What is your Vision ?

Taking pride in being busy was the key to success. The more I did the more success I would have. Two jobs, 4 days a week at the gym, vegetarian, earning more money and having a great social life (probably too good at time) was ticking all the boxes and my life was on track. The only thing was, I didn’t know what track I was on and where I was going. There was no purpose to my busy schedule.

To be struck down with Leukemia was devastating however it was the red light I needed to have put in front of me. Whilst the next 18 months weren’t exciting or something I would recommend to anyone It allowed me to stop, think and hear the quiet. My life had become a constant noise full of busy-ness. But I had no purpose, definitely no long term vision, no value driven behaviours and definitely wasn’t serving anyone or anything. It was all about me, me and me.

Look at your own position in life. What is your take on success? We all have different views about what success is yet the way to get that success needs a vehicle. What is yours? Can you see the end point. Yes we all will die but what is the end result of your labours before you get to rest in peace. What is the end result you want to achieve, do you have a vision?

Taking the time to recognise this vision is a process the majority of the worlds inhabitants will never stop to do. They are too busy!! So that means thinking outside the square doesn’t it? It means being proactive and not reactive doesn’t it? It means developing some self awareness doesn’t it? Can you stop for a little while and so this. It may seem simple and it may seem trivial but I can speak from experience; it is a must do.

Life is full of choices and if you are reading this I challenge you to make one right now. Take the time to create or bring to life your vision. If you do, you begin to choose the path and direction you take in life. The universe is waiting for you to decide and help you but you need to make a decision. OR. Be prepared to work tirelessly to allow someone else’s dreams and goals to be met and achieved. Working busily to meet the requirements of the job and satisfy the boss, clients or members and having no regard or thought for why you are doing this isn’t serving you, your values and your life’s purpose. I liken this to a boat without a rudder. You will go wherever and whenever you are told.

If you have made the choice to find your vision let’s try these steps to start the process.

• What is most important to you in your life it will be more than one thing and could be 6 or 8 things
  
• What do you enjoy doing and want to do more of it
  
• What are you good at
  
• What are you passionate about
  
• What are your strengths
  
• What do close friends and family say about you and what effect do you have on them
  
• What difference would you like to make in the world
  
• What would you like to have said about you when you aren’t around

When you have the answers to these questions you are well on the way to identifying a purpose and a direction you can start following in your life.

Once the answers to the questions above are clear It is time to ask a few big ones that will begin to define your possible direction from this point on.

• What needs do you see need satisfying in the areas of your passion, strengths and things you love to do?
  
• What solutions can you see that would make a positive impact on the lives of others including yours as the provider of these solutions?
  
  

Luckily I had the time to sit and ponder these questions whilst undertaking treatments, recovering and entertaining thoughts of how will this all end. Whilst the records will show to this day that the Chemotherapy regime was a success on me I have no doubt I was able to get through and go into remission because I began to get some purpose and direction in my life. All of a sudden I was realizing doing what was important to me and remaining integral to my value system was more important that being aimlessly busy for the sake of being busy.

What‘s to gain from the Such is Life Documentary

Over two nights in Perth; “Such is Life”, a documentary was shown on television with over 2,000,000 viewers tuning in on the first night. The following day there was widespread discussions all over Australia. The impact was huge on the community and as a father of 3 young children it really smacked me in the face and made me assess what I am doing in my role as a father. It also made me think back to my days as a cricketer playing sport and associating with the elite on and off the field and realise how easy it is to go off the rails.

When documentaries like “Such is Life” are viewed, learning from them is absolutely imperative. Relating Ben’s battles with his addiction especially at the peak of the problem when he was delisted, with my battles encountering a life threatening illness actually reinforced some valuable lessons learnt, developed and actually employed in my life and now have started passing them onto my family.

What wasn’t happening in Ben Cousin’s life throughout his glory days was a lack of application to universal laws or principles or whatever you want to call them. Instead he gained strength and motivation from pleasurable experience that was quick and from external sources. He was feeding his desires by bringing in external influences. Unfortunately his was drugs and the only way to get more happiness or pleasure was more.

As soon as we rely on external influences for happiness, success or whatever we want in life, we set ourselves up for failure, because you aren’t relying on universal laws or guidelines to keep you on the right path to wherever you want to go. Ben had no self awareness or conscience for the people around him, the damage to himself as a person, the football club and the youth and impressionable people that adored him. The attributes of self awareness, having a conscience and even serving others or a greater cause are all common traits of successful people and Ben wasn’t doing and didn’t possess any of these.

Unfortunately in Ben’s and other addicts, drugs severely interfere in your brain’s functionality. In simple terms what was happening in his brain was his natural feedback mechanism for recognising and receiving pleasure was now being influenced by nuclear influences. Nuclear influences are so much stronger than natural ones so it is no fault of the brain to pull out all stops to get more and more and more. Recognising and receiving pleasure in our brain is a survival mechanism. It used to be drinking water, bursts of activity (running from things that want to kill us), sex (survival of the species) and food was what pleasure in the brain bought to us. Now the brain gets all manner of pleasures that are unnatural such as added sugar, drugs, alcohol and caffeine to name a few. Ben and any other drug addict are re programming their brains to get their next hit which is now their brains newly formed survival instinct.

The lessons learnt from the “Such is Life” documentary should be plentiful and varied as has already been highlighted by the responses in the media. I have put three of mine together to share and hopefully spark more thought on your behalf.

1. Develop self awareness around your emotions and how they are dictating and controlling your life. Is anger, resentment, pleasure, happiness or even sadness which are all emotions making you reactive instead of proactive? Look at food if you are trying to lose weight.
   
   
2. Having principles/guidelines in our own lives to guide you are important. Motivation is longer lasting and more powerful when it is related to a deep and internal value or mission dear to you. Take money for example; if that is your motivator and sense of happiness, what happens when you go broke, lose your money or are unable work for a period of time losing the capacity to earn money you are going to be unhappy, unmotivated and under the control of money.
   
   
3. Address all aspects of your life that are most important to you to ensure a more fulfilling life can be achieved and maintained. Most importantly link all of the important parts to your life to your mission and values because when things get testing (which they will) you are getting pleasure and fulfillment out of serving a greater good – not just satisfying desires from day to day and simply surviving.

I hope for Ben’s sake he can keep his life going forward and if the reasoning behind showing this documentary are to serve others. He can live a life to serve others and make a real difference to society, but he will need to follow principles, guidelines or universal laws (whatever you want to call them) otherwise he may just end up getting his kicks in the wrong way again. I hope he chooses the right path.