What does the story of your life look like so far? Is it everything you want to be? I spent two days last week at the Storyline Conference put on by Donald Miller and his team exploring these questions. The experience wasn’t nearly as “woo-woo” as it sounds. In fact, it was quite practical.
During the course of two days, we took a look at the basic elements of any story and applied them to our lives. Miller posed a series of interesting questions I have been chewing on all weekend. I thought I would share them with you. You will either love me or hate me, because these questions will shake things up.
Ask yourself these questions:
1. What do I want?
2. Am I willing to engage conflict to get it?
3. What’s my plan?
4. What’s the first step to accomplish that plan?
5. What will success look like if I do it?
6. What happens to the world if I don’t?
“We live in reaction. It’s time to build a better story. Great characters take action.” – Donald Miller
To make room for the action you need to take, you are going to have to start saying no to things. As Warren Buffett famously said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.”
You see, one lie that hijacks our lives is that everything is important. At least that’s what Joshua Becker of becoming minimalist said at the conference last week. His advice: “Discover where to say yes, and then learn how to say no.”
Maybe it’s time to become more like another Storyline Conference speaker and best selling author, Bob Goff. He quits something every Thursday.
Asking questions. Discovering where to say “yes’. And then saying “no.”
That’s how you and I begin to write the story of the rest of our lives.
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