HOW ARE YOU GOING TO GET THERE?
“So often people are working hard at the wrong thing. Working on the right thing is probably more important than working hard.”
—Caterina Fake | @caterina
Co-founder of the website Flickr,
acquired by Yahoo! for $35 million
If you’ve ever sat down with the recognized leader in your field or the top-selling agent in your industry or the foremost philanthropist in your category, you can probably guess what was going through our minds the first time we met Jack Canfield, the originator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series.
We had quietly stalked him for months—researching him, finding out who his key people are, and tracking the history of his career. We wanted advice in how to scale the Oola message and change the world with this word by creating more Oola books and building a lifestyle brand. We decided to follow our own advice, dream big and start with the most published non-fiction author of all time.
What does it take to publish over 220 books and have 550 million copies in print in 49 languages? What does it take to land on the New York Times Best Seller List 40 times—with eleven books at #1 and a record-setting seven books on the list at the same time? How could we go from hosting OolaPalooza events in the United States to training millions of people in 108 countries?
When you sit down with someone of Jack Canfield’s caliber, you go prepared. But you also keep things simple.
After connecting with Jack’s longtime business partner, Patty Aubery, we scored a meeting and went with a 3x5 notecard of the specific outcomes we hoped for: details on how to take our message to scale, strategies for how they sold so many books—even advice on how to keep our own lives in balance as the Oola brand grew. If we could also score some small follow-up commitments from Jack, we thought, well that would be even better.
As the conversation began and Jack pulled a 3x5 card from his pocket to jot down some contacts he wanted to send us, we gave each other the side-eye. A 3x5 notecard, we silently voiced to one another. Yeah, we’re in the right place.
WHY A 3X5 NOTECARD?
For us, using 3x5 notecards goes back to 1997 when we first met with our crew to set goals at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. The music was loud, the lighting was bad, and we definitely didn’t want to be the guys sitting there with our laptops open. We wrote on the notecards not only where we were in each of the 7 key areas of life, but also where we wanted to go—and most importantly, those action steps we would take to make our dreams become a reality.
To this day, we still use notecards and recommend that you do the same. There’s something special about contemplating the specific actions you need to take to achieve your dreams, then writing them in your own handwriting, and feeling the sense of accomplishment by crossing off each task once it’s completed. There is power in this process, and also beauty in its simplicity.
DAILY ACTION: 3X5 NOTECARD
In the busyness of this unbalanced world, it’s easy for your dreams to get lost in the clutter of day-to-day life. So one way to make sure they stay top priority is, every night before you go to bed, grab a 3x5 notecard and write down at least three action steps you’ll take the next day that will move you closer to one (or more) of the Top 7 goals you set on your OolaPlan.
The notecard can include the daily stuff, too—groceries, dry cleaning, picking up the kids from practice—but make sure that at least three items on your list are action steps that will move you closer to your OolaLife. Draw a line down the middle, if needed, to separate the junk errands from your real-life goals.
Do Step Three: The OolaPath every day and in one year, you will have taken more than 1,000 action steps toward your OolaLife—while most people we meet haven’t taken any steps toward their dreams in years. Let’s get started!
DON’T LOSE YOUR DREAMS TO THE GRAVEL
At our last OolaPalooza, we tried to recreate a lesson that the OolaGuru saw recently at his church. On the night before our event, we found ourselves at a Hobby Lobby store in rural Kansas City purchasing a large glass vase, seven fake oranges, and two bags of gravel. Without rehearsing, we hopped on stage the next day and began filling the vase with a combination of oranges and gravel to teach a valuable lesson. While the process was supposed to be dramatic, it ended up being hysterical when the OolaSeeker chased rolling oranges across the stage and the OolaGuru struggled to remove his hand after getting it stuck in the vase.
As the crowd roared with laughter, we realized the lesson came across just the same: if you fill the vase with the gravel first, then try to add the seven oranges, you’ll never fit everything in. But if you start by adding the oranges first, then slowly pour in the gravel, letting it filter down around the oranges—miraculously it all fits.
The point of this stage fail is that the gravel represents the day-to-day clutter of our lives: running errands, kid stuff, soccer practice, emails, shopping, vet appointments, cleaning house, making meals, social media . . . life. The seven oranges, on the other hand, represent the seven key areas of life—your 7 F’s of Oola.
If you take care of your major goals first, then fit the little things around them, miraculously it all gets accomplished.
In the same way, the journey to your OolaLife is a three-step journey, so don’t stop at just two. Take action by putting your oranges in first. Spend time every night writing down three or more action items that are deliberately intended to bring about the goals you have for your life. Only then should you let the gravel fill in the spaces that remain.
Simply planning and taking your first action steps toward the OolaLife is often what will stop the insanity and make you feel more in control. It’s like a pattern interrupt. You’re taking charge of your future.
But don’t just stop with planning. The purpose of this book is to encourage and inspire you to pursue a better life—one with less stress. A life that is balanced and growing: the life you dream of and deserve. The OolaLife.
After meeting and working with thousands of Oola Women, we can assure you, from experience, that just making these decisions will give you a sense of accomplishment and make you feel like you’re halfway there.
Now’s the time to ensure you do what’s necessary to go the remaining distance. Start taking action today.