The 90-Minute Challenge That Rewrote My Future

One of the quotes that has had the greatest impact on my thinking over the past 25 years is:

“Most people spend most of their lives earning a living rather than designing a life.”

How true is that for you? For me, it was very true. I lived from pay packet to pay packet, never thinking about what I wanted or where I was heading. We earn a living, but rarely do we ever take the time to stop and design the life we want to live.

The Day Everything Changed

I was 23 years of age when I first heard of the concept of goal setting. You see, I grew up on a farm, and we didn’t sit around the dinner table talking about goals; we talked about horses, cattle, trucks, and tractors. At the time, I was going through the motions in a dead-end job, knowing I was not 100% happy but not knowing how to get out of the rut of life.

From Noxious Weeds to Global Stages

The question that goes through people’s minds is: how do you go from a pie-eating, sleep-all-day, Noxious Weed Inspector to International Conference Speaker and Best-Selling Author? My story alone should give you hope! But hope without how is an empty promise. Well, let me tell you, it was a transformation and a transition all rolled into one that has taken place over the past 25 years.

The first transition came when I was 23 years old. My boss at the Albert Shire Council came up to me one day and offered me the opportunity to attend a week-long Leadership Program called RYLA—Rotary Youth Leadership Award—run by Rotary International. Now, as you can appreciate and understand, I am not a leader. I was in my comfort zone, having dropped out of school and never finished Year 12. My mum organised my first job at the council. Mum had a lot of pull in the Council; she was the tea lady! Now my boss wants me to go on a leadership camp. Then he mentioned the magic words: you get a week off work!

The 90-Minute Challenge That Rewrote My Future

The week was great, but the defining moment for me was on the morning of the last day. The workshop presenter asked us to write 100 goals we wanted to achieve in our lifetime. I was 23 years of age and had never heard about goal setting. The process seemed fairly simple at the time: you write out what you want, and it comes true.

He made us sit by ourselves for the next 90 minutes so that we could focus on writing out the 100 things we wanted to do in our lives. I diligently numbered the lines of my pages 1 to 100, ready to start.

Out of the blocks quickly, I wrote down six goals, and then I hit the wall. I was done. My mind was blank.

Dejected, I thought to myself, “Life is going to be very short or very boring!”

My List of 100: The Blueprint for a Dream Life

It took six weeks, but I finally got to write down the 100 goals I wanted to achieve in my lifetime. I didn’t write down grand goals. I wrote down things like

• Learn how to type
• See a Test cricket match in England
• To deliver a presentation to 1,000 people
• Be happily married to a loving wife
• Score a hole-in-one at golf
• Live on a golf course
• Travel overseas and visit 100 countries
• To be my own boss
• To be a professional speaker
• Become a best-selling author
• Own my dream car
• Be a great dad to my children

The Unstoppable Power of Pursued Dreams

This one activity was the start of a positive chain reaction of events in my life that has shaped a life I could have never dreamt was possible. Has it been easy to do? No. Have there been challenges, setbacks, and disappointments? Yes. But, it is true to say that with any challenge comes a greater appreciation of the achievement and the rewards that are beyond your wildest dreams.

You see, dreams can come true for you when you pursue them with a passion.

Ready to stop drifting and start designing your dream life?????

Download your FREE 100 Goals Template and get a head start on mapping out your future.