Big Events Happening in 2018

Big Events Happening in 2018

 

You’re kind  of a big deal, am I right?  This is your life and 2018 was going to be the year you make the magic happen.  You’re going to get in shape, you’re going to start that side consulting gig, you’re going to start volunteering more, etc.  I think this was also the year you were going to knock out a few of those big home improvement projects as well.  I’m right there with you.  I just had the outside of my roof repaired, the inside of the garage patched up, and a new heater installed.  Of course now my water heater has started to leak a little bit, you know what that means.  It means more money is about to get spent.  All kinds of big events happening in 2018.

Status Update

So since this was going to be “the year” how’s that all looking for you big fella?  Here’s the reason why I am asking you this and I don’t want you to freak out too much.  It is almost the end of June and you know what that means right?  It means 2018 is 1/2 over and we are headed to the back 9.  This is completely fine if you’ve been cranking and putting time and effort into those big events happening in 2018 that you were going to make happen.  This is not such good news if you haven’t been paying attention to the goals you were going to make happen this year.  Now you might be realizing all the big things you had planned but haven’t really started yet.  Oops.

Over the July 4th holiday period I will review my list of what I wanted to accomplish in 2018.  It encompasses the various aspects of my life that I focus on to work towards being a complete man.  My financial goals, my job, my marriage, the relationship with my daughters, my health, this website (my creative side coming out), my friendships, relationships in my life, and overall life well-being.  I made this list at the end of 2017 and now it’s time for a temperature check.  I’ll celebrate the successes so far and focus on what I need to.  Constant adjusting, that’s what we have to do to stay on track.

Why Now

There are all kinds of big events happening in 2018 and you are the driver.  The reason why I strongly suggest you review your 2018 so far is because we are halfway through it.  Scary I know.  The point here is that anything of any true meaning in your life takes time to build.  You can’t have a great relationship with your kids just by snapping your fingers.  You’re not going to kick ass at your job and get a 20% raise by simply wishing it, you have to lay a plan and go get it tiger.  Losing 20 pounds and being able to bench north of 200 pounds doesn’t happen by looking at “how to” articles and video’s online, you’ve got to go get after it.  It’s all about taking action.  So have you been taking the action needed to achieve your goals this year?

Now is the perfect time to review your life halfway through 2018.  Carve out 2-3 hours between laying at the pool and raiding the cooler this coming 4rth of July weekend to lay your plan for the backside of 2018.  Remember, these are the foundations for things that will bear fruit in 2019.  Make the time.  Speaking of time…

Time Is Slippery

I’ve introduced this concept before but it certainly bears repeating here.  When we get into our automatic pilot mode time slips by without you even noticing it.  This is why it seems like you just took down the holiday lights and paid the Christmas credit card bills off (well, most of them anyway) and all of a sudden summer is almost here.  Or you pull down those Halloween decorations only to realize you’ve got a few weeks left before the end of the year holidays.  Maybe you don’t spend enough time with your kids and all of a sudden they are too old and too cool to spend any time with you.  Perhaps you wake up and realize you’ve gotten your token 2-3% raise per year raise at work for 10 years and it’s slowly killing your soul.  These are the moments that can wake us up to action.

See we get so focused on what we HAVE TO take care of today that we don’t give the time or energy needed to the stuff that FULFILLS US.  So STOP the Autopilot Mode and WAKE UP.  Because the longer you go through your days and weeks and months like a robot on Valium, the more of your life slips away.  And the less chance you have of living the complete life that has meaning to you.  You have got to realize that the things that are of most value take time to build.  You have to work on them everyday, week after week, month by month in order to get them to a meaningful place.

What Now?

Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system let’s talk about what we do now.  I’ll boil it down to some simple easy steps.  Feel free to make it as complicated as you’d like but know that when we make something simple, we are more likely to follow it.  Notice I didn’t say easy because it’s not – it’s damn hard ongoing work.  It’s simple yet hard.  Okay, here we go!

Assess & Reflect – Sometime between now and the end of the 4th of July holiday block 2-3 hours on your calendar.  This will be a great use of your time I assure you.  During this time take out a pen and paper and review your 2018 so far.  If you have a list of things you want to accomplish this year, see what you’ve done and what you want or need to work on.  Even if you didn’t have things you wanted to accomplish, celebrate the things you have.

For example I’ve been working on getting my roof fixed since mid-February and it just happened a few weeks ago.  It was a 4 + month process.  Was it on my list?  No.  But I’m going to celebrate it anyway because I got it fixed due to my pestering the contractor to the point that they wanted me out of their life.  Mission accomplished.  Assess & reflect.

Make a New List – Now that you’ve reviewed what you have and haven’t done so far make a new list of what you want to accomplish the last 6 months of 2018.  Don’t overwhelm yourself with 10 things to do by the end of the year.  You’ll give up by the first of August.  Be realistic yet ambitious.  Remember that some big ticket items like starting a side business will take a while to get going.  If you lay the groundwork in the last 6 months of 2018 you’ll be ready to rock and roll the first of 2019.

An example is I started this website in late July of 2017.  I basically watched a lot of “how to” video’s and wrote some articles the last 4 months of last year.  I laid the groundwork.  This year since January I’ve been committed to writing 2 posts per week and I have gained some solid steam this year.  I aim to continue that the rest of this year.

Make Your Plan – With your new list it’s now time to make a plan.  There are 2 most important parts of a plan.  The first is to have a step by step process for accomplishing what you want.

Doesn’t have to be every little step, more like the framework.  The 2nd most important part of the plan is to ensure you commit the time to doing it.  As you make your plan ensure you are appropriating your time to executing your plan.  Speaking of which….

Execute – Now the real hard part starts.  You have to commit to executing your plan.  Don’t skip that workout.  Don’t blow off the research you need to do.  Remember that every little step counts.  Doing anything of value takes hard work and perseverance.  Go get it, you got this.  Just keep on keeping on.

There’s Still Time

Just because the year is almost half over doesn’t mean it’s time for us to throw in the towel.  Quite the contrary, there’s plenty of time to accomplish the big events happening in 2018 that you want to.  Remember that you have to switch off the autopilot mode and focus.  Don’t beat yourself up, we all get into that mode, myself included.  Brush it off and focus on what you want to accomplish this year.  There’s big events happening in 2018 brothers and sisters – go get it.

Focus Grasshopper,

Mat A.