How You Can Go from Idea to Purpose at Any Age

Using Your Unique Abilities to Serve Yourself and Others

Photo by Andreea Chidu on Unsplash

“We are each born with a blueprint to achieve a full and contented life. Your soul holds that blueprint, and the higher aspects of your mind are the means by which you can read that blueprint and let it guide you to fulfill its master plan.”

From the book, The Four Desires by Rod Stryker

What Do You Want to Achieve?

My father, a Norwegian sea man, was a whale hunter in Grytviken, South Georgia. The island of Grytviken is also the final resting place for Sir Ernest Shackleton, the famed polar explorer who tried being the first man to reach the South pole.

In the harsh land of snow and ice, far away from home, my father spent eight months of the year during my young years. He wrote beautiful letters and poems. His work was often published in trade magazines for Norwegian seamen. Reading, writing and gardening were his passions, personal attributes that were passed down to me. He dreamt of being a full-time writer.

When the whaling industry came to an end, he was hired by a Scandinavian shipping firm and life became easier for him. We were told that one day, he said to his shipmates that he did not feel well. He retired to his cabin to rest, but he never woke up. He was 41 years old, and I was 14.

"Don’t die with the Music still in you”

-Dr. Wayne Dyer

More often than not, we know what we want. The blueprint that we are born with contain attributes and abilities that are unique to us. We know what we want to be, what we want to do, what we want to have, and what we want to share.

Living in a state of health, abundance, contentment, and peace is our purpose. Persistent ideas about how, begging for action, serve as our innate guidance. When an idea resonates with us and sparks of inspiration are ignited, we can fan those sparks into flames of energy and intention. We do that by evaluating the soundness of the idea, set a goal, and act. Ideas and calls to action are the intention of dreams fulfilled.

The power of intention is evident all around us. From buildings to tents, and from computers to books, everything was once an idea in someone’s mind. How do you know if an idea is sound enough to make a difference in the world, or to earn a living? You must act on it to find out. With due diligence you follow the process to reach a goal.

This process is what Dan Sullivan, The Strategic Coach, calls The 4C’s Formula, in his wonderful little book. Commitment, Courage, Capability, and Confidence. This formula can be used to create success in any area of your life. Dan Sullivan writes that the first important step is to sell ourselves on committing to the goal. By committing, we convince ourselves that we can do it, without having the Capability to do it, yet. This is where we must trust the inner guidance.

Commitment leads to Courage, which may feel uncomfortable until we develop enough Capability to develop Confidence. By following the 4 C’s formula, we put procrastination, the official dream crusher, on hold. By gaining Capability to do something, a feeling of success replaces fear, and we feel Confident.

On a personal level, this is me in a nutshell. Having procrastinated about the idea of starting a business for a very, very, very long time, (hush, I am over 70) I finally decided that I don’t want to get to the end of the line with regrets of not trying to realize my dream. I committed to go for it and the commitment gives me courage, most days.

But truth be told, courage and fear always fluctuate. We live in a world of peaks and valleys where self-esteem grows along with confidence. Don't let low esteem hold you back. Commitment is the deciding factor and commitment is about making a personal decision. It leads to capability, even when we don't know how to do something, yet. This serves as our inner guidance; the council will come and the teacher will appear.

The teacher will appear when we, the students, are ready. The commitment carries enough motivation to keep us going, despite fear. Confidence grows in tandem with capability. Words of wisdom from the 4 C’s book, may speak to everyone who carries an idea about a creative vision:

“Each time you made a commitment before you had the capability and confidence and were willing to go through a period of courage, it was one of the most important building blocks you had in your life and career.”

The Magic of Thinking Big, by David Schwartz, PH.D., is another book that brings this message home. He writes, “Got a good idea? Then do something about it.” Fear is an intrinsic defense mechanism, but procrastination and holding off on an idea creates more fear. “Use action to cure fear and gain confidence,” writes Dr Schwartz.

Procrastination tends to have a negative effect on our well-being. The result of convincing ourselves that waiting to create an idea outline is better later than now, may cause instant relief. We are temporarily off the hook. Eventually stress will catch up with us. If you suffer from hypertension and cardiovascular disease (HT/CVD), one study reveals that individuals with self-reported HT/CVD compared to a control sample of healthy individuals, were more strongly associated with maladaptive coping behaviors. The results suggest that procrastination is not helpful in the management of HT/CVD and does more harm than good.

Procrastination tends to have a negative effect on our well-being. The result of convincing ourselves that waiting to create an idea outline is better later than now, may cause instant relief. We are temporarily off the hook. Eventually stress will catch up with us. If you suffer from hypertension and cardiovascular disease (HT/CVD), one study reveals that individuals with self-reported HT/CVD compared to a control sample of healthy individuals, were more strongly associated with maladaptive coping behaviors. The results suggest that procrastination is not helpful in the management of HT/CVD and does more harm than good.

Doing what we know we should be doing, creates self-trust and confidence. Acting in the present moment moves us towards the next step in the process.

A poor idea acted upon will take us further towards our dream than an excellent idea not acted upon.

Don’t trust your memory as a storage bank. Keep an idea journal, a note pad, your smart phone, or index cards available to jot down unexpected ideas. That way, you are always prepared when inspiration hits. Inspiration, as-in-spirit, is often a gift from within, and should be handled with care. Unless you consciously evaluate and decide that the idea is of no value, keep it. Down the road, it may be the answer you have been looking for all along.

The following words from the Magic of Thinking Big spoke to me. These words had a profound impact on my decision to finally jump off the procrastination wagon and act.

“A good idea if not acted upon produces terrible psychological pain. But a good idea acted upon brings enormous mental satisfaction.”

Reading this, I said to myself,”Annelie, don’t die with the music still in you.” In my mind I saw the late Dr Wayne Dyer, as he often spoke this phrase.

My unique ability is writing and teaching about health and happiness. I have an abundance of both and want to help others to live with purpose and health. What is yours? Taking the time to figure out and enjoy your unique ability is the greatest service you can do for yourself and others.

Commitment at the 100 percent level produces internal peace and an 'I can do' mindset. We must remember; it is the process that counts. It is about being in the arena, it is about being a contender, and it is about being on purpose. Ultimately, it is about living and dying without regret.

🇳🇴Annelie Holmene Pelaez believes that everyone has an attribute to share with others. Promoting cardiovascular health and helping adults over age 65 is her contribution. When we don’t let age define us, but rather empower us to grow, we discover health and happiness are byproducts of who we are.

Annelie is the author of the book, Say Yes to A Better Life, available at Amazon.

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