NickVenturella.com 8-6-23 - Shift into the next gear

How do you dig down deep inside yourself to find the extra gear you need to shift to so you can accelerate toward your destination?  

Previously, we talked about having a clear understanding of your personal values as a foundation. This foundation helps provide you some direction because it creates parameters of what you will and won’t pursue due to what aligns with your values. 

But that alone is not narrow enough to provide you specific direction toward a particular destination.

Your values are like guardrails, with that in place you’re still left with a whole universe of potential destinations that can align with your values. 

The hard part is determining where you want to go while staying inside the guardrails of your values. From there, what destinations are realistically possible given your current circumstances?

This often leads you to work backwards from any destination option you’re considering by determining whether or not your current circumstances allow you to realistically pursue a path forward toward your desired destination, or if you need to first figure out how to change your circumstances to position yourself to then pursue your desired destination.

All of the above is called Design Thinking -- this idea of logically identifying how you can achieve what you want so you can help yourself materialize a realistic plan that if executed has the likelihood to get you to your envisioned destination.

The reason Design Thinking helps is because it allows you to identify and play out (at least on paper, or on a computer) what it might take to actually reach a few of your identified destinations before you even start pursuing them. 

Such exercises help you take more calculated risks and provide a better likelihood that if you pursue an identified path you’ll actually reach your destination. My advice is to spend more time than you think you need to on identifying a couple of destinations and working through your Design Thinking -- it's never as easy as you think.

And that’s the extra gear you need to accelerate your drive -- confidence in knowing you've invested in your personal values, identified a destination, and have planned out a realistic path to reach it. Now you just have to take action.

--------------------------------------------------Updates----------Dan Lezama and I (we make up the music duo group, Gemini's Rival) have been busy re-recording new versions of our back catalog of songs from the mid/late '90's & early 2000's.The first of several songs to be released is now out on all major streaming platforms.You can listen to our first of these songs, Night to Die, now.We'll be releasing at least one new version of our old songs once a month through the end of this year. Next up, "Everlasting (In the End)." This one drops August 11, 2023.  

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Stay positive. Stay healthy. Be kind.Sincerely,Nick VenturellaStrategic/Creative ProfessionalNickVenturella.com