YOUR THOUGHTS START EVERYTHING

There is a television show called Modern Marvels on the History Channel that I like to watch from time to time. On the show, they cover how things are made. The topics cover everything from how sugar is made to how the Panama Canal was built. I’ve always found it fascinating to learn how things are made and, more importantly, the process it takes to build or make the products, materials, or structures. The ingenuity of the people who create these things is something to applaud, and the process by which these large-scale machines are made is mesmerizing.

Have you ever looked at a tall building or structure and wondered, “how did they make that?”. I ask myself that all the time. I recently became curious about how vehicles use the braking system in your car to make electrical energy stored in electric vehicles' batteries and used when accelerating. It is called regenerative braking. Regenerative braking uses an electric vehicle’s motor as a generator to convert much of the kinetic energy lost when decelerating back into stored energy in the vehicle’s battery. It can be commonly found in hybrid Toyota vehicles and many other uses. I know you're probably saying to yourself, “John, I don’t care about Modern Marvels or how things are made. Get to the point.” So, I will. I am talking about how these things were made because everything that was not originally part of the earth was first created in someone’s mind. Thinks about that for a second.

Before there were large buildings, cars, or electronics, we all had raw materials and our thoughts. Everything, and I mean everything, that has been created, started with an idea. The electronic device you are using to read or listen to this right now was built in the mind of someone before it was made. And very similar to how things are made, we can develop how our future is made. There are extreme similarities between how one creates a rocket or building and how one creates your future. Let me explain.

To build anything, someone has first to conceive it in thought, then that thought is written down, and a rough plan on how it can be made or built is documented. The plan that is put initially together will probably be changed several times because the person who conceived the idea may only know all the materials and resources available to him once he does his research. Once the process is documented, a plan is put together for building or creating something, a timeline is applied, and the work begins. This is no different than how you build the life you want. But it would be best if you had a clear idea of what you want in life to get it. I won’t spend much time teaching you how to figure out what you want in life, but if you are having difficulty with it, please check out my resources on the Relentless People website or some of the podcasts that cover that subject specifically. Once we know what we want, then we must put a plan together.

I would like to give you a few tips to help your chances of success when putting a plan together,

Don’t Get Distracted

During the planning stages, it is essential to follow a few rules to guarantee success. Remember that everything starts with a thought, but to make that thought a reality, you must be highly focused during the planning phase. Everyone has an idea, or 20, and they are all amazing, according to that person. However, making that idea come to fruition is where the difficulty lies.

You will find opposition coming from every direction when you start to put pen to paper. It will take everything you have not to want to quit at this stage. You begin to question if all the effort is worth it. You’ll wonder if it is even worth putting a plan together vs. just trying it wit