I had the privilege of growing up in an idyllic childhood setting. Grandparents next door, parents that farmed and worked from home till their divorce when I was 12, all on the 100 acres owned by my Papa. Both my grandparents own it of course but Papa always claims possession of the accounts as the man in the relationship and my Grandma vowed to never argue over money and so maybe that formula is the one for 66 years of marriage?
On the tobacco farm where I grew up there was a pond and in it lived the mythical Peeping Frog.
The Peeping Frog was this giant frog that supposedly lived in our irrigation pond at the back of the farm, a mythical tale told to my brother, cousins and I while growing up to dissuade us from ever going too close without adult supervision.
I remember going back fishing with my Dad and brother one time and while my Dad was hooking my line I got distracted and rapidly turned, hooking my Dad down to the bone. I remember part of my antsi-ness was because we were by a pond where I didn’t understand where the mythical creature hid when we were there with an adult.
The mythical nature of these childhood tales made me under value the ordinary until only in recent years.
The Giant Peeping Frog was just one example of an unbelievable tale I believed for a while.
I believed it without question until my conscious mind developed around the age of 7 which was around the time when my family moved to the farm and first had that story drilled into us. Call it being vulnerable to being influenced because of the turmoil of change that a move brings or just plain being sensitive to believing the stories our elders told us.
We wanted to be obedient and listen to what they told us both in their words and in their actions.
Our actions will be the first to influence our results but our words are magic carpets too.
I was just having a conversation with someone about the fact that our intention directs our ability to achieve our desired outcomes.
Either Zig Ziglar or Jim Rohn reference a teaching about a man that has such precise aim he can hit the bullseye of a target on his first shot and have his second shot land in the centre of the first arrow. His precision is exact, but the point of their story is to say they could teach you to hit the target even more consistently than this marksman if you would intentionally direct your focus and align your words and actions accordingly.
The other important detail in that is the fact the marksman would have to have been spun and blindfolded.
That’s how you even out the playing field.
You get more specific and set measurable and achievable goals. You also make sure they’re realistic and time sensitive so you know there’s a call to action that has a deadline.
Deadlines matter because we will rarely act until the end of when we know we have until to do it. But the crazy thing about that is that if you already know you want to do something then why would you wait until someone else’s self-selected deadline when you can just get started on what you want to do right away.
Be S.M.A.R.T about your goal setting and find the mentors that you respect and who have influenced you.
Another time I’ll share a list of the teachers that have profoundly influenced me on my journey and would love to know who has influenced and is influencing your journey now.
Much love,
Laura JE Hamilton
