How?

“Stay committed to your decisions, but stay flexible in your approach.”

Tony Robbins

Thus, flexibility, as displayed by water, is a sign of life. Rigidity, its opposite, is an indicator of death.

Anthony Lawlor

“Flexibility -- In all aspects of life, the person with the most varied responses ‘wins.’"

Kelly Perdew

Something else struck me in the book, The Automatic Millionaire.   Hansen and Allen say, “The size of the question determines the size of the result.”  In other words, instead of asking how to get a job to make money, the authors suggest to ask, “How can I make $1,000,000?”

·      How can I make $1,000,000?

·      How can I get to my house on the beach?

·      How can I reach all of my goals?

The word how is not asked in fear, desperation or confusion, but with expectation, wonder and a genuine curiosity.   How will my goals happen?  In what way?  Is there a way I’m not aware of yet?  I’m open to possibilities. That’s what the word how is about – it’s about the openness to possibilities, even possibilities I hadn’t considered.

For example, I want to make a certain amount of money.  My “small question” thinking would lead me to ask, “How can I get another job so I can make more money?”

Perhaps, however, there’s another way, or other ways, ways I hadn’t considered, as I said.  Perhaps I don’t need a job.  Perhaps there are other ways to make money. 

How?

I don’t know.

But “how” also implies that I’m willing to work towards my goals once I find the right way.  Sometimes I feel reluctant to try new things.  I’m not sure if that reluctance is resistance or intuition.  Usually, however, when I get enthusiastic about something, I’m on the right track. 

 The thing I’m most enthusiastic about is my writing, which is why I write every day.  So far, however, this isn’t making me any money.  I have other professional possibilities, but I also feel a certain reluctance to pursue them.  Again, is that intuition or resistance?  Here’s something else.  I’m selling a lot of my comic books on eBay.  I have no problem doing this.  I feel enthusiastic about it in a way I don’t feel enthusiastic about other things that could potentially make money. 

Perhaps this blog is more self-confessional than it should be, but I’m trying to understand what’s going on in my head.  I know I need money to reach my goals.  But I also have other goals that don’t require money.  Should I focus on those until I get excited about a money-making opportunity?  Am I being selfish?  Lazy?  Impractical?  What do I really want and what am I willing to do to get it?  By that last question, I don’t mean that I’m willing to do anything illegal or immoral.  But would I take a job I have no little or no enthusiasm for and hope the enthusiasm comes?  Or should I just focus more on reading and writing until this becomes a viable source of income?

I’m asking the question I ask every few years:

What do I do with my life?

Actually, I know what I want to do with my life.  The real questions is this:

How do I do the things I want to do with my life?

These are good questions and I don’t mind struggling through this until I find an answer.  My goal hasn’t changed.  I still want my house on the beach.   It’s just a matter of time.  This goes back to the thought I had when I first started writing these blogs:

When you don’t know what to do, do what you know to do.

I know how to write.  I know how to read.  I know how to write resumes.  I know how to teach. 

So I Get Started and I Keep Going.  My question is how, but I don’t need the answer today.  What I do need to do today is create a list of tasks and then complete those tasks.  I need to review my goals and make sure the tasks I’m completing get me closer to my goals.  The truth is that there are few things I wouldn’t do if it will get me to my goals.  I’m still not clear about how to respond to my reluctance, but that may mean there are some questions I’m not asking or fears I’m not addressing.

What I do know for certain is that all of this will be resolved.  I’m perplexed, but I’m not afraid.  I just need to Get Started and Keep Going…until I can answer “how.”