My wife and I watched the Eddie the Eagle movie last night- such a great story and I remember seeing him at the Olympics on TV as kid. Seeing Eddie’s unstoppable drive portrayed in the movie linked perfectly into the topic I wanted to write about this week, so more on that in a few paragraphs.
This has been a great week for progressing steps of our Q1 goals. Within the SA business this involves consolidating aspects of our admin, accounting and operational processes in order to build the right foundations for the next stage of growth. It’s been very satisfying this week leading and coordinating our team of Operations Manager, Virtual Assistant and some local suppliers towards fine tuning and systemising parts of the business. We’re by no means perfect but the vision of a well oiled machine keeps us striving.
Fresh off a recent 3 day property development course with Lloyd and Andi Chris has been putting the powers of google to use to help him identify a long list of potential development sites in our area.
This is just a little snapshot of the week, skimming over any of the more ‘boring’ details and mini fires we typically fight. Next week we will get up and go again, giving it our all, with the enduring spirit of incremental progress. So why are we pushing through what might appear as ‘grind’ to many?
We all know that financial components only motivate and drive someone to a certain point. For long lasting motivation and momentum it’s crucial to tap into an underlying WHY that will continue to drive you forwards, through highs, lows, the mundane and everything in between. Our business acts like a vehicle through which Chris and I can live and express our highest values and best self journeys.That’s what keeps us going and is what will stand the test of time.
The theme of this week’s post was initially prompted by a short clip from Darren Hardy that I’ve seen several times before, and saw again on Thursday. In it, he was discussing the importance of finding your big why. He used the following analogy to illustrate the point, I’ll try to recall and paraphrase it here:
“Imagine I put a 10 inch wide, 30 foot long plank on the ground and said, if you walk the length of the plank, I’ll give you 20 bucks.
You’d do it, yes? It’s an easy 20 bucks.
But, what if I took the same plank and used it to make a rooftop bridge between two 100 storey buildings, would you walk across that sky high plank for the same money now?
No way!
However, what if your child was on the opposite building and that building was on fire with the flames fast approaching them. Would you walk across that plank to save him or her?
Likely your answer would be, absolutely and immediately.
So the first time I asked you to cross the rooftop bridge you said no way, the second time was a yes without hesitation.
The risks and dangers to you were the same so what changed?
Your why changed. Your reason for wanting to do it changed.”
So the point of this little story, courtesy of Darren Hardy, was to show that when the why is big enough, you’ll be willing to perform almost any how. To borrow a quote from him, “The power of your why is what helps you stick through the gruelling, mundane and laborious. All the hows are meaningless until the why is powerful enough. If your why isn’t big enough, the fortitude of your commitment won’t be powerful enough and you will end up like everyone who makes a new years resolution, gives up too quickly and reverts to living a life of mediocrity”. DON’T LET THAT BE YOU.
Circling back to Eddie the Eagle and the reason why he’s made a cameo in this post, is because when you watch the movie, it’s clear the guy had a powerful why. Against all odds he competed in the 1988 Winter Olympics ski jumping event. His goal from a very young age was to become an Olympian, despite being told on endless occasions that he wasn’t an athlete, he would never qualify, he’s not cut out for it, etc etc. That’s why this line from the movie, and likely a real quote from Eddie, stood out and resonated with me – Eddie said,
“I love ski jumping, almost as much as I love proving people wrong”.
Have you found your reason why?
Here are some resources I looked up that might help those interested to find their why:
https://startwithwhy.com/find-your-why/
https://www.success.com/blog/john-addison-how-to-find-your-why-in-life