When I was younger, I used to love watching Sanford & Son! I loved the theme song and I just thought that Fred Sanford was the biggest crack-up ever. Some of my favorite scenes involved him faking a heart attack (which he did quite often) and calling it “THE BIG ONE” while calling out to his deceased wife, Elizabeth! Here’s an example below:
[inspyr_video][/inspyr_video]If you can’t see the video, CLICK HERE!
I laugh at Fred Sanford, but not too long ago, I realized that I was doing the same thing. I was scared of the BIG ONE! I was just FAKING!! You see, I would get up and write lists. I would have all sorts of things to do. If you called or emailed, I was doing the next thing. I had a plan in mind and I was always working on something. I could get up early and be working and still be working at 10pm.
The question is how much of that work was actual productive work, business work, money-making work? When I looked at it critically, since I was struggling financially, I had to say that a great portion of it wasn’t work “worth” doing at that particular point. My wife asked me about my work hours and when I sat to look at it, I couldn’t honestly justify all that I was doing.
The next question became, “WHY?”
Why was I doing all of this if it wasn’t really benefitting me or anyone else? Here’s a question that many of us ask but don’t really look at. For me, the answer was simple. I was SCARED. I was scared of figuring out what my ONE BIG THING was and then going after that with laser focus. I was scared of FAILING at pursuing THE BIG ONE! Even worse, I was scared of SUCCEEDING while going after THE BIG ONE!! Yes, scared of success! Imagine that! Scared that more would be expected of me once I succeeded! So, I did what most of us do….busied myself with lists and things that I felt needed to happen immediately, but which were not a part of any cohesive plan towards success!! Yes, I did say MOST of us! Some people might be offended by reading that. OK. I’m over it now. And so should you be!
The truth is that if we all were able to figure out our BIG ONE and go after it, we would have a world full of PURPOSE! We don’t have that yet. So, what can you do about it? What can I do about it?
Here are three things that I decided to do:
1. Institute a DISCONNECT DAY – What exactly is that? Well, I am constantly bombarded by phone, iPad, computer, email, etc etc etc. Every so often, I need a day to sit with myself, God, the air, a pen and a paper. No TV, no phone, no connection. I use that time to reset, jot down WHATEVER comes to mind and just think about where I am in life and what I want to do. I may or may not do anything with all of this information but, for me, it’s healthy to get it out
2. Get some friends that are pursuing their BIG ONE – Far be it from me to tell you to get rid of your friends. But, there is something to be said for traveling in packs. People that are ambitious tend to hang around ambitious people. People that complain tend to hang around people that complain. People that are entrepreneurs tend to hang around and seek other entrepreneurs. Some of it is intentional and some of it is by magnetism. I decided to make it intentional. Think about it.
3. Make it visible! – Some people call this a vision board. I wrote in big letters or in big pictures the things that I wanted to accomplish and posted the on the board on the wall in front of my desk. I always want to keep it in front of me.
What is YOUR BIG THING? How are you going after it? Leave your comments below!
By the way, if you wanted to hear the Sanford & Son theme song, GO HERE!
Haha! I loved “Sanford and Son” when I was a kid, too! Great theme song they had. My husband and I always joke about “the big one”, too, so it was funny to see your post on this. And a very valuable post it is! Last year, when I really took a hard look at all of what I was doing, and really confronted “the big one”, and made some hard decisions, it led me to focusing on the path I really wanted to follow, and not get bogged down on a path I had created long ago, but was feeling done with. A year later, instead of splitting my efforts between two businesses, and focusing solely on my efforts to be a sought-after, full-time, well-paid voice-over professional, it’s happening! My business is growing, thriving, and my focus on “the big one” keeps it moving forward. Hanging out with people who are also moving forward, whether in the voice-over field or in whatever other field they are passionate about, does also help propel me in the right direction. Thanks for your post, Robert!
Jill, that’s AWESOME!! Yup, when you focus on “THE BIG ONE”, it DOes make a difference!
OH my I loved that show! Fred was a great guy and that show was classic! Television today is hardly worth watching-probably why I don’t.
BOY do I relate to this post! It is so easy to do the things that bog up our time but have no true value in our lives. I’m keenly aware of doing it, and yet, depending on the time of day and how tired I am, I just might not care enough. There is just one problem…I want to be going after the BIG ONE.
I am in a position of working full time while trying to get a business off the ground. I also consider family to be extremely important and spend maybe 50% of my after-work time with at least 2 grandchildren, if not the whole batch of 5. There are other personal factors weighing on my time, all of which take away from ‘building business’ time. When I do have a free evening, I tend to have targeted snippets of focus followed by ultimate time-wasting (a new sport I’m thinking of starting).
This, like many roadblocks, is in our heads. I can sit there, playing yet another round of that stupid Candy Crush, knowing I should be working on a blog post, webinar or eBook chapter, and sometimes that thought is enough to move me on, but other nights, I think I’m just too tired to care.
I strive to be better. I am, as you mentioned, working on improving my networks of people in my shoes. They’re pretty easy to come by, as it turns out, and they are GREAT people who understand where you are and want to help.
Best of luck to you as we both try to get the next BIG ONE!
Thanks Kirbie!! This is an awesome share!! Yes, I get how you can get distracted. It happens to us all. Get accountable! Lock in with someone else or just put it out there!