“Life is an adventure.”
-cliche quote, author unknown
I haven’t developed the theory much yet, but I’m coming to the realization that life is an adventure. Exciting, risky, and maybe worth sharing. Without further ado, I proudly present Adventure Log #1.
I’m short on advice and inspiration today, but if you need your fix, click over to the IKE Quest website! We’ve posted video from the most recent IKE Quest Training Camp where you can hear directly from our young people about the impact IKE Quest has already had on their lives.
Comment below and let me know what you’d like to hear about IKE Quest and/or youth mentoring!
We’ve covered the importance of creating a vision for your life. A vision that excites you. A vision that motivates you. A vision that inspires you. A vision you fall in love with and can’t help by reach for. A vision like this will motivate you to do the hard work to reach your goals.
“OK already. So I need to write a vision statement. How do I even do that? Life is so…big”
I’m glad you asked :)
There are a variety of methods to create your vision, googling “life vision,” or “creating vision statement exercise” gives you an overwhelming number of results to choose from. As a group, the entire IKE Quest group listened to Michael Hyatt’s podcast, How to Create a Life Plan, which I borrowed from to create my own vision.
1. Get alone somewhere with your journal and a pen. Make it is somewhere you know you won’t be interrupted by people, screens, your dog, the buzzer on the dryer, this is alone time.
2. Meditate, pray, etc. Whatever your thing is, get calm and quiet.
3. Describe your current reality, life as it is now. Describe and/or rate your current living situation, work situation, family life, connection to friends, writing ability, physical fitness level, etc. Obviously this is not an exhaustive list, but I hope it gives you a starting place. Anything you do, write down your ability to do it. One way to accomplish this is to grade yourself (A, B, C, D, or F) in each area.
4. Write down everything you want to be, do, or have. The goal is to develop a picture of you in the future, Future You. What does Future You do for work? How does Future You get along with people? What does Future You like to do on the weekend? Where does Future You live? How many books has Future You written? I’ll give you a hint, lest you have some trouble with this. Future You is awesome and is doing great things. Future You works somewhere awesome, goes on awesome adventures on the weekend, and has written multiple bestsellers that your fans describe as “awesome.”
5. Share your vision with a few important people. Think significant other, mentor, someone you look up to.
6. Read your vision. Often! Everyday? Once a week (for sure). Especially when you need that motivational spark to get back to work.
This truly can be a life-enriching exercise, it you let it be. What you need is a date and time for step 1. Go ahead and do that now. I mean it, before you close this page, set a date and time for later this week where you will be alone with your journal and pen. Better yet, write that date and time in the comments below, that way I can check in on you ;)
Future You is relying on current you!
The topic of the last couple Monday nights at IKE Quest have been finding a vision for life. Vision is the big picture of your life, a description of what your life would look like right now if you had a magic wand to make it exactly how you would like it. We believe developing a vision for your life is critical in helping you reach your goals.
Goals, like New Year’s resolutions, are easier to start than they are to finish. The process of moving yourself from where you are now, to where you want to be later can be difficult, be painful, and take longer than anticipated. Remember, significant, meaningful change requires hard work.
I’ve often found in my life that the hard work is easy to do at the beginning when I am fired up and ready to get started. Then slowly but surely, life happens. I’m tired. I have a doctor’s appointment. I pull a muscle. My buddy invites me over to watch the big game. I think you get the idea. As time goes on, it becomes easier to find excuses that distract or prevent me from doing the hard work. This is the exact moment when rereading that vision, my picture of what I’d like my life to look like in my wildest dreams, can be exactly the motivation I need to get back on track doing the hard work.
“I don’t feel like working out, I’m kinda tired.” If I had one of those magic wands right now, I’d be buff. Since I don’t have a magic wand like that, instead taking a look at my vision when “I’m not feeling it” can give me that reminder of what I want, a reminder of the reason for all the work, which give me that spark I need to go lift some weights.
“I don’t want to write this week’s blog post, plus I’m supposed to meet my friends for dinner in an hour.” If I had that magic wand, I’d already be the owner of a well respected blog and numerous publishing companies would be contacting me to write the sequel to my best-selling, already-classic first book: Making It Special: The Larry System. Since I don’t have the wand, I need to make them happen myself. A quick glance at my vision might be all I need to get started on my post now, instead of waiting until after meeting my friends.
Do you have a vision for your life? If not, why do you think that is? If so, how has your vision helped you to do the hard work required to reach your dreams?
“The foundation stones for a balanced success are honesty, character, integrity, faith, love and loyalty.”
-Zig Ziglar
As a once-competitive cyclist myself, Lance Armstrong was a near mythical figure that I looked up to for his athletic achievements as well as the drive and focus he demonstrated in the world of business. He had it all, monumental athletic achievements, his own clothing line with Nike, even a seemingly happy family.
But as you’ve probably heard by now, Lance Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs after years and years of denying it. It cost him his 7 Tour de France titles along with millions of dollars in prize money, relationships with friends, and a job at the non-profit organization that he started.
If you didn’t read the Zig Ziglar quote at the top, now is a good time.
Honesty, Ziglar said it is a foundation stone for success. If Ziglar isn’t enough for you, the Search Institute identified honesty as one of 40 developmental assets they believe have powerful influences on youth, both protecting them from risky behaviors and promoting positive attitudes and actions.
I want balanced success in my life. I want balanced success for the kids I work with and mentor in IKE Quest. I want them to be able to look at all Lance achieved and lost, and say “What he had is not for me.” Unlike Lance, I want my kids to value telling the truth even when it is not easy.
Currently my life does not revolve around 3 week long bike races and I don’t have sponsorship deals with Nike for millions of dollars. So let’s look at a scenarios that I’ve experienced in the coffee shop and see how honesty plays out.
A customer orders a drink and I don’t know how to make it. I could:
a) Guess how to make it and hope for the best. Likely outcome: If I’m right, I save face and the customer gets what they ordered, but I don’t learn because I guessed. If I’m wrong, I ruin the customer’s experience and lose the face I was trying to save apologizing to the customer and I have to ask a coworker how to make the drink anyway.
b) Say, “I don’t know how to make that drink, so I’ll find out and make sure I get it right.” Likely outcome: It is a little embarrassing to admit I don’t know how to make the drink. But my honesty ensures a good customer experience and I add something new to my bank of knowledge. Win-win!
I’m running behind because the dog ran away, I got caught behind a train, and I couldn’t find a parking spot, so I clock in 10 minutes late. I could:
a) Glance around to see if anyone noticed, then clock in and pretend like nothing is wrong. Likely outcome: Someone did notice, and they are wondering if even I care that they had to stay late to cover for me. They feel resentment that could be the start of a strain on our friendship.
b) Hustle in the door, apologize for being late, thank my coworkers for their hard work, and ask how I can be the best help to them. Likely outcome: My words communicate that I care and my actions back it up. Honesty helps maintain the trusting relationships I built with my coworkers.
So thank you Lance, yet again for providing inspiration to make my life better.
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