Our Journey: Part 3

As I’ve been talking with more people about my vision and purpose for this blog (and in life!) the more I see and realize the need to help people catch their own vision for themselves.

First, I’d love to walk you through the process we went through to take a deeper look at our why, purpose and goals…

Lately we’ve read a variety of motivational/leadership/entrepreneur/business books.  The main theme across them all is goal setting. Each of them take a different approach, but for us, the most impactful method of viewing it was from the book “Black Hole Focus” by Dr Isaiah Hankel.

The basic jist (with a bit of my own twist) is this…
Start at the end and work your way back.
Paint a broad picture of the feel you want your life to have. (What do you want to be said of you when your life is complete?)

Here’s mine:

To know and follow Jesus through a healthy, vibrant life and be able to impact individuals using my skills of motivation/coaching, speaking, writing and interpersonal relationships.

That’s a LOT. That’s big. That feels amazingly scary and heavy and HUGE!
It’s almost paralyzing.  How in the WORLD would I accomplish that in my lifetime?
That’s where you break it down into big, challenging, exciting, shake-in-your-boots goals.

Again, here’s what I wrote:

Write a motivational book, start a nonprofit therapy ranch, speak in front of 10,000 people, live a healthy & active life, travel to each continent {minus maybe Antarctica!}

After I wrote these down and read them aloud to Dan, I cried. Tears of happiness, fear, excitement, joy – you name it – I had #allthefeels

After writing that out the big questions are:
Do I actually BELIEVE I can achieve those goals?
How do I go about laying the ground work to achieve them?

Do I believe I can? YES.  If you don’t know? Then (as Dr Hankel would say) “The only way to get to where you want to go is to ruthlessly evaluate where you are now. The key here is that your biggest obstacle in life is always yourself—not external factors.”

I love that.  Especially the “ruthlessly evaluate where you are now”

If my purpose was to impact people and I made a goal to win So You Think You Can Dance as a dancer, is that realistic? Maybe in my “shuddawuddacudda” life. But not today. Not realistically. (more on that later)

Years ago we took our first roadtrip to/through the Southwestern part of the US.  We were both floored by the beauty of the Colorado Rockies and dreamed at length about the therapy ranch we wanted to start.

It would be just on the western edge of the Rockies, probably near Montrose, CO. Each week during the summer would be focused on a different need… Children who have lost a parent, war vets with PTSD, teenagers in the foster system and so on.

But how in the WORLD would be fund this? Our conclusion? An extremely high end resort with 5 star chefs and all the amenities.

Is it a priority or even a desire to accommodate the wealthiest so we can serve those in need? Honestly, I’d rather not.

I’d rather have the funds some other way to make those goals a reality. Don’t hear me wrong: Money does not buy happiness – but it does allow you to do some pretty amazing things to better this world.

Your “non-profit” passion might be animals, global warming/climate change, orphans in Africa, literacy in Nepal, fixing cleft pallets in Asia or fighting sex trafficking in your own community. How amazing would it be to be able to generously give and financially impact the desires of your heart?

That’s where the other part of our vision for Live(in)Valor comes in.

We not only want to create a community of people who can paint bigger pictures for their lives but also help equip them to make that happen. For us, working 40 weddings a year doesn’t leave us much time for fulfilling our goals.  For you, your 2 weeks of vacation a year, school bills, high insurance costs and mortgage may not allow for it either.

So what are we doing now? Well, we’re still doing some weddings/photography but we are wanting to open up our time and finances to how they can best be used.

Just over 3 years ago I “bought a kit” from Young Living. (Now before I loose you – hear me out. I promise this isn’t just a pitch)

Why did I? Well, Dan couldn’t stand fake/chemical-laden candles or plugins but I still wanted the house to smell nice.

A friend of mine just got started with her business so I thought buying a kit from Erin would be a nice way to support her and make my house smell nice! And you know what – it fits with our desire to live as clean and healthy as we can!

Now I’m not going to go into every detail, but I quickly learned the amazing benefits that go far beyond smell that (truly) therapeutic essential oils can have.  The bonus?  I started to make some extra money just sharing my love of this amazing company.

Inspired but busy I casually shared.  I wasn’t a total “MLM skeptic” (if you are, I’d love to hear your story) plus saw the BOOMING progress Erin had. She still holds the record for the fastest grow from Distributor to Diamond (10 months. Just 10 months from no paycheck to an average of nearly $40,000 per MONTH.  Don’t believe me? Check out Young Living’s income disclosure statement here. Those are government reported numbers and dollars)

Are you still with me? 😉

My aim isn’t to try and convince  you that you should buy a Young Living kit and do the business. But if you want to would I love to walk this journey with you? YES.

My point is to show you that there are other legitimate options out there for making money that can truly change your life, highlight your gifts/talent/skills and enhance the lives of others around you. You just need to find what fits you, your desires and your skill set. (of course having a great product and the tools to succeed help too!) We’ve done it once with photography and are doing it yet again – this time we’re just aiming higher. A LOT higher.

Dan and I were at dinner the other night with friends talking through all of this and they shared about a friend who started a business teaching drum skills/technique online. You pay a monthly fee and get access to videos he has made.  He now has clients all over the world!

How amazing is that? When else has there been an era where you can build a whole network of people around the world and teach them how to better their drumming skills?

There is NO SUCH TIME AS THIS.

What are you skills, passions and talents? How can you use them to uniquely benefit the world and your current position?

Your aim might not be to start a therapy ranch outside of Montrose, Colorado.  Your most immediate need may be getting out of debt or struggling to pay the bills in retirement.

And you know what?

I want to DREAM with you. So let’s chat. For real. Email me at Hello@LiveinValor.com

And in case anytime I said above sparked curiosity, check this out and shoot me an email too.