L-Live Fanassionously

We are now on post three (3) of seven (7) in learning how to increase your ability to 'believe' towards discovering your full potential. When you 'believe', literally anything is possible. Without it, though you may be initially motivated, your dreams and goals will eventually be put back into a box, shoved into a closet, and gather dust to oftentimes never be seen again. This series is not about fanciful wishes that feel good to consider but aren't met with the definiteness of purpose needed to manifest them into reality. This is for those who are truly seeking breakthrough or have just embarked on this journey and want the shortcut to realize their desires sooner rather than later. Learning how to increase and master your belief will not only provide you the code to the safe which holds the possibility of possibilities, it flows over into all of the accompanying distinctions and characteristics necessary for extraordinary accomplishment.

As referenced in post one (1), it starts with being responsible for your life. Once you do this, you become the captain of your ship and can direct your destiny. As shared in post two (2), the next step is getting clear on what you want which becomes self-evident when you immerse yourself into eternal education, therefore guiding you to recognize what you like, you don't like, what works, what doesn't, what you have a natural affinity towards and what which you don't. If you earnestly continue down this journey with intention, there will be a point in time when something you're doing just clicks.

You'll recognize it because it feels as if you were born to do this "one thing". It will be something you absolutely fall in love with and when you're doing it, time collapses. You don't count the hours you're involved in it because you so enjoy everything about it and as a result you want to do it as much as possible. It will be an activity that comes easily and naturally to you but is hard and challenging for others. It will be something that unleashes your creativity which inspires you to want to master it as best as possible. You don't need to be motivated to do it because the very act of it inspires you. It's a pull rather than a push. The way you feel about this "one thing" can be defined as living life 'fanassionously'. Yes, another word that I made up which is a combination of the following three as defined in Webster's:

• Fanatical-“Marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion.”

• Passion-“Intense driving or overmastering feeling or conviction; ardent affection.”

• Purpose-“An object or end to be attained: Intention, resolution, determination.”

It is living life while having a fanatical passion with a purpose. Each word carries significant meaning on its own if you apply it to your life, however, together...they are transformational. Living 'fanassionously' is a way of life. It's a state of being which is characterized by a "I hate to go to bed and I can't wait to get up" euphoria. It's like the feeling many have as a child on Christmas eve, when you can't sleep because you want to spring out of bed in the morning and see what Santa has brought. Or as my father once told me, “If you do something you love, you’ll never work another day in your life.”

The challenge lies in first of all finding something that you can be fanatical or passionate about. You can be fanatical or passionate about many things but if it's not leading you to discover your full potential, then what's the point in putting your energy into it? Purpose without the desire or drive to achieve it is usually a “wish.” However, when you find something that you love that drives you to excel and has a positive impact on others; then you’ve found something that you can do with all of your might. This means you’ve found something you can be 'fanassionous' about!

Why is this so important?

In my opinion, discovering your full potential will result in accomplishing something that is measurably in the top 5% (at a minimum) of all others attempting the same feat. A distinguishing characteristic of excellence in any field is a relentless, passionate, intensity of focus on only “one thing”. To do something this extraordinary, it takes an inordinate amount of work over time to attain it. Author Malcolm Gladwell, in his seminal book "Outliers: The Story of Success", coined the term "10,000-Hour Rule". It was based on research by Anders Ericsson who was a Swedish psychologist and Professor of Psychology at Florida State University. He studied expert performance in domains such as medicine, music, chess, and sports, focusing on the impact of extended deliberate practice (high concentration practice beyond one's comfort zone) as a means of how expert performers acquire their superior achievement. To put it into real time perspective, if you deliberately practice a specific skill towards mastery in any discipline, it breaks down as follows:

• 10,000 hrs/10 hrs/wk = 1,000 wks (19.2 years)

• 10,000 hrs/20 hrs/wk = 500 wks (9.6 years)

• 10,000 hrs/40 hrs/wk = 250 wks (4.8 years)

The only way you'll be willing to do this amount of work, deliberately, is if you absolutely 'love' what you do. Because you're fueled by inspiration vs. motivation, it reframes how you look at what you're doing. You don't see it as work per se and when met with challenges, obstacles, uncertainty, fear, doubt or worry; you have the fortitude to go through it rather than let it stop you because you 'believe' that continued success is imminent. Your goals, dreams or desires are not an 'if they happen', but rather a 'when they happen'. This single distinction of belief, pulls you through the highs and lows of extraordinary achievement as if you were a guided missile intent on hitting your target.

If you have a big dream but don't 'believe' it's possible, yet pursue it anyway; then it's only a matter of time before you'll be met with significant hardship, conflict or resistance that will be stronger than your 'lack of belief' and you'll quit. At that point, you become the essence of Theodore Roosevelt's quintessential treatise, 'The Man In The Arena';

“It is not the critic, who counts, or how the strong man stumbled and fell, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotion, and spends himself in a worthy cause; and if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that he’ll never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

Each of these tenets, has layers of specificity and limitless depths of successful execution to absorb, apply and own their wisdom. Genius is taking something seemingly complicated, making it easy to understand and simple to execute. These posts are designed to bring clarity to the simplicity of the mindset necessary to discover your full potential. Finding something your 'fanassionous' about doesn't take an extraordinary I.Q., unprecedented talent, unique abilities, or tireless effort. It only takes being responsible for your life, remaining open to learning the secrets of the Universe and listening to your inner voice, that is God within, guiding you powerfully towards that which only you can do.

If you've found it already, you're reading this post as if you wrote it. If you haven't; be still, close your eyes, take your dreams out of the closet, and smile freely while remembering the sheer joy you felt when you first recognized it. Now, give up your already always listening, see yourself in possession of your dream and all that comes with it.

You've now unlocked the door to the safe in which your possibility of possibilities rest. To bring it to fruition simply,

Believe...