Inspiration and Life

What It Takes to Build a Life

What about the long view?

What is the best way to determine what you want today? The answer may not be as apparent as it is simple, but once you know it, it makes perfect sense. Read on to learn more about how you can easily answer this question in your life.

Taking the long view

The answer to the above question is one of simple logic. To determine what you want today, look at what you want in the future. Your todays will become your tomorrows, so if you know what you want tomorrow, you have your answer for what you want today!

Another way to say this is that what you want today will be part of what creates what you want in the future. Therefore, it’s helpful to look into the future to see more clearly today. By taking a long-term look at what you want, you can better see what you need in the near term.

Of course, you must know where you want to go, what you want to do, and who you want to become. Otherwise, as the old saying goes, “any road will get you there if you don’t know where you’re going!” Don’t be one of the many people who live their life that way.

Take your time and destination into your own hands and out of the hands of others’ intentions and unpredictable circumstances.

Achieving something substantial

Let’s say you want to achieve something substantial in your future. What will it take to get there?

For comparison, let’s consider what it takes to complete a substantial project like building a home. Some claim it can take as many as 10,000 hours to build a custom home, from an empty lot to a finished interior with exterior landscaping.

Ten thousand hours is a considerable amount of time, equaling more than 400 consecutive twenty-four-hour days, or nearly five years, working eight-hour days five days a week.

Even if you have the money needed to purchase all the materials, tackling such a task alone would be overwhelming for most of us.

Yet homes are built routinely, as are other substantial things in life, such as careers, families, and lives.

“Whatever good things we build end up building us.” Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

What it takes

It only takes the right planning and resources with the right team. While you can build a house by yourself, it takes several teams of people to build a typical home. Either way will get the job done, eventually. The same is true for those other substantial things in life.

When faced with such a large task, the best approach is to break it down into smaller pieces and put forth consistent effort. It also helps to have others involved and to realize how necessary they are if you intend to accomplish much.

To use this basic principle: Look at the big picture and organize the outcome you want to create into manageable pieces or parts. Then look at each piece and choose which to tackle first and who will be involved.

Imagine doing this with your life. All you need do is determine what you want it to look like, plan a little, and start building!

“A building is not just a place to be but a way to be.” Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959)

Building your life

You’ve heard the old adage, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” It would take one person a long time, but one hundred people could do it far more quickly. Isn’t this true for many things in life?

Are you thinking about sending your children to college and the associated costs? Managing tuition expenses can be an elephant. What we do in growing and managing our careers can be an elephant. Thinking about retirement, which can be a long way off for some, can be an elephant.

Who we want to become and where we want to wind up can also be an elephant. Yet, what will result if we don’t take the time to consider things of such importance?

Here’s the underlying fundamental: Tackle the elephants one bite at a time. Take small steps daily in the direction you want to go to create what you need. If you can enlist others to help, so much the better.

Without planning and doing, you can make consistent errors each day that can compound into a massive failure.

“Failure is simply a few errors in judgment, repeated every day.” Jim Rohn (1930–2009)

Don’t be that person. Instead, be all you can be for yourself and your family so you can live a fulfilled and good life!

Final thoughts

Why not formulate a plan based on identifying what you really need, seeing the possibilities to fulfill that need, making the choices that align with that need, and consistently moving in that direction?

I know, I know. It’s simple to say and difficult to do. But it’s possible, and the choice is up to you. You can do it if you want to — or not. You can work on it and take control of your life and future — or not. To quote another famous person:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.” Henry Ford (1863–1947)

So, I ask again, what about your long view? What small step toward it can you take today?

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Bill Abbate Leadership Writer and Editor in ILLUMINATION

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