Never Loose Focus On What You Want

Wishes, goals, dreams, targets and timelines...

Call it what you like but we all have things that we want to get and things that we want to achieve. The world is big and the year is long, but we must only focus on small tasks which we can aim at and achieve day to day. If we are always aiming for the top, we will probably miss out on all the right processes to get us there the fastest and best way.
We all seem to think that life is pretty complicated... so many things to do, not enough time in the day, so many new toys and the options available to us are endless. But really if we know what we WANT, what we NEED, and what has to be DONE, it should really be quite easy. In the end it is really all about “us”, “you” , the individual.
Something that I do every year is I make wishes. These wishes are about anything - life, family, friends, body image, race results, money. When I first meet Armando, he often talked about his goals and I often caught him checking this list. This list for him was on a piece of yellow paper; yellow is a bright colour and yellow is for good luck.
I often queried Armando about “this list”, he continued to tell me that this is something I should do at the beginning of each Year. So for the past six years I have been making this “list”. New Years Everolls around I have been planning my list for the upcoming year. My list is made up of goals and things that I would like to achieve. It is so much easier to visualise things when they are written down. Just like everything in life, if we put pen to paper it is hard to forget, and hard to ignore. We may lose focus or forget things if we just walk around talking about stuff, it is best to have it written down.
The list is made up of 12 things... they don’t have to be written down all in the evening of a new year, but they can be written down over the course of the next few weeks. You don’t want to rush into this kind of stuff. To go along with these 12 wishes or goals, on New Years Eve, all dressed in yellow we fill a champagne flute of 12 grapes, seedless or seeds, red or green whatever your preference. Stuff them in the glass and cover them with your favourite Champagne. At a few minutes before the STRIKE OF MIDNIGHT, start downing the grapes one by one and make a wish. Try not to get excited and throw them all round the room as it is 12 grapes for 12 wishes, we don’t want to cut ourselves short. Crawling around the floor of a crazy party looking for your grapes... Im sure we would find some pretty squished ones if we did.
This is so much fun, as these lists are so personal, they are for you, and they are 100% aimed at your dreams, your goals and your desires. It is kind of cool now, that I look back at my lists over the past five years, and some things appear year after year, and they will happen one day, but other things on my lists have been done and dusted. As many of you know I had a dream to break 9hours in an Ironman, DONE. We wanted to buy a house, DONE. This gives you an idea of things I have on my list. It comes in handy many times throughout the year when I feel I am a bit lost, a little confused and maybe lacking some direction. Straight back to my little yellow piece of paper, and oh… I remember, so off I go and focus on one of my goals. It is pretty cool, as it is a way to remind you,when maybe you are going through a rough patch.
As I was talking about earlier, there are so many things nowadays that we get caught up in, but if we remember WHAT WE WANT, how hard can it be to get distracted? Not very easy, “ if it ain’t on the list I don’t want to know about it.” Unless this distraction is going to help me, give me confidence or make me achieve my goal faster...then go for it. But then that is probably not a distraction but a mini helping hand to keep on moving in the right direction.
So for people who think that this is crazy I dare you to try it, and just check to see at the end of the year, just how many things you achieved on your list. Life is all about achieving no matter what it is. As individuals we all have things that WE WANT. To others they may seem basic or a joke, but if you think it, if you dream about it, and if you want it, go write it down and see if you get it!
THERE IS NO HARM IN TRYING... MAYBE IF YOU DON’T GET IT THIS YEAR, THERE IS ALWAYS THE NEXT!
Takecare and good luck. See you out there.

By Jo Lawn