Dream Act Plan Believe

Image Courtesy of Todd Baker

Many people are so driven to succeed that they neglect to play.  I am, or rather, was one of those people.

You see, I’ve always been driven to succeed.  But, I was so driven to succeed that my life had slipped out of balance and I found myself failing to really enjoy life.

I kept thinking that once I achieve “this” I can relax and play more.  Once I achieve “that” I can take a few hours off to go hiking, or take a vacation.

But then the next big project came along and… well…you probably know the rest of the story.

Mark Twain said, “Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions.”  Work can be play.  And play can be work.

Mark Twain also said,  “Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do. Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.”

My problem was that throughout my life I had a pattern of turning the things I loved to do for fun into obligations – thereby turning it into work.  My love of ballet turned into teaching ballet. The art and crafts I loved to create turned into a design and craft business with deadline upon deadline.

The reason?

I could only justify doing those activities if it was bringing me closer to my goals.  And having more fun, I didn’t think, could simply be a goal.

But, don’t get me wrong…

Image Courtesy of H. Koppdelaney

There is nothing wrong with created a career out of what you love to do! In fact, I encourage it.   Work should be something you enjoy doing!

The problem arises when you fail to give yourself permission to do those things just for the fun of it.

After all, according to Dictionary.com play is an exercise or activity for amusement or recreation. Not an activity you have to do.

In November 2007, my husband and I were attending an iLearningGlobal Mastery Conference where we had the opportunity to learn from many great speakers.  The presentation on play by Kevin Carroll really struck a cord with me and made a significant impact on my life. I became more dedicated to consciously playing, just for the sake of playing.  Kevin says he is a “Katalyst For Change.”  And that’ s exactly what he was for me that day.

His presentation ignited in me the knowledge that I can’t really experience true success without including play in my life.  Perhaps Heraclitus describes my new found knowledge best when he said, “Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.” And fully being myself is the truest form of success.

So what do you think?

• Do you give yourself permission to play?
• Can you experience true success without play?
• How does play complete you?

Additional food for thought:

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

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Well my somewhat unintended blogging break has gone on for quite a while.  Perhaps long enough.  You see I committed to working on blogging today as part of the Bloggiesta festivities hosted by my sister at Maw Books.  I’m over a day behind in getting started, but I’m now officially joining in the festivities.

This long break didn’t really start out as an intended blogging break, but…

It all began with that post back an entire month ago,  A Productivity System for Getting Things Done , in which I began a quest to get my productivity back on track.

Don’t get me wrong.  I was still being highly productive, but not as productive as I could be.

You see, my systems had fallen by the way-side and I’d fallen out of the habit of using those system that helped me produce the most amount of work I could in the shortest amount of time.  Things were falling through the cracks, I was missing appointments, and forgetting important things.

So I made a conscious decision to not even think about blogging for the past month.   Sure it hurt my blog, but I’ve made big gains in other areas of my life and it was well worth it.

So in my effort to focus on the most important things, as part of today’s Bloggiesta activities I am going to concentrate on just a few things.

• Focus the bulk of my time in creating the landing page and follow-up system that I want to have in place before I can add the bulk of the blogging posts that are you on list.
• Do a little blog housekeeping.
• Spend 45 minutes helping Natasha with one of her blogging tasks in which she said, “Talk to my sister about my huge list of template sidebar changes that needs to be done.” (OK.  I spent much longer than 45 minutes.  But most of it is done.)
• Upgrade three of my blogs to the latest version of WordPress.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Image Courtsey of kogakure

I’ve always been an extremely busy person, but I’ve been EXTRA swamped lately so that’s why I haven’t even gotten my first post done in the Envision It series.  I haven’t even had time to get in  many Tweets.

It’s primarily because our iLearningGlobal business is booming at the same time I’m trying to get Rich Women Sisterhood relaunched (after we found some problems in BETA mode).  I’ve also been coaching several small business clients, something that just kinda happened as people asked for help in setting up their business to market online.

The Problem

The problem is my old methods of  tracking my projects, and everything I had to get done, wasn’t working anymore…

I’d used a paper-based planner since junior high.  When I first got married I worked for Franklin Covey (back before Franklin merged with Covey) and fell in love with the Franklin planning system.   Once I began homeschooling and running several business I found that it wasn’t working as well anymore.  Primarily because of the many repetitive tasks and multiple projects.

In all fairness, I’ll take that back…

I had automated the system by using the Franklin Covey software, but my computer crashed and I couldn’t install it on my new computer. I wasn’t willing to invest in new software at the time.  Though now their online planning system looks pretty good.

Don’t get me wrong, I still find great value in the teachings offered by Franklin Covey system, particularly when it comes to aligning your tasks with your values and core believes. I also firmly believe that it is a fantastic system for many, many people.  And I will continue to use many aspects of it in conjunction with what I am doing now.  But, there had to be an easier way than creating a new list every day.

Getting Things Done

So some time ago, I searched and found David Allen’s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity and fell in love with the GTD methodology.  I highly recommend you read the book!

I downloaded and printed some fantastic forms for GTD (I’ll still use many of them) and created my own DIY planner and used it in conjunction with the Hipster PDA.  I found that worked fairly well, but things were still falling through the cracks.  Plus it was costing me more considerably more for printing than the Franklin planner cost.

But my system wasn’t working

It wasn’t flawed, but…

I spend a good share of my day at the computer, or away from my home office.   Some days I’d go to add things to my list and realize that my planner was in the trunk of the car.  Not a problem, unless the car is gone for eight hours.   Even if the planner was right there next to me, I’d end up taking notes on a piece of paper – simply because I’d be in to big of a hurry to find the correct page to write that particular task on.

However, now after quite a bit of research and a little time organizing I think I’ve come up with something that will work well for me. Perhaps it, or parts of it will work well for you.

A New Productivity System

It’s a system that uses technology (and no I don’t have an iPhone or Blackberry), to track all my projects and tasks, and combines it with other productive tools.  It allows me to easily capture tasks on the run.  Plus, my husband, and business partner, can automatically add tasks he needs me to work on as well.

So I’m not giving up my DIY printed planner /Franklin planner /Hipster PDA completely and I still have a project folder for each one of my projects.  But I’m merging them with other tools for getting things done. I’ll share with you what I use each of the tools for.

If I were to include everything in one post it would be counter productive, and difficult to follow. So over the next few weeks I’m going to share with you the tools I use to keep track of all my projects and tasks.   Perhaps some of the tips will help you not only dream, but act.  And not only plan, but believe.

Productivity Tips for Getting Things Done

1. First post – coming soon

Popularity: 13% [?]

Daniel Rudy Ruettiger lives a life without limits.  Just how far Rudy is willing to go to reach for his dreams and the best in himself is demonstrated in the 1993 inspirational film based on his life titled Rudy.

If you aren’t familiar with Rudy’s story here is some of his inspiring story, or you can read a  synopsis of Rudy’s life at the end of this post.

As a new member of the iLearningGlobal faculty Rudy gave an electrifying speech at the iLearningGlobal convention in Las Vegas last month.  We had the privilege of meeting him after his speech.  I was grateful that my teenage son was able to learn from him.

Here’s some Rudy Ruettiger quotes from that speech:

“Your thoughts and actions get you to where you want to go.”

“The day you stop dreaming is the day you give up hope.”

“Inspiration is the key to all education.” (my favorite)

“Little victories give you confidence.”

“It’s not what you know, it’s  what you do!”

And some of my favorites tidbits of inspiration from his website:

“Always have a Dream. Dreams give us energy to go to new levels. Dreams change lives … the power of life is in your Dreams!”

“Eliminate the confusion. Find mentors who encourage you. The right information will eliminate confusion. Visualize exactly what you want to be … and focus on that … believe in yourself and don’t let anything stop you. Reinforce your Dream every day with positive information from tapes, books, and mentors. Each day you will get closer to your Dream. Eliminate the confusion and fears, and make it happen.”

Here’s Craig, myself, and our son Austin. I’m 5′3″ and you can see that Rudy really isn’t that much taller than I am at 5′7″. That photo puts things into perspective for me.

Craig Watkins, Rudy Ruettiger, Leisa Watkins, Austin Watkins

I do recommend you view the video above, but for those who just want to read more about Rudy here it is (compliments of wikipedia)

“Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger grew up dreaming of playing football at the University of Notre Dame. While achieving some success with his local high school football team, Ruettiger lacks the grades and money to attend Notre Dame, and talent and physical size (the real Ruettiger was only 5′6″ and the film suggests that the fictional Rudy was even smaller than that) to play football for the Fighting Irish. Instead, he takes a job at the local steel mill where his father Daniel Ruettiger Sr. (a huge Notre Dame fan) works, and he prepares to settle down.

When his best friend Pete is killed in an explosion at the mill, Rudy decides to follow his dream of attending Notre Dame and playing college football for the Fighting Irish, and leaves for Notre Dame, against his father’s warning that “Ruettigers don’t belong at college.” Ruettiger fails to get admitted to Notre Dame, and instead goes to a small junior college, Holy Cross College, hoping to qualify for a transfer to the university.

During his final semester of eligibility transfer, he is granted admission to Notre Dame. After walking onto football practice tryouts, Ruettiger convinces coach Ara Parseghian to give him a spot on the football practice team, where Rudy exhibits more drive and desire than some of his big-name varsity teammates.

Upon Dan Devine’s installation as head coach, Ruettiger fears he will lose the chance to dress for a home game, an arrangement he had with Parseghian. Late in the season of 1975, his teammates, led by team captain and All-American Roland Steele, rise to his defense, demanding to Devine that Rudy be allowed to suit up in their place (by throwing down their jerseys, one at a time, on top of Devine’s desk) for the final game of the season.

The final game of the season comes, against Georgia Tech. And while Rudy is suited up, his teammates feel this is not enough, this starts a chant that soon goes stadium wide. Coach Devine eventually gives in and lets Rudy play on the final kickoff. Rudy then stays in for the final play of the game and sacks the opposing quarterback. The final scene depicts him being carried off the field by his teammates.”

Oh, here’s a clip of the famous Rudy Notre Dame play…

Questions to ask yourself:

• Are you letting little things hold you back?
• What obstacles have you overcome?
• Have you given up one some dreams that can be resurrected?

And finally…

Who do you know that is living live without limits?  We’d like to feature them here.

Popularity: 27% [?]

Perhaps as a child you dreamed of being a ballerina or playing in the world-series. Perhaps you dreamed of traveling to exotic locations, of flying to the moon, or of being in movies. All of us had childhood dreams.  And many of us still have the same dreams now as adults.

Dreams are nothing more than what we imagine our life would be like. It’s the experiences we hope to live.

Sadly though, many have given up on their dreams.

“It’s to late,” they say. That may be true…

It may be to late to play in the world series, but you could still attend the world series, and adult form of  “play.”

It may be to late to be the star ballerina, but it’s not to late to dance, and to enjoy it. And it’s not to late to attend the ballet often.

And…

It’s not to late to build more dreams!
It’s not to late to make your dreams come true!

You’ve just got to give yourself permission to dream!

To help with that I’m adding a new resource, via a series of posts, here at Dream, Act, Plan, Believe. The word envision is to picture mentally some future event or events, so the new series is called Envision This.

The Envision This series will showcase some of the things I dream of doing, fascinating places to visit, exotic foods to try, things to experience, and some things you may just find interesting. It is designed to provide you with ideas – ideas of things that you can do to bring more joy in your life.

It’s a tool for you to use in creating new dreams and making dreams come true.

The first post is coming Monday.

By the way, you’ll recognize the posts in the Envision It series because they’ll have the envision this image (shown at the top of this post) in it.

Be sure to explore the site to find additional resources on how to make your dreams come true.

Popularity: 15% [?]