[BB Archive] Becoming Better through Directed Action

Take a moment to recall the first time you drove your car to a party at your friend’s new apartment.  You were probably relying heavily on your smartphone’s GPS navigation, furiously concentrating on turn-by-turn directions to guide you to the right location.  The second and third time you traveled there, though, maybe the drive was a little easier.  Before long, you could navigate without directions.  Now, you can split your drive time between texting & driving and thinking about what you’re going to have for lunch tomorrow, and Hey, you’re there before you know it!

Without even realizing it, you were becoming better.  In this case, you are becoming better at the skill of traveling to your friend’s house.  A skill can be any particular ability: driving to your friend’s house, learning to tie your shoe or to ride a bike, playing a musical instrument, or even watching your favorite show on Netflix!  Becoming better, then, can be defined as increasing (either consciously or unconsciously) your expertise of a particular skill.  

WAIT, HOW AM I BECOMING BETTER BY WATCHING NETFLIX?

For many of us, binging Netflix is a great way to spend a Friday night.  Relaxing on the couch, immersing ourselves in our favorite shows, we’re there for great entertainment – learning the characters, plots, and steamy romances…pretty soon we’re experts about the entire series, and we just can’t wait for the next season!  Once again, without realizing it, we’re becoming better…at being experts of a television show.

While being a House of Cards specialist may boost our social cred when we impress our friends at trivia night, that particular skill won’t land us that big promotion at work, find an exciting new career opportunity, or help us meet our perfect soulmate (unless they’re die-hard fans themselves, of course!)  In order for us to get the most out of life, then, we must consider cultivating skills which directly help us to achieve our goals.  Taking this idea one step further, we must choose to do this intentionally.

BECOMING BETTER THROUGH DIRECTED ACTION

Directed Action is simply choosing to become better at any skill that brings us closer to achieving our goals.  For example, becoming financially independent (one of my personal goals) requires we become better at the skill of personal finance.  Thus, listening to a podcast on how to balance our budget is an example of a Directed Action towards financial independence.  The problem we often run into, however, is that we’re not entirely sure what skills we’ll need to develop in order to achieve our goals, or what actions to take  That is what this blog is here to accomplish.  

Together we will explore tools, references, thoughts, ideas, books, and stories aimed specifically at helping you succeed, no matter what your goals are.  We will discuss and develop a broad range of skills which can help us in becoming better at whatever we choose to accomplish.

The first skill to acquire is Directed Action.  Through this skill, we can accomplish anything we set out to do.

I’m grateful to be able to share this journey with you, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.