How To Be Happy
And Get What You Want
Some people goal set. I gut check.
What’s the difference? Well with goal setting you have to know what you want and then go about a course of actions that take you closer to your goal. With gut checking, you just feel if a given circumstance feels right and then adjust from there.
I think it depends on your personality type and goals as to which approach to life works for you. See, personally, my goal in life is to be healthy and happy. My goals are also WHO I am. When I am being myself and doing the things that make me happy, guess what? I’m healthy and happy.
So as I go through my days, I don’t go through a check list of life. I don’t reference my goals for family, health, money and spirituality and see if I’m on track. I take the day as it comes and do more of the things that I enjoy. When something doesn’t feel right, I drop it immediately.
A little bohemian you say? Maybe for you and your approach to life but remember my goals are to be healthy and happy. So if I’m doing what I want. I’m happy. If I do some handstands in the living room and some skipping in the basement in the morning, then some stretching in the evening. I’ll be healthy.
Why those exercises in particular? Because I enjoyed them on that day. What if I was supposed to do deadlifts? Well, I know that I like and enjoy doing deadlifts generally. So if I’m supposed to be doing them today and for some reason I don’t feel like doing them. Then there is probably a reason why. I’m just not consciously aware of it. That’s gut check living.
Now that does not mean that I won’t write things down to get them done. A lot of times I’ll write things down so that I can remember something that might seem interesting to me. Something that I think would be cool to be able to do or have. Then as long as it’s fun, I’ll take actions that bring me closer to that goal. The moment that I stop ENJOYING THE PROCESS, I know that’s a gut check to take the off ramp. There just might be a cutie in the small town off to the right that I wasn’t consciously aware of. However, my gut knows that it will make me happy.
Speaking of off ramps..
Slightly off topic but have you ever noticed that you could spend hours fishing, not catch a thing and then go home happy? Does everything feel the same for you when you do taxes?
That’s the difference between enjoying the process (gut checking) or goal setting by the normal definition.
Gut checking is more like the Law of Attraction type stuff. For instance, the other day I made an intention of bringing in 101 new members to the FasterLeanerStronger coaching site. Was it because I WANTED 101 new clients specifically? No. It was because I wanted an extra $2000 dollars that those clients would pay me. As far as clients go, what I really wanted was a couple of people that were committed to changing their lives for the better, that would listen to and do what I say.
Here is the mistake I made.
If I wanted an extra $2000, do you think that somewhere in the infinite wisdom (smile) of my life time experiences and connections I made… that there could be an easier and more direct way to come across that money? You bet your right sock with the hole in it there is.
In this day and age of technology and social networking, a person can become a millionaire in seconds. I’m serious. You know how you can put your phone up to the radio now and it will find the song for you to download? What if I’ve been gut checking my way to making music? I can’t figure it out but for some reason, I’ve just been pushed to make a song.
Then, a friend I’ve made because we share so much in common, just happens to get it on the radio. It plays in my city, 1 million people download it in 5 minutes for .99 at itunes and there ya go. No fuss, no muss, easy peasy lemon squeezy.
I could never plan that out! I could however, gut check my way to doing things that I enjoyed. Things that didn’t make sense in the traditional ‘get results’ method of doing things.
Enjoy the process because the process is your life.
