I often hear people say, “I have no regrets.” Really? Seriously? Then I am weirder than I thought, because I have some regrets. Not self-loathing, oh what a worm I am regrets, just some things I look back on and wish I would have done or not done. There is value in the question ‘if I had it all to do again, what would I do differently?’
It is wise to live an examined life, and that is what is meant by being a ‘from scratch thinker’. If you could start your business from scratch, what would you build? If you could build your life from scratch, what would you build? Ask yourself why you are not building that today. My mom’s twin sister’s husband graduated from the University of South Carolina after his 65th birthday. Colonel Sanders started Kentucky Fried Chicken late in his life. Yet there are many of us that surrender our dreams for the ‘reality’ of what is.
There is a tendency to use excuses like ‘I am too old’ or ‘I have too many responsibilities’ or ‘It’s easier said than done’ or ‘I don’t have the money’ blah blah blah. Certainly those circumstances exist for many, but I wonder what would happen if – just for a couple of days – you lived as if you were a from scratch thinker.
Here is some help to get you started:
1. Sit quietly and openly by yourself.
2. Ask yourself: “If I could build any kind of life or business I wanted, what would I build?”
3. Then ask yourself: “What would I have to believe to make that happen?”
4. Ask yourself: “What would I have to do to make that happen?”
5. Take a few steps in the direction of the new dream. Go on, it won’t hurt. Just lighten up and do it.
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