I’ve been building Rome for 7520 Days
New Year, New Goals, New Passion, New Focus!
Or is it: New Year, Same Goals, Same Passion, Same Focus?
In which it’s probably more appropriate to say:
New Year, Same Goals, Inadequate Passion, Inadequate Focus, Inadequate System, Inadequate Discipline.
You know how they say “Rome wasn’t built in a day”? Well I just realized… I’ve been building my “Rome” for about 7520 F’ing days. Quite literally.
You see, it was mid-1999 when I started my first small business. Spoiler alert: Epic Fail.
Since then, I’ve been continuously working on my ‘empire’…and I think, that I’m just now starting to learn some things. (I know, right?)
And here’s a big one: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
But if that brings to mind phrases like “it takes time”, or “be patient”…then you’re only seeing half the point.
The rest of the lesson is this: Not only does it take time to build your empire (whatever that may be), it requires that you shift your focus. You can’t just focus on going from zero to “Rome”, you’ve got to focus on destroying one barbarian horde at time.
Maybe there’s a better analogy…
What I mean is…we’ve all got goals that we aspire to, and that we see in our future. But all too often, we focus on the outcome, instead of the steps it takes to get there.
Personally, I absolutely suck at this. And when I look back, I’m disgusted with myself.
7520 days that it seems I’ve spent thinking about my goals, making action plans, etc… I’ve laid the best of plans, I’ve kept my goals in front of me, and I’ve filled myself with internal motivation.
I’ve created a vision, and sort of… waited for it.
I’ve waited for it, and too often found myself just reacting to the business at hand…instead of focusing on the daily actions that will make my goals an inevitability.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was built day-by-day.
So what I need to do…is to focus on being great TODAY.
Yes, I’ve got to prioritize, I’ve got to know what ‘moves the needle’ in my business and personal goals. But whatever those priorities are, I’ve got to focus on being great today.
I’ve got to focus on daily wins. Incremental gains. Whatever you want to call them.
7520 days. Time to learn this lesson, and make the next 7520 days count.
But before I get ahead of myself: It’s time to make today count.
