The Path to Clarity Started in My Garage

The Following is a guest blog post by Tom Terwilliger, former Mr. America and one of the country’s top motivational speakers.

This summer, like every summer, brought with it an increased desire for relaxation, fun, barbeques and booze. But for many it also took with it something of incalculable value upon its arrival. Satisfied by weekend after weekend of recreational activities, chips and beer we gave little thought to our goals, ambitions and resolutions from 7 or 8 months prior. It would have been the rare few among us that didn’t put those well meaning objectives and any flame of desire to achieve them inadvertently on the back burner or dismiss them as something we’ll get to next year.

Why do we do that?

Why do we love to put things off till next week, next month…or the ultimate dismissal “next year?”

You know what…screw WHY!

We can evaluate why “next year” and instead we can get to work using the precious time we still have this year towards achieving at least one of our intended objectives.

The Garage

Back in early spring I set a personal goal to get my horribly neglected hoarder garage cleaned out and back into functional shape. I put it off all summer (well almost all summer) and thought about letting it go until…yes, you guessed it, “next year.”

In the back of my mind however, I knew it had to be done now in part because I told myself I would do it but also because I recognized that like the garage itself that unfulfilled commitment was cluttering up my emotional brain space and represented an energetic obstacle on my otherwise fairly well mapped out path.

I knew it would take at least three weekends to complete the job… yes it was that bad. I looked at the number of weekends I had left until the chilly Fall Colorado weather presented an additional obstacle then mapped out a plan.

Did I actually need a plan? Not really, but it served to reinforce my commitment and ultimately saved me a lot of time and energy.

What have you been putting off?

I am a big believer in finishing every year with a victory. In doing so, you start the following year with the momentum of a charging lion instead of a slumbering lamb.

With that said we both know there’s still more than enough time before you have to think about next year’s ambitions to actually accomplish one or more of this year’s goals.

Action Steps

Here a few of the powerful goal achievement steps from my Goal Juice Training Program to help you get started:

Start by resolving yourself to making something happen – right now and forget about how much time you have left.
What? Maybe it’s losing those extra few pounds. Or finally starting that investment portfolio. Perhaps it’s making physical and mental space like I did. Or maybe it’s one smaller chunk of a massive long-term goal you have for yourself. Hell, a full blown body transformation can be achieved in less than 12 weeks.
Why? Because I have to, need to, or should were not big enough why’s for me to finally take action on that garage, and no it wasn’t my wife nagging me either. Find the motivation behind your goal. It’s not usually the first thing that comes to mind. Your Power Why goes much deeper. In the Goal Juice Training we peel away the first superficial layers to get to the core motivation and then turn that into your driving force. Don’t settle for the first why your conscious mind presents to you… it likely won’t be enough.
What resources will you need? As I developed my simple yet effective “Garage Makeover” plan I knew the first things I was going to need to get the job done was a dispenser for dumping a lot of unwanted trash, a tall ladder and some additional man power (the wife). Waiting until you need them, rather than identifying what you’ll need in advance is a sure fire way of letting yourself get derailed and never reaching the objective.
Action: Action is the bridge between where you are right now and where you want to be before the year ends. The summer ambition slumber is over and it’s time to get your ass up and moving again. Another beer or burger isn’t the cure for the guilt you’re feeling for having been… well let’s just say less than ambitious this summer. Action is the only cure!

Once I identified what I wanted to achieve (the garage), mapped out a plan and got myself motivated it really wasn’t that tough. Knowing when to stop was the problem. I kept wanting to do or add more. As a result, I now have the most enviable garage in the neighborhood…fit for a new Lamborghini Veneno Roadster.

Hmmm…maybe that will be next?!