Stop and think for a minute and ponder the following. For the last few weeks millions upon millions of otherwise sane and logical people have stood in line to tender their hard earned money for the chance at the opportunity to win what is now the largest jackpot ever in a government run lottery game. The odds are stacked against the players, 1 in 330 million or some astronomical number like that. I think you have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than you would winning the lottery - but honestly who wants to get struck by lightning.
Here is the part that fascinates me, and within that I believe a lesson in life emerges.
Ask anyone of the people standing in line waiting to buy a lottery ticket what they will do if they win. The depth and detail of the answers are amazing. The thought that has gone into planning should they win is often times very detailed and specific.
They know the house (or houses) they will buy, they know the cars they will drive, They know the vacations they will take. They know who they will share their winnings with, and more importantly know exactly who won’t be benefitting from their new found wealth.
In a lot of cases an exit strategy from their job is part of the tale. I always chuckle when I’m told how they will quit their job and what they will tell their boss. I always enjoy the really descriptive tales that include telling their boss where to go and what to do when they get there. I mean, come on, I guess if you win the big prize you’ve earned the right to tell off a person or two.
But let me change up the inquisition for a moment shifting it from lottery winner to career planning or family planning. Often times you’ll hear crickets long before the requisite Ummm or well that is typically followed by a “I don’t know.”
So you ask more specific questions.
What steps are you taking at work to move yourself forward or advance yourself?
What steps are you taking at home to engage your family in a plan that sees your family accomplishing more?
When challenged with what to do with a grand prize they will never win, a full and complete answer emerges, however when asked to define the steps taken to better ones life in the circumstances they have the ability to affect, normally stone cold awkward silence is tendered in place of an actual plan.
Here is what I can tell you. Intentional people make plans for their lives using the circumstances of their lives as the tools and/or reason why they don’t want to stay stagnate. Instead they choose to move their life forward to a different level than they are currently at.
Much like the person you interview in line waiting for their chance to part with hard earned money on a pipe dream called the lottery, intentional people can outline the who, what, where, when and how they intend to achieve the goals they have set forth for their lives.
In the interest of full disclosure I will tell you that I did buy a lottery ticket even though I know I won’t win. However, let me poise this question to you this week.
In your life, is your lottery plan better thought out than your life plan?
Sure, we’d all love to win the lottery - and granted a fantasy that involves instant riches is fun to dabble in for a minute - but the truth is none of us will win the lottery.
Here is the better bet though, a plan that takes into account the things in life you can control, moving you forward to achieve the goals you can achieve using the life you have been given.
Knowing you only get one spin on this thing we call earth, why not be intentional planning the things you can control. I’d hate to get to the end of this thing looking back at ones life knowing that we didn’t accomplish the things we wanted to accomplish because of not winning the lottery.
So why not spend some time this week making a plan that you can win.
Need help?
Working with a Life Coach can help set you on a path for success.
And in the end, when you achieve those successes you can look back on a life well lived - even if you never picked the winning numbers.
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