Building Castles

In getting any endeavor off the ground, take it slow –

With people, fast is slow and slow is fast...Stephen Covey

Life is all about people and relationships and trust. It takes time to build trusting relationships.

Success is also about systems, methods, tools, and techniques.

To build a castle, you have to start with the foundation. And you have to learn castle building skills. To learn to play the piano, you start with the basics and build up, you don't pick up a Chopin, or Mozart or Rachmaninoff piece and sit down and play it - if you try to, your chances for success are slim.

Just like building a castle or learning to play the piano takes learning the basics and practicing them, any worthwhile endeavor requires learning and practicing the basics.

Get the basics down and go from there. Then soon enough you will be able to build that castle that you really want to build. And you will know how to build it with the right materials that will make it strong and beautiful and all you dream it to be.

Success Quick Start Tip:
Become familiar with the jargon, tools, and techniques.

Your Destination

Also, before you start (or more likely, before you continue) investigating how to be successful...  STOP.

Take some time to think about what you want and when you want it. Consider alternatives. That’s what you should do no matter what you are engaged in.

Say, for instance, that you think you want to take a trip to Europe.

How?
You start by researching travel destinations until you identify the ones that really excite you. (Perhaps you already have them in mind.)
Then you should figure out how much money you will need to take the trip. (Some people leave this step out and just charge it, but we won’t go down that path.)
Then you determine when you can have that much money available. That gives you the earliest date you could start your trip.
Then you consider the time of year that you can go and that you want to go. If you enjoy beautiful flowers and warm sunny days, you might have to delay that trip a few months.

Success Quick Start Tip:Figure out where you want to end up before you start looking for techniques. Once you know your destination, figuring out how to get there will be much easier.

Please add a comment: What do you want and when do you want it?

No Goal = Little Success

Since you want to be successful, let’s start at the very beginning.

If you wanted to take a trip to some exotic place, what would you do first? You would set a goal.

Why? Think about a load of cargo that needs to be flown from San Francisco to New York and needs to be there in 8 hours. What would happen if the shipping manager got it loaded on the plane, but he didn’t tell the pilot when to deliver it. What if he just told the pilot to fly that load to New York? The pilot happens to be from Australia and has no idea where New York is. He asks for a tip as to how to find it, but all he is told is that New York is a huge city on the east coast. He climbs into his airplane in San Francisco and makes a quick start by flying east with no flight plan in mind. He knows he needs to deliver the load to New York, but has no particular route or timetable in mind. He just knows that he needs to fly East. As he flies, he suddenly sees a mountain peak that interests him so he alters direction and is off to see it. Then he sees a lazy river and decides to follow it for a while. To top it all off, his compass isn’t working. Where is he likely to end up? Who knows, but the chances he will get to New York are slim.

Success Quick Start Tip:
Don’t start until you have a goal.
Please share some of your thoughts and tips about how to set goals.