Blog #553: I Do the Dots

“Connect the dots, Shawn.”

The words came from Mrs. Cahill a long time ago.
She was my 1st grade teacher.
.
Her lesson then led to my success now.

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It’s 50 years later…

And I’m still a dot connector…a dot follower…a dot creator.

I know how to go from dot-to-dot really well.

It’s how I ignite ideas, start businesses, write books, and walk across countries. It’s how I keep “Overwhelm” from breathing its nasty breath in my face.

Connecting the dots has been my key to succeeding.

1. I create the dots when they don’t exist.
2. I follow the dots when they do.

Without the dots, I’d be rolling the dice when it came to my success.

I’m not a gambling-type guy.

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In 2016…

I walked every inch of a famous Japanese trail called the Shikoku Pilgrimage. It’s 750 miles long and connected by 88 Buddhist temples…many 1,000+ years old. Each temple has a cool name I can’t pronounce…but it also has a “#” associated with it.

The numbers I know.

#1, #2, #3…#27…#43…#70…#88.

Those became my dots.

In 48 days, I succeeded in walking to each of the 88 temple dots.

One.
Dot.
After.
Another.

No goal is TOO big where lots of dots live.

And are followed.

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Often…

Failure has smacked me because of TWO easy-to-define reasons:

#1. I neglected to create the dots that led me from start to finish.
#2. I decided to start jumping the dots.

Failure because of reason #1…is called pure laziness.
Failure because of #2…is called Mental Dot Jumping.

A thing about Mental Dot Jumping…

Mental Dot Jumping is when we look TOO far past the current dot on which we are supposed to be solely focused. When we dot jump…things start to grow chaotic upstairs in our heads.

If you’ve ever thought:

It’s too far!
It’s too much!
It’s too scary!
I can’t do it!

Then you’re going after a Master’s Degree in “Mental Dot Jumping.”

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This week’s success scoop?

It’s a lesson taken straight from my 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Cahill…
who is definitely one of my all-time great success mentors:

“Just connect the dots.”

1. Create them when they don’t exist.
2. Follow them when they do.

How much simpler can it be?