The Cart Before the Horse

If you took a few minutes to dream big, what would you dream of? I think too often we think about what the results bring us. We look into the future, and we see money, or maybe we don’t see the money, but we see that we don’t have to worry about money anymore. No need to balance a checking account, the money is always there. We can see a nice house, or a nice vacation. We can see spending time with our family without worrying about getting up for work in the morning. We see freedom! But how exactly did we get there? What do we do for a living that gives us the money that leads to freedom? If you take a few more minutes and dream big of that job, what is it?

What is the Dream Job?

Obviously, everyone is different, but what do you want to do? For me the keyword has always been impact. In some way, I want to make an impact on people's lives. I see those people who stand up in front of people and they talk for twenty or thirty minutes, and the crowd goes home, motivated and changed. When I look at my strengths and weaknesses, is something like that possible? Of Course it is! So, it’s all settled, in five years from now I will be a public speaker, motivating and changing lives! So now what, do I just wait and be patient?

How Do They Do it?

I know what they do, they stand up and talk. But how do they do it? For someone to get up in front of people, they have to be able to do a few things. First, they must be able to come up with a talk of some kind. They must be able to write twenty minutes of content and be able to stand up in front of a group and present it. Second, they must be able to do research to come up with original ideas to present. Sure, it can be based on something that someone else said, but you still have to do the research and back up your own thoughts. So that means that for me to be where I want to be in a few years, I need to always have a twenty-minute talk ready. That means that I need to be able to have the ability to think of a topic and do research on it. Do I have a twenty-minute talk ready right now? No! Have I done research on anything over the last few years that would show me that I can do research and present it? No! So, I guess sitting back and being patient is out the window for now!

First Quarter

So here is my new plan, I am going to spend the first quarter of 2025 writing my twenty-minute talk. That means that I am going to have to come up with my ideas and put them down on paper or the computer. I’m also going to practice doing research on topics. What topics? I’m not sure yet, I just need to do it. The good thing is that the topic doesn’t matter right now, I just need to practice thinking of an idea and then getting it down somewhere. I have a little over two and a half months to get this done, is it possible? Of course it is!

What’s Next?

I need to stop putting the cart before the horse. The cart for me is the end result. I have it, but it’s not where I want it. The horse is going to move the cart and get it there. The horse is the movement, the actions that I must take. I need to come up with how I want to introduce myself to the world. That is what my talk should be about. I need to think of a few small topics that I am curious about and do research. The question now becomes, have you been putting the cart before the horse? Have you been spending so much time thinking about the ending result that you haven’t moved at all? Stop thinking about it as a dream that is five years away. Think about it as a talk that is two months away. If you had something coming up in two months, what actions would you take this week? Now we have goals for the week to work on!