Decision Making

“I’m not really sure I’m ready to commit…”

“What if I don’t feel like doing it one day?”

“What if I run out of things to say?”

“What if I commit to this and it turns out to be totally irrelevant and a waste of time?”

Have you ever heard yourself say or think things like that when imagining some new job, career or project? Particularly something that you REALLY, REALLY WANT?

Welcome to the human race!

In the last few weeks, I’ve been spending a significant amount of time with a couple of my mentors. These are guys who have truly put their money where their mouth is in their lives and committed to paths that have brought a ton of value into MY life (as well as thousands if not millions of other people.

I want to do the same in my own way… for YOUR life. For the lives of thousands of guys like you.

It’s one of my MASSIVE, THROBBING, PULSING, TWITCHING… VISIONS for my life.

What I affectionately call…

“SOUL BONERS.”

The question that I’ve been nibbling on all week is this:

“Can I integrate my songwriting with my peak performance/personal mastery coaching? Or Do they just naturally stand on their own as two separate endeavors?”

I think they are connected and ecologically congruent as they each influence each other…

BUT…. (no replace that with ) “AND”

Committing to BOTH of them will definitely take more time than integrating them into “one thing”

A single 100 watt light bulb can dimly light a room. A 100 watt laser beam can cut steel.

Two 100 watt lasers can cut a LOT of steel.

There is a lot of talk about focus. Focus. Focus hocus pocus. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Focus on one thing for maximum success…

Both of my mentors this week have talked about the “one thing”.

Which in my mind is the place where YOUR deep passion and interest and expertise meets the world’s DEEP need.

But HOW do you CHOOSE what to focus on?

• What if you put everything else aside and focus on something that is not big enough to keep your interest?
• What if you focus on something that not many people actually give a shit about?
• What if you focus on something that is too small?

The answer is you do your best to get it right. You do your best to choose a path with heart. You do your best to choose a path that inspires and challenges you. A path that makes a difference in YOUR world as well as the world of others.

Then you take a deep breath and BEGIN.

• You can (and most certainly will) change course along the way.
• You can add or subtract as you go.
• You can adjust.
• You can even realize that the “one thing” that you started with might have been leading you to a new “one thing” when you are ready.

Example: One of my mentors used to be a basketball freak. He wanted to play all the time, he focused on basketball throughout high school and college. To the exclusion of almost everything else. He eventually won a scholarship at an internet marketing training and started an online basketball program that brought in some pretty big success. But he got burned out on basketball. Totally crispy, toasty, DONE. So he turned his attention to the next project that fueled his passion and imagination… Now he’s totally killing it in that market and is opening up a new level in a new area. Because it’s the right time for him.

The bottom line is that he COMMITTED to a path with heart and put everything he had into it. He inspired me back in November of 2014 because every single day he writes a newsletter. An original, kick ass newsletter that has often been helpful and inspirational to me. So as I watch my own life improve based on what I’ve learned from him, I find myself being “called” to do my own authentic version of the same idea. Provide over the top value to the guys on this list. Guys like you.

Because of his example I committed to building a list of people who love my music enough to subscribe to a “Song of the day”. Along with that was the deeper commitment to get my ass in to the recording studio on a more frequent basis and simply record all the songs that over the years somehow never got recorded. For SIX MONTHS I have done that simple task FIRST. Every… single… day.

And what keeps coming up for me is that as much as I love music and writing songs, what fuels that creativity is an even deeper passion.

The passion I have for learning and applying life lessons and innovations that empower me to “do what I want, when I want, where I want, with whom I want.” My passion for learning, reading and testing out ideas is a SERIOUS foundation for my songwriting, storytelling, visual artist, peak performance flow.

So today, I begin a new commitment. To You. Sharing my tools, techniques, insights, learnings and wisdom with you. In a way that powerfully rocks your world. Every single day.

So who are YOU?

Chances are, you are probably like me in many areas of your life.

• You probably grew up not so into sports. Although you may have discovered how much better you feel when you move your body, your sport may be a solo thing like running or cycling or a spiritual thing like Tai Chi or yoga.
• You might not have had a lot of great male role models.
• You might have been heavily influenced by your mom and your many female teachers (My mom literally “programmed” me to be the good little boy who always did what a woman told him to do… fvck that!).
• You probably read a great deal.
• You probably are smarter than the average bear.
• You might be more introverted than extroverted.
• You probably don’t quite “get” the female of the species. At least you don’t get the sex and love and attention that you want.
• You might be a late bloomer or an underachiever.
• You might have a ton of talent and not know quite how to get it to pay the bills.
• You might be eating shitty food or have other health related issues.
• You might have anxiety in some areas of your life, Performance anxiety in your sport, or career…. or in the bedroom. Approach anxiety. Test anxiety. Been there. Did that. It sucked. Overcame it.
• You might want to stop giving away your power to women or bullies.
• You might want to actually live that big dream you had as a kid that you have put aside so many times in order to be “responsible” or “sensible”

These are all areas that I have done deep work in with my NLP and Hypnosis practice. These are all areas I’ve CRUSHED it in my own life by applying step by step some EXTREMELY powerful tools for personal mastery. I want to share them with you.

And so today.

I chose to get up an hour earlier. And take the first step in what I intend to be a massive, throbbing, long, mutually beneficial journey.

One blog post a day here in addition to my Song of the Day post at MarkShepardSongs.com

Music and personal mastery/transformation. That’s my “one thing”.

In two parts.

Except when I have an idea for something that doesn’t quite fit in with these two “boxes”. LOL

Today no one faults Leonardo Da Vinci for having many interests. He was a renaissance man. He was as interested in engineering as he was in art. He was always experimenting. Not always finishing or fully developing his ideas. He probably did not make as much money in his lifetime as he COULD have if he had only focused…

But guys like us. You and Me AND old Leonardo Da Vinci, we have BIG visions. BIG minds. BIG plans. BIG. We think big. And we set out to reach the stars… We may fall short but at least we get SOMEWHERE!

Compare that to all the cubicle slaves grinding away at shit they hate, for people they don’t respect. Following the rules that someone else laid down for them. Being good little boys. Nice guys… and suffering in quiet desperation… blech!

So for the next 30 days. I am committing to a new blog post or video here at Cowabungah.com every single day.

If it still feels congruent at the end of 30 days, then we’ll go for 90… After that we’ll set the next goal.

So today’s tip is simple:

Take some time to look before you leap. Then take a deep breath, and FVCKING LEAP!

Action trumps thinking about taking action. But Intelligent, EFFECTIVE action trumps flailing away without a plan. There is a truly helpful and healthy pattern in spending some time each day or each month reflecting and observing the possible future outcomes related to each possible idea. But when you have done your due diligence, You need to let go of the doubts and the 2nd guessing and MOVE.

Forwards.

It is better to take totally dumb-ass “stupid” action than to sit on the couch watching shitty TV.

But you might as well take intelligent, congruent, ecological, action. Step by step. Chip away at getting to where you want to go.

So for me over here “walking my talk”, I am committing to: One thought a day that might give you the tools, ideas, inspiration, motivation, insight, or even plain HOPE that you can master your mind for a change, master your life, master your relationships, master your health, master your money. And not just some damn little fluff like all these other blogs.

Fvck that.

I may be a little ahead of where you are, but I too, am on this journey. Always will be. Today was easy. Just one thought. One small commitment to a practice that could possibly reach out like the ripples of a pond and send value your way…

Your part? To learn, apply and share.

Today’s assignment is called “Soul Boner 101″…

• Take some time and write out every possible “Soul Boner” idea that you have. All of ’em.
• If you had a year to live what would you do that you are not doing now?
• If you had 6 months?
• If you had 90 days?
• If you had 1 month?
• If you had 1 week?
• If you had 1 day?

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Take a single piece of paper for each “Soul Boner” and write out the fantasy of what you would LOVE to have happen in that area of your life. You might need some time for this. Set aside an hour. Yeah. An hour. Turn off the fvcking TV or get up an hour earlier and start writing the script of your life. Write the script you WANT. What do YOU want? Stop thinking about what you DON’T want. FOCUS on what you DO want.

When you get something written down send me an email.

What are you hot for in your life? What are your 10 main “Soul Boners”?

We’ll get to clearing any blocks or obstacles to your dreams in future posts. But start small or big. It doesn’t matter. Just start. The key is to become conscious and aware of the fact that YOU are the captain of your own ship. The captain needs to know the destination of that ship. He needs to hold that vision every single day until he reaches the next port. There he can focus on the next step in his journey.

We can do this!

Begin.

Now.

P.S. If you have any thoughts or questions or subjects you would like me to reflect upon in future videos, click the button below and contact me today.

Let’s talk…