Aha! Moment Monday
In 1992 the Barenaked Ladies released a song entitled, “If I had a million dollars”. In the song the lead singer shares all the things he would buy his love – a house, furniture for the house, a car, a fur coat (well, “not a real fur coat because that would be cruel”), a tree fort, limousine rides, a designer pet – the lists goes on and includes him buying her love.
Fast forward 28 years and that $1,000,000 won’t stretch nearly as far and, while I’m not sure how much “her love” costs, the writer felt that with the million, he’d be rich.
Here’s what I find interesting about the song and why it came to mind.
We just had the biggest lottery jackpot in the history of our provincial lottery – $70 million. Reporters were interviewing people on the streets in advance of the draw, asking what they’d do with that kind of money. Some said they’d take a holiday, some said they’d buy a house or a car – remember we’re talking about $70m – and what those (typical) responses indicated is while thousands of people flocked to buy tickets, few, if any, actually made plans to receive it.
Now, the odds of winning were one in over 2.5 million but still, winning was possible. So … was the act of buying a lottery ticket a wish or a goal? In what circumstances can we expect to win?
Aha! ~ “I am a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.” ~ Thomas Jefferson (and many, many others).
The dad of P.K. Subban, NHL hockey player, shared one of my favourite analogies for the success recipe: understand that life is like the quick-service food drive-through.
First: you order. And you don’t just order “food” because that’s too vague and no one will know how to fill your order. You need to be very specific, in the clearest detail you can put into words.
Second: you pay for your order. Nothing arrives for free. An investment on your part needs to be made before you see a single crumb.
Third: you receive it. Does it always arrive exactly as you ordered? No. That can be because you are not abundantly clear OR what is delivered is designed to make you be more mindful OR maybe you simply need to invest more to get what you anticipate.
Unlike food at the drive-thru, though, goals don’t come with an obvious price tag. It’s not until you’re on your journey that you begin to realize the steps and effort required to achieve your success. But when you understand the process – visualize, grow in preparation, receive – and master them in that order – you are in a stronger position to achieve exactly what you deserve.
Expect to win.
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