Life is Like A Game of Chess

Life is like a game of chess.  The people who are really successful are the ones who have the vision of the future.  Chess should be the great leveller.  I mean when you think about it, what could be more even than a game of chess?  Everyone, regardless of ability, skill or experience has to follow the same set of rules.  A Chess Grand Master can only move pieces the same way that a novice can move them, within the finite confines of a 64 square board. 

So why are some people more successful than others?  Simple, Vision!  A great chess player can recognise patterns and see many moves ahead.  And it’s the same with life.  Not everyone starts out in life the same, but once you’re here you pretty much have the same opportunity as everyone else.  The millionaire and the beggar have the same number of hours in the day.  It’s how they use those hours that makes a difference to their fortune.

Most people however approach life the same way that many people, (admittedly myself included) approach Chess.  Like most kids, I learned to “play” chess when I was a young but it’s never been a priority to learn to get good at it, and I’m OK with that.  Being a Chess Grand Master has never been an ambition for me, but I do CHOOSE to get good at life!

Life, like Chess, has patters and requires vision.  Like Chess, it is something that you can choose to Master if you wish.  Do you take the time to Plan what you’re doing many moves ahead?  It has been said that most people spend more time planning a vacation than they do planning their own lives. 

It looks something like this…

Most people end in a scenario not of their choosing.  They’re not where they are in life because they made a conscious decision to be there.  They’re there because without a clear vision and strategy for their lives, circumstances just carry them along like driftwood in a river.  Like the novice Chess player, they arrive at their circumstance then start trying to work out a strategy of “where to from here?”   Like the Chess player, they’re not thinking multiple moves ahead, they’re just thinking of making the next move.  Once they do that, they’ll see how life responds then they’ll plan their next move after that.

So you start out with your “Dream Career”, your “Dream Car”, your “Dream House” but then what happens?  Well you get offered a job, it’s not your dream job but hey, you need the money now and you can get your dream job later right?  So you settle for the first job you can get.  Then you buy a car, it’s not your “Dream Car” but hey, you can afford the repayments and you can get your dream car later right?

Most people go through their whole lives like this and make it to within sight of retirement before they finally realise that they’re not going to get all their “Dream” things later.  So don’t let that be you.  Start looking for patters, start planning 2 moves ahead, then 3, then 4. See how far you can stretch it.  Sit down right now and ask yourself what patterns you can see in your life that have been holding you back.  What patterns have been working for you?  What patterns can you see in other people that have helped them to become successful that you may be able to incorporate yourself?

For me personally, I have just recently started developing a “Personal Growth Plan”.  That is a plan not just of where I want to be and the things that I want to accomplish in the future, but also my plan for how I want to “Grow” as a person in the next few years.  If you were to sit down and write out your own “Personal Growth Plan”, what would it look like?  What are the things that you want to accomplish as a person in the coming years.  Take the time to really think about it.  Write it out and once you’re done, please leave your answers in the Comments section.

How To Create An ACTION SANDWICH

In my last Post, I wrote about how your “Daily Actions” determine your “Current Reality” and what you can do to change that on a practical level on a daily basis.

In this post I want to continue down that road and look at how we can gradually evolve our “Daily Actions” to ensure that we are always stretching ourselves to achieve more than what we’ve done in the past.

You can’t go from small to BIG instantly.  You have to start small and gradually get BIGGER!   You can’t go from average to great instantly.  You have to start average and gradually get BETTER!  It doesn’t take a lot to put you above the pack, but it does take SOMETHING!

The way to get there is by creating what I like to call an ACTION SANDWICH.  Now one thing that I’m always stressing to people is that one of the most essential things to bring about change is a feeling of Gratitude.  What you are grateful for you will attract more of.  We live in a FEELING Universe.  Whatever we FEEL is what we are going to attract into our lives whether it’s something that we want or not.

So the “Bread” in this sandwich is going to be Gratitude.  We start on the bottom with a FEELING OF GRATITUDE for what we already have in our lives RIGHT NOW.   At first glance we may not think we have that much to be grateful for but if we start to really focus in on all the things that we do have to be grateful for, then we start to realise that in fact there is always SO MUCH for us to be grateful for.  This is important because we can’t really attract anything else into our lives until we begin to feel grateful for what we already have.

Next is our Top piece of “Bread”.  In this case that is going to be a FEELING OF GRATITUDE for what we are going to ‘Become’ when we reach our Goal.  Remember, we live in a FEELING Universe so to attract the Goal that we seek, we need to first be grateful for what we have.  But then we need to put ourselves into the FEELING of already having acquired what we want.  What do you want?  How is it going to FEEL when you achieve that?  Stop right now and write down just a paragraph about how you will FEEL when you have achieved your Goal.  Now just close your eyes and step into that FEELING.  Visualise yourself as already having that at part of your reality.  Now that you have that vision in your mind, now that you have the FEELING of what it’s like to achieve it, now allow yourself to be GRATEFUL for it.  Express Gratitude to The Universe / God / Your Higher Self, whatever you believe in, and most importantly express Gratitude to YOURSELF that you have achieved this goal!

Now it’s time for the Filling!  The Filling in this sandwich is going to be ACTION!

What Action are you going to take to ensure success?  Remember the way to get BIG is to constantly get BIGGER, the way to get Great is to constantly get BETTER!  Don’t blow yourself out of the water by setting a BIG Goal and then become disillusioned by the fact it seems too hard to achieve.  Set the BIG Goal and then break it down into smaller chunks.  What can you do TODAY which is just a little bit Bigger than what you did yesterday?  How can you always do just that little bit more than you did the day before which is going to stretch you?

Tony Robbins has this great analogy where he says if you want to do 10 sit ups, which one is going to be the easiest?  Answer: number 1 right!  But which one is going to get you the most results?  Answer: number 10 right!  Well actually NO.  Tony Robbins says if you set out to do 10 sit ups, the one which is going to get you the most results is number 11 !

It’s what you do EXTRA that counts.  What can you do TODAY which is just a little bit BIGGER than what you’ve done before which is going to stretch you and move you forward?

Let me know, leave a comment for me…

Creating The Right “Daily Actions”

We all have that BIG Goal, that compelling vision of our future in the back of our minds that we want to get to someday.  We’ve imagined what we’ll do when we get there haven’t we? Yet it doesn’t seem to be getting any closer because LIFE just seems to keep getting in the way!

Our current realities are determined by our daily actions.  Our daily actions are largely governed by our current realities but influenced by our aspirational visions of our future.   

OK, so what I mean by that is that your “Current Reality” is the sum total result of all of the “Daily Actions” that you’ve taken up to this point.  The “Daily Actions” that you now take on a daily basis are largely governed by your “Current Reality”.

Let me give you an example of this.  Let’s say for example that you feel like you have a dead end job.  The reason that you have that dead end job right now is because of all the “Daily Actions” that you’ve taken in the past.  Now that you have the dead end job, the “Daily Actions” that you are now taking every day are going to be largely governed by the “Current Reality” of having that dead end job. 

Your “Daily Actions” are probably going to go something like this;

• Get out of bed
• Have a shower
• Get ready to go to work
• Make lunch for work
• Drive to work
• Come home
• Make dinner
• Watch TV
• Go to bed early enough that you get enough sleep to get up tomorrow and do it all over again!

Think about YOUR “Current Reality”.   Take out a piece of paper right now and list the first 5 things that you do every morning.  What are your first 5 “Daily Actions”?  Now go through that list and ask yourself how many of these are a direct result of my “Current Reality”?

For example; getting ready for work, get the kids ready for school and so on.  The fact that you may have a job, or you may have children has become your “Current Reality” and so therefore will determine your “Daily Action”.  So it’s a vicious cycle, your “Daily Actions” determine your “Current Reality” which dictates your “Daily Actions” which creates all of your future “Current Realities”.

So How Do We Escape?

Well like I said, our “Daily Actions” are LARGELY governed by our “Current Reality” but can also be INFLUENCED by our Aspirational Visions for our future.  For example, if you want a better job, you may look at course that you can do which would maybe improve your skill set or give you a new qualification.  Now that “Daily Action” when done consistently can lead to a new “Current Reality” for you in future!

YAAAAAAAY !!!!!!   Good news right?

Well it can be, however for most people it just doesn’t work out that way. 

WHY?

Well the simple answer is that we are more likely to CLOSE ourselves off from an opportunity that would take us AWAY from our vision of the future, than we are to OPEN ourselves up to an opportunity that would take us TOWARDS our vision for the future.

So let’s say we have the dead end job that we want to get out of.  We know that we could do a course that would give us a new skill or qualification, we know we SHOULD do that, we fully INTEND to do that at some stage but every time an opportunity comes up to actually DO something and move forward, our “Daily Actions” get in the way.  So we say, “Oh well I SHOULD do that but you know the next few months are going to be crazy for me because…. (fill in the blank)”.

We never OPEN ourselves up to these opportunities.  On the other hand however, we’re also more likely to CLOSE ourselves off from opportunities that may arise that take us AWAY from our vision of the future.  So for example, the opportunity for a promotion comes up at work and it means more money which would be great, but it also means more responsibility, the possibility that I may have to work back late at night, and well that’s not really compatible with my vision for my future because this job/industry (whatever) isn’t really what I want and after all, I’ve been thinking about doing ‘that course’!  So taking this promotion would CLOSE off that possibility because I wouldn’t be able to do the course if I’m working nights.

So we kind of get the WORST of both worlds.  Our “Daily Actions” keep us busy and stop us from doing the thing that would move us forward, AND that vision in the back of our minds stops us from doing anything we perceive would take us AWAY from our vision.

Now there’s nothing wrong with making a firm decision to block off anything that takes us away from our life’s vision, in fact that’s a very good thing, however unless we are also willing to OPEN ourselves up to the things that are going to move us TOWARDS our vision then it’s just counterproductive.

So ask yourself RIGHT NOW what can you do TODAY that will move you forward towards your Goal.  Is there a course you want to do perhaps?  Could you go to the gym?  Do you want to spend more time with your children and have a deeper connection with them?  What is it for you?

What actions can you take TODAY that are going to move you towards that goal?  So let’s use the example of someone stuck in a dead end job and wanting to get out.  Is there a course you can take that would improve your skill set?  There usually is, however chances are it doesn’t just happen to be starting today.  Maybe there is a course you could do, but the next intake is not for 3 months.  So what can you do TODAY that will move you forward in that direction?

Well, if you want to do that course in 3 months, find out about it TODAY.  What days does it run?  What will your time commitment be?  What will your financial commitment be?

What ever it’s going to cost, start TODAY to set aside that money, it will already be a habit by the time the course starts.  Does it run for 2 hours, 2 nights per week?  Well as of TODAY you are unavailable to do anything else at those times.  Block it out in your calendar!  NO EXCEPTIONS!!!

If you’re doing a course and the dishes need to be done, you can’t do them at that time because you’ll be in class.  Kids need help with homework at that time, you can’t help them at that time because you’ll be in class.  So put yourself “in class” at that time each week starting TODAY!   What can you do in that “class” time each week for the next 3 months?  You can do plenty!  Are there books you can read that would help prepare you for the course?  Are there TED Talks you can watch that would help you?

You’ve made the decision, as of TODAY this is something that gets done.   What is your new “Daily Action” that you’re going to be taking as of TODAY which is going to DEFINITELY and unavoidably change your future “Current Realities” in a positive way?

Tell me in the comments... 

Learn more about working with me...