Tips & Tricks

I decided to change my life and you know what? I did.

Can self-motivation and self-discipline make the difference?

Have you ever heard about the enormous power of compiling a list with your clearly and unequivocally goals written?

Have you not? Then let me tell you my story.

To talk about this I must necessarily make a premise, I don’t want to take it too far, but let me say that in my early twenties I decided to move towards a working career to the detriment of my university studies.

Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that I wanted more autonomy and I wanted it immediately and thanks to my previous studies I received at that time many offers from top companies, so, without thinking too much about it, I decided to start my career and I must say that with hindsight I wasn’t wrong.

Soon in fact my country would enter a period of crisis that completely redefined the world of work and thanks to my choice, differently to some of my friends that instead had decided to continue with the university and that would have been problem also to simply find work during the following years, I started to be part of that group of people who could still boast respectable contracts and salaries.

I started a family and devoted myself to all those conformist aspects of modern society as my father teach me and did himself before me.

The only difference with the previous generation was that we were no longer in an economic boom period, and so year after year the crisis became more and more severe, making all the efforts made always seem insufficient to manage personal and family life with levels of dignity appropriate to the effort made to get there.

The cost of living in general and the economic squeeze that companies put on their employees year after year, meant that the level of work quality was falling, forcing many people, including myself, to look around.

It wasn’t that I didn’t like my job, I was definitely in what is known as a “comfort zone”, I knew my job precisely, I knew my Customers, I could get through my days more or less with “the auto-play” and also devote the little spare time to my family and my music, but deep down I felt I wanted something more.

It was not just a question of money, but also of personal fulfilment.

So I decided to re-enroll at university and complete the path I had started many years before. I decided on a direction, trying to project myself into something that was not directly related to my job but that would allow me to take a leap, still in the sector, but in a different direction.

Let’s also say that I followed the voice of one of my passions, which let me tell you, always helps a lot when you are running after your goals.

Now, I don’t know if you believe in Karma or the power of destiny or call it as you prefer, but I do… and as soon as I enrolled at university, a good friend of mine suggested me an alternative extra work activity which, strangely enough, was perfectly in line with what I had chosen as my academic direction… unbelievable!

I therefore began to live in three different path, the first one continuing to work everyday as usual for my primary job and then added a double parallel path, one following my university studies and another with this friend of mine who, in addition to helping me grow technically in marketing and positioning direction, also started coaching me.

We’d got into the habit of getting together at the weekend and having walking-meetings, i.e. we walked at a brisk pace in a public park while discussing about business, strategy, lifestyle and mind-set.

The walk helped to oxygenate the mind and body and the brainstorming believe me was incredibly fluid and very productive every time.

My friend forced me, one of those days, to write down a list.

I tried to told him I didn’t need to, I said I had clear in my mind what my goals were, but he insisted telling me that the goals must be clear and measurable and writing them down would be like making a kind of contract with myself.

Clear and measurable objectives? what does that mean?

Let me explain as he said to me, if I say to myself, “I need to lose weight” it doesn’t mean anything … it doesn’t make any sense at all, or rather it’s far too general, how can you tell whether or not you’ve reached the goal? Simply, you can’t!

If you say to yourself, I need to lose 2kg in 3 months, everything becomes incredibly clear and defined.

Moreover, measurability allows you to check from time to time that you are going in the right direction.

Well, with this clarification I drew up a list specifying three short, medium and long term periods, with the promise that by certain precise dates I would have to do certain things including, complete university, change job and change house.

You are free not to believe what happened to me, but I assure you that the points written on my list have all been completed, I would even say successfully.

As for the change of house, it must be said that I had specified that I would have to move back to the city and that the flat I would have to rent would have to be on a high floor overlooking a public park… well, I made the picture on the top of the page from my room window, that’s what I’m talking about.

And what about you? Do you have a list? If you don’t, believe me, it’s worth it!

Gianfranco Vigneri © 2021

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or some of the lyrics I write for my songs