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According to the Pareto Principle: 20% of all activities produce 80% of all results.
Stated another way: we waste 80% of our time on activities that are meaningless.
How do you know if you are wasting your time?
You know, if you do not have a very clear Blueprint of the life you desire. Those without a Blueprint wind up wasting most of their time on meaningless activities.
Conversely, the successful individuals in my Rich Habits Study pursued meaningful activities – activities that helped move them forward in creating the life they desired.
This life they desired represented a very clear picture of who they wanted to be. Having a clear vision of who you want to be is your Blueprint.
I’ve written often about the importance of Dream-Setting and Goal-Setting.
Dream-Setting is a process in which you create a script of your ideal, perfect, future life (500 – 1,000 words) and then bullet point all of the dreams within that script that need to come true in order to live the life of your dreams.
Goal-Setting is the process of creating and pursuing the goals (physical activities) that enable you to realize your dreams. It may take three or more goals in order to realize just one dream.
When you pursue any goal that helps you realize a dream, you are engaged in a meaningful activity.
But, without a Blueprint, there really is no way to know which activities are meaningful and which are meaningless. Without a Blueprint, there is no way to know if your activities are creating results that will improve your life or make it worse. Without a Blueprint, you have no clear destination – you are a lot like a leaf on a fall day – blown about, uncertain where the winds will take you.
Individuals with a Blueprint don’t rely on the wind, fate, luck or some outside force. They rely on themselves by following their Blueprint.
A Blueprint brings everything into focus and creates a clear vision of the life you desire, a clear vision of the dreams that make up that ideal life and a clear vision of the goals you need to accomplish, in order to realize those dreams.
Loved this reminder, thanks! This past weekend I stayed in a hotel alone -away from family, so that I could do some self reflection and to enjoy some quiet time. I was able to think about what my dreams and goals are. With minor tweaks in my schedule and thanks to the downtime, I’m realizing that I am living my dream.