The building blocks of dreams - write your ideas down
This post is intended to be a writing exercise (for myself) and a brief glimpse at how we get things done.
Friday May 25th was my last day at work, at least for 2 months. I’m taking two months off to do a cross-country cycling ride through Canada on an adventure named “Faces for Change Ride”. In a nutshell, it’s a 3600 mile ride to raise awareness for Malaria and the efforts being done to eradicate the disease by the year 2015.
Looking back, it has been a wonderful 8 months since the idea of doing a cross-country ride came into my mind. The next several posts for this blog are going to be about Planning, Preparing, Making ‘It’ Happen, so pretty much anything I can think of in regards to getting things done is fair game. Let’s get started.
Eight months ago I had a dream incited and spurred by the book “End Malaria”. I wanted to produce a body of work that would be informative, educational, inspiring and uplifting. I also wanted to challenge myself in more ways than I can count. I wanted to experience life on a different level. I made a choice.
Suddenly there were a ton a to-do’s on a seemingly insurmountable list of tasks to complete in preparation for the ride. The goal was clear, get from point A to point B…on a bicycle. Lots of people do this everyday (ride a bike). I’ll just be doing it in places I’ve never been before, amongst people I’ve never met over the course of a few thousand miles.
If you want to get something truly important done, write it down.
I now know this to be true, it just took me a while to understand. Don’t waste time, write it down. Do it now.
Writing ‘it’ down has a way of making whatever idea or task seem more real. It’s a rather simple process too, we just don’t do it enough. Writing it down brings your ideas life or at least gives it a starting point…a head, a tail…it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you now have a precise point from which you can add on or subtract.
Think of the process as playing with building blocks, these are your resources. You have a bag of individual pieces that by themselves represent your ideas. You place one next to or on top of another and now there is a structure. You’ve got a platform. It is not important to use ALL the blocks and ALL the pieces, just use the ones that are necessary.
Initially you may use all the blocks. Good. In doing so you will recognize how they all fit together, how they connect and support each other. After toying with and fussing over the pattern and structure, the more real the actual representation appears.
Implement, adapt, analyze…and repeat
Once all the blocks are used go back and see what is strictly necessary? Can anything be put to better use? If so, where and how?
Implement - Use all the blocks (resources)
Adapt - Move the blocks around, focus and zoom in. Pinpoint specific areas that seem out of place
Analyze - Is this viable? It is working? How well?
Once you’ve done this exercise a few times, you’ll be on your way to making ‘it’ happen. Look around, see what is available. Ask for help, reach out. Connect. Add more blocks. It doesn’t take much to start. If you don’t believe me, take it from Walt Disney:
“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”
So, to get started ask yourself this: What building blocks are in your bag? Know this well, these are your resources.
