#9 Creating Your Extraordinary Life Plan

hey guys this is Greg Denning and you are in the school of awesome sauce where I share with you Amazing Stories and strategies to help you live an extraordinary

[Music] life all right guys so excited today share this awesome lesson you know have you ever been out uh orienteering you've been out in the in the mountains or the Wilderness had to use a compass and a map and try to find your way around and you know there there's been a bunch of times and I've been out in the wilderness a lost I remember one time as a kid we were up um went out hunting with my uncles and I got turned around and lost up there and fact the whole group end up getting lost and we had to just kind of navigate and find our way back and I remember that the horrible feeling of being lost of not knowing where we were and not knowing where we needed to go and there's been times like that but now I actually I actually kind of like getting lost that's one of my favorite things like drop me off in a city I don't know where I am and where I'm going and just have this epic experience and get out in the wilderness and try to survive and find your way out and I love that sense of adventure but because I've learned how to navigate how to how to find my way and how to get things done right and there's two things you need to know uh if you want to get somewhere and number one you've got to know where you are and number two you've got to know where you're going and it turns out that those are are the same two truths for life that if we really want to live an extraordinary life we have to know where we want to go and we have to know really clearly exactly where we are and in my experience very few people are really clear about either of these it's it's super interesting you guys I meet people all the time and I love to talk about them I'll even I'll even have these awkward conversations in the grocery store or the elevator or anywhere just like I love just turn to people hi I'm Greg what's your life dream you know where you going what are you doing and I just go go right for it and i' love to have meaningful conversations with anyone anywhere at any time and I find out that a lot of people just don't know and when I'm asking it's like I don't know you know what's my life dream I guess I guess to retire someday I remember one gentleman that was his answer I as I pushed like come on give me something he's like I don't know retire someday right he he really didn't know where he wanted to go and and by where you want to go I'm talking about like Big Dreams and goals who you want to become and how you want to do your life and where you are it's interesting that like when I'm when I'm doing my coaching that's one of the very first things we do is like okay let's get really crystal clear about where you're at right now and most of us don't take the time to do that right it's it can be really uncomfortable and and we get busy I understand this we get busy we get going with life we're just cruising along and we kind of get in this autopilot mode where we're just we're just drifting right we're just going we're just going through the motions making things happen and very rarely do we intentionally make the time and effort to stop and say okay wait hold on a minute where am I like exactly I'm going to track here I'm going to track what I'm eating I'm going to track my activities I'm going to track my sleeping I'm going to track how much time I'm using on devices and where all of my time is going I'm track where my money's going where how it's coming in right we get really intentional about all of those things and then we get a crystal clear picture of where we at in our in our holistically in our whole life and where we want to go but very few people do that and and we've got to man if we want to live an extraordinary life you want to live an epic life on your terms and I guess maybe we got to start there for a second like I want you to know this is real like you you're KN if you've listened to some of these podcasts episodes you know where I came from I I was in a broken home out of my own early struggling ignorant shy timid depressed discouraged hopeless very little skills very little knowledge I guess I still I'm still there very little skills very little knowledge but if I can go from where I was to where I am and to where I'm going in the future if I can do it then anyone can do it and I want to like assure you you no matter what your circumstances are right now no matter what you're facing you can do this you can live life on your terms you have way more power than you think you do and more opportunities than you can currently see we literally can write our own tickets I believe that I've seen people come from the worst circumstances and conditions and build a life they love it is totally possible even if you're facing some crazy hard stuff right now this is doable so please believe that all right so where too we got to ask some big questions right where do you want to go and that's that's the big one that's a fun one and so start asking yourself let yourself dream you guys I want to reize here like even if your life is good it's okay to want more it's okay to keep growing and have a little fire in your belly of ambition right of wanting to improve and grow and make yourself better make your life better and help other people make their lives better it's perfectly okay to want that and to have this desire for growth in fact I we're literally hardwired for it if you if you study the brain research that's going on right now you can see inside the mind and and track this like we get new neural connections every time we we grow we achieve that's why you you feel good when you check stuff off your to-do list you're getting a little hit of dopamine there and it just feels good to do things and it actually you get H to open me just dreaming about doing things and thinking about the excitement of accomplishing something and achieving things we're literally hardwired to grow and improve and I believe uh there's this great qu poem by Harry Kemp and on the end it says chief of all thy wondrous Works Supreme of all thy plan thou has placed an upward reach into the heart of man and we have that upward reach I I really do I I meet people all the world and they just have this they have this longing this desire to be better to be their best selves to reach for their potential to see what they can achieve and accomplish and do and I hope you have that fire and I hope you feed that fire I hope you fuel it be excited let yourself dream and get out there all right so if we're going to head somewhere where do you want to go in life there's there's three there's three elements I think here that we're going to talk about today number one you have to ask the right questions number two you have to give the right answers and number three you have to take the right actions so right questions write answers and write actions now I I want to point out right away there's not just one way so when I say right it's not just one way um there are clearly are some wrong ways I think we all agree on that there are clearly some wrong ways to do life but there's also some right ways but that doesn't mean just one way there are many really good ways to do life and many really great Ambitions and there will be people who are drawn and driven to do work uh to protect the planet to help animals to do humanitarian efforts at the at the very lowest level where people are starving and humanitarian efforts all the way up to personal development and helping people achieve Greater Heights in their businesses and their lives and I mean it's it's across the full spectrum right there's so many good ways to do life to to be involved in in family and philanthropy and in business and community and Leadership I mean there's so many good ways to do life but there are I really want to point this out there are some common denominators my friends there are definitely some common denominators what works and what doesn't and we can find those but most people think it's a problem of you know having the right answers if I had the right answers if I knew you know what I supposed to do then then everything would be all right but I want to back up and say it's actually having the right questions comes first because too many of us end up asking the wrong questions and if we start with the wrong question we're never going to get to the right answer let that one sink in think about that for a little bit if we're starting with the wrong question we're never going to get to the right answer and a great way to demonstrate that is with a trial or a challenge or a struggle an obstacle that's in your way very often we want to think why me why is this happening why is this happening to me why why can't why can't we just avoid this why why can't we just get how can I just get away from this right and we we were asking this why question in that context and you see how that's kind of a disempowering question where it's not empowering us to be proactive it's it's kind of throwing a pity party and it pushes us into what I call victimville Right Where You you play the victim oh why me why is this happening to me ah and we start moaning and complaining and whining and crying and throwing a pity party and even if it is unjust and even if it is miserable that doesn't help us solve the problem and so the better questions is and we here together I'd ask you know what's the better question what are the things we should be asking ourselves when we're facing an obstacle and some of the potential questions are like okay what can I learn from this what is this situation asking of me like what's what's being required of me right now what opportunities are there how can I uh get through this well how can I learn from this how can I grow from this how can I improve this how can I prevent this from happening again like how can this make me a better person right where can I take action to make a difference in this situation right and and see how those Empower us and and we ask the right questions like yeah this is great and and you know let me give some let me give some context for other other situations instead of asking why doesn't my my spouse change why don't they do what I think they should do right when when is my spouse going to do that when are my kids going to stop doing that or when are they going to start doing that when is my boss going to do this or the governor that you know we're we take those questions and we put them on other people again putting ourselves in the place of a victim instead of what can I do to improve my marriage even if my spouse doesn't you see that I'm taking full accountability and responsibility and actually in that case I can I totally can you guys know it's possible you can literally improve your marriage just by improving yourself even if your spouse doesn't because it brings the tide personal development brings the tide it lifts all boats and it helps every area of your life it's it's so powerful and so important so we can literally bring the tide and and those are the kind of questions we need ask what can I do what can I learn how can I improve and it's empowering so then the second part is so first part is ask the right questions and I I invite you to spend some time asking the right questions if you're facing a situation or challenge you want to level up your life you want to grow you want to live a great story what are the questions you need to be asking yourself now the second part is to give the right answers and this can be tricky and challenging but it's it's actually fun because like okay wait a minute how do I how do I get the right answers are there right answers and if so how do I find them how do I how do I give the right answers and make sure my thinking is clear here because there's some even even with the right questions there's still some broken things sometimes we give answers that aren't quite helping us where we kind of get it's it's easy to slip into a place where we get a little bit deceived we deceive ourselves El or we lie to ourselves and we get we get it's called it's called being neurotic right you get this in neurotic space where where it really doesn't line up your thinking just doesn't line up with with real answers that are going to help us and so we get into some of these behaviors that are like self- sabotage and we give the wrong the wrong answer so I'm going to give one suggestion here two actually number one to give the right ansers they have to align with your values and your desired outcome do you know if you're if you're answering this question does it align with your values your principles like your desired outcome does it fit and then number two I love this one is like study the lives of great men and women I've been reading voraciously um generally I average about a book a week and I've been reading over for over two decades just devouring it and listening to podcasts and audios and and trainings and seminars and paying tens of thousands dollars for training and meeting people and interviewing people all around the world I'm looking for the best way to be successful in every area of Life how to really get it done be happy and to achieve and and just like like get success in in the areas that matter most in life right in every every important area of life and getting the right anwers often you look at these lives you look at the lives of great men and women and you think okay what did they do what was their thinking what were their habits and and where their whole life played out and they're not like guessing like oh maybe you should do that or try this like but you study the lives of great men and women who really have achieved incredible things and were genuinely good people too you study their lives and say what were they thinking what were they doing what decisions did they make what habits do they have what routines or rituals do they practice and that's where we start getting really great answers really great answers and so I love learning from people and looking at the best think and leaders of all time and when I start answering a question I say well can I back that up can I back that up with evidence or proof from the lives of my heroes and if I can and I can see that that they're living by these these common denominators of success right because some people are like well like look what look what works for one person may not work for another person and that's true but can you find someone who is truly great and truly good who's like you and lived by these principles and practices right and if we can if we can see that and prove it again and again and not just like some random chance but like really dig in and make it happen then we can get it so the you got to have the right questions the right answers and then take the right actions got to take the right actions and set up habits and systems routines and rituals in our lives and I'm I'm going to share I'm going to do some podcasts just on a straight my my morning rituals that have made the massive difference in my life I've been doing for over 22 years and evening rituals and family rituals and and these routines that we get into and habits we set up we set up these systems you guys that just make living life so much easier so let's dig let's dig a little bit deeper here but I want to share look this idea you cannot get to where you are going if you do not know where you need to be you cannot get to where you're going if you do not know where you need to be we got to get those out so I'm actually going to give you some questions to consider um I invite you to write these down Ponder on them share share your answers with people you love and Trust share them with me but spend some time thinking and writing about these things and I'm just going to throw out some questions here that are examples of the right questions and these are big picture of philosophical questions what is my life mission what brings me true Joy what do I really want to accomplish what is my my definition of success and how am I going to achieve it that's a big one have you ever clearly defined success for yourself that thing's massive I often think a lot of people miss the mark they end up climbing the wrong their ladders up against the wrong wall or they're barking up the wrong tree they're going somewhere they really don't don't want to go because they never clearly defined success what am I going to use this day for right what am I going to use today for what do I have the capacity to do well what are my desires what are my talents what needs to change in the world oh I love that one what needs to change in the world how can I cont contribute to that change what is my why right my drive what's what's the reason I do what I do and then that's the next question tied to that is why do I do what I do right love that question I love love love that question remember years ago we were driving uh from the United States down to Costa Rica and moved there first time this was our very first rodeo leaving the us to go live abroad with our family and we were listening to this great audio program by Wayne dire and he was asking this question he's like literally ask yourself everything go through every part of your life and ask yourself why you do what you do even down to things like why do you eat three times a day why is it you eat breakfast lunch and dinner like why have you been conditioned to that and if if you didn't know about that if you didn't know you were quote supposed to eat three times a day when would you eat why do you sleep when you sleep or how long you sleep why do you live where you live if you could pull yourself completely off the planet and you're up in space looking back at the Earth you can see the whole thing where would you choose to live and why right and just boom like this mind explosion right of all these awesome great questions like literally ask yourself why do you do what you do and so often we're going to find that we end up picking up things from our social surroundings our social conditioning our family friends you know School experience work experience whatever we end up doing these things and some of them you're going to say excuse me some of them you're going to evaluate and be like yeah yeah I want that and part of my life like I'm going to look at that I'm going to really understand it evaluate it and I'm like yep I do that because I learned it from my grandpa and I think it's a great thing and I'm gonna hold on to it but we have to be honest enough to say man you know what I do that because I picked it up from my dad and I don't want to do that anymore or I learned that from a teacher or I just kind of came an automatic default thing why do I do that and I don't like that anymore I'm done doing it and you can change you can remove that stuff from your life so we literally have the power you guys to bring in or remove anything we want from our life including our personalities we can alter our personalities if there's parts of your personality you don't like or other personality types that that would be more empowering and helpful for you and your mission in your life you can alter that you literally can you can transform your personality I've done it with myself and I've helped others do it this is this stuff is so awesome I love it so why do you do what you do um why go down that road right going on the questions here why are you going down that why are you going down that path What story do I want to live and here's an interesting question that I think is super powerful what will make me truly unhappy right I love that one it's a it's a flip on what we most often ask what will make me happy we think about that and that's an important question but what will make you truly unhappy and when you and I get really crystal clear about what would truly make us unhappy woo we get a lot of clarification on changes we need to make and things we need to do what is standing in my way of becoming the person I want to be I know I'm just fire hose drilling these questions at you but you capture them you know pause this capture these questions spend time on them like seriously and some of you are like oh yeah that's nice and go on with it and others will will take the time make the effort to write them down and write your responses like do some Journal writing on this and really get clear because without Clarity we're not moving forward we can't if you don't you don't have Clarity you're not going to set goals if you don't have goals you don't have progress who do I want to become what are the most important qualities I need to acquire what are the most important accomplishments in life what must I do to earn a phenomenal education what must I do to become an incredible human being oh I love that right so we can get those great questions think about them ourselves write them down study the lives of great men and women talk to your spouse talk to your mentors and coaches make sure you have a mentor and a coach all the time get in a coaching program invest in yourself it's worth it whether you do it with me or you do it with someone else make sure you're getting some coaching and mentoring um Albert Grace said he said if you do not deliberately form good habits then you will automatically form bad ones and that's what happens you guys if we are not really deliberate and intentional about setting things up the right way and Socrates said the unexamined life is not worth living and I just think he meant like look if you're not going to examine yourself you're not going to spend time thinking about who you want to become and where you're where you at where you're going then you're just going to kind of drift through life and and you're not going to end up where you want to be so make it time to examine your life my friends uh see how you're doing in what I call the fantastic five which is physical mental spiritual emotional and social you can add Financial to that so it be six but look at those important areas of life get a clear examination of how you're doing um and and don't beat yourself up be be patient with yourself you know when you when you examine that you get really clear about okay what condition I'm in physically what how am I doing emotionally am I am I too sensitive even hyper sensitive how do I respond to other people and situations how am I doing mentally am I really challenging myself in my mind learning languages and memorizing and and and wrestling with problems and solutions and then then after that like how do you feel about your results right and don't don't allow your results if you're if you're sucking it up and I would I would dare say I'm confident enough to say we all need to improve in each of those areas of life and and probably uh most of us need to really improve in a couple areas and don't let that lower your self-esteem it's not tied to your selfworth and don't let it prevent your progress you know you don't like that scene from from Tangled I am a despicable human being right we beat ourselves up don't do that be be patient with yourself but be honest too be like you know what actually I I'm really sucking it up right now in Social like I'm not building relationships I'm not winning friends and I'm not influencing people I I need to make some serious changes right and be willing to be completely honest about that and make it happen and then if if you're willing to do that it's going to make a huge difference it's going to make a gigantic difference in your your life right to get be clear be honest don't don't beat yourself up and then create a road map and this is probably the most important part if you'll just sit down and create a road map when I'm when I'm mentoring and coaching I always invite people to get get really clear set some big dumb goals right I've shared that they're demanding this their acronym for dumb is demanding unrealistic meaningful and bold and um then set some dumb goals and then some smart goals thater for smart is specific measurable attainable relevant time bound and then get going get that vision of what you want and just start taking action with incremental goals until you achieve them and I guess here's let me let me drive this home right a little heart tohe heart here and I'm I'm just kind of feeling this look my greatest concern my biggest fear for for people is that too many people don't make the time and effort to plan a great life and then execute that plan I want to repeat that my fear is that too many people don't make the time and effort to plan a great life and then execute the plan and instead most people merely and this is I'm quoting someone they hollow out their own pit of mediocrity close quote they they just make this little space and they settle into their little pit and they stay there and that's heart-wrenching because the greatest tragedy in the world is when a human being like you and me fails to reach their full potential so my friends like you greatly cheat yourself if you only give a few minutes and a few shallow thoughts to your life plan right we can really make it happen so get clear on your plan get excited about it like go after like write it out get it on your wall I've got it up all over my wall I got a vision board I got affirmations I have trainings on all those things how to do it get those courses so you can do them well and then I get excited about this stuff and then make sure here's here's the key we'll wrap up with this right make sure please please please make sure every day you do at least one thing that moves you in the direction of your dreams every day do at least one thing that moves you in the direction of dreams and it will add up and it'll make a huge difference so remember my friends awesome is always an option reach

upward hey everybody thanks so much for listening to this episode I hope you got a lot of value out of it and found some things that you can apply to your life right away hey I'm I'm being totally sincere when I say I I live to help you live your extraordinary life so I hope you'll reach out to me if you have any questions or let me know how I can help you in any important area of your life and in fact you know this this podcast is brought to you by the school of awesome sauce monthly coaching program take advantage of that get in there if it's the best way to get a breakthrough to the next level so you can level up your health your spirituality your emotions your mind your relationships your finances business every part of your life just get in there where you have a a coach and a mentor you have a supportive Community to make things happen so so jump in there take advantage of this try it out get in there with us and level up your life see you on the inside reach upward [Music]