised over a long period of time. We can accommodate others values with people we love and trust.

The core values that we hold, will determine our ‘why’ power. Our ‘why’ power has to be strong enough to overcome the obstacles and curve balls that life will throw at us. Your values are the stone of life and therefore the reason we go on and on with our dreams, often against all the odds, is that the ‘why’ power is totally aligned with the core values we hold.

Freedom

Posted on by philipdodson

Freedom

Day 3 of 750Words.com and I’m getting addicted to this.

Today has been a great day and is one of those days that make you feel alive. I started the day of #AtTheHUb (@Work Hubs my co-working space) with a great networking breakfast that we host every 2 weeks for 4Networking.

I always love these meetings as it’s a chance to further connections and create new ones. That is so important to life. I no longer feel I work, I feel life is a series of connections and some lead to absolutely nothing and others lead to great things, that’s not measured by money.

I have been a member of 4N for about 3-4 years and it’s only in the last 1 & 1/2 that I have really got it and started to see the benefits of just building relationships. So many people use networking to sell their stuff, often relentlessly. I use it to make connections and build relationships, I never look at it as an opportunity to make money.

The fact is, that when people trust, know and like you, they will buy your stuff over ‘randoms’, when the need arises. So you can be completely chilled about it and not look at everything with the ‘ROI specs’ on.

The benefits I get in terms of advice, connections, fun and friendship will always outweigh whatever financial benefits that might come.

After that I headed over to Hackney Wick to catch up with Bernie & Neil, my #iCollDay buddies (International Collaboration Day) at 90 Mainyard, my favourite co-working space after the hub. Always enjoy these meets and today was an important one in terms of cementing the future of this event/movement (we’re changing the world as we know it LOL).

My top core value is freedom, not like the freedom to lie about on a beach all day or to roam the planet like a nomad. I mean the freedom to make my own choices, decide my own direction in life and be free to pursue the dreams/goals that I have.

So days like today remind me that I have that freedom to choose what I do and when I do it, one of the biggest pluses of self-employment.

So many are stuck in jobs that they hate and are trapped by needed to earn enough money to live the lifestyle that we’re all ‘sold’.

Therefore, I am grateful that I can do what I want, which also means that I need to stay focused and use the time wisely to ensure I stay free and happy. In order to maintain this freedom I need to work hard.

There are no short-cuts to success in life in whatever you are doing or want to achieve. There must be ownership of your life, commitment, discipline and responsibility.

I am now sitting writing my 750 words for the 3rd day in a row, this discipline is important for me in a number of ways.

Firstly, I want to improve my writing, as I have always wanted to write a book. So like anything in life, if you want to get better, there is no substitute for hard work and practice. As one famous golfer said ‘the more I practice, the luckier I get’.

The second thing about doing this every day, is it allows me to think, reflect and go through what is happening. We are all guilty of going from one day to another without reviewing or reflecting.

The third benefit to this, is a time-out from the normal daily routines, which is a huge benefit. I put my headphones on, music playing and I drift off in to my own thoughts and world. Otherwise you run ragged.

Lastly, if the piece isn’t up to scratch it doesn’t matter, as it is my choice to share it or not. So it’s a great place to brain dump, let off steam, and to exercise the mind.

Today, hasn’t finished yet, I am about to catch up with Bernie on what’s happening in the sharing economy. Instead of doing this in a stuffy meeting room, we are going to take a walk through The Olympic Park to Stratford.

This is another benefit of the freedom of self-employment, you don’t have to follow the old school norms that are ingrained in to most organisations.

Lastly, the best part of the day for me is the evening walks I do with #TeamDodson (my family). We have been going for a walk most evenings now altogether, as often as we can, for about an hour. We walk through the countryside around where we live. It’s chance to talk about our days and to share stuff, at the same time as getting some good exercise.