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What is the TRUE Cost of Being Reasonable?

Written by: Stefan Doering

Article Overview: It does not pay to be reasonable and not go after what you really want in life. And the regret that ensues sometimes never goes away. How about you? Any missed opportunities from being reasonable? Most of us have been taught from a young age to be reasonable in our expectations, our desires, our requests from others and most importantly, from ourselves. We've learned that it is rude to be unreasonable, to ask too much from others and even ourselves. But when you think about it, this is completely counter-intuitive. Our purpose in life is to follow our bliss and to go beyond what might be considered reasonable by others.

What is the TRUE Cost of Being Reasonable?

There she was again, the woman of my dreams! This was the third time in a week she walked into the card store I was working at and she didn't even live in the area. Kinda strange, I thought.

She was gorgeous. Her beautiful smile, brown hair, eyes, and skin, her lips, and tall athletic body, wow! People would stop and stare at her wherever she went.

And for the third time she walked up to me and started asking questions about me and how I was. I was so nervous I could barely answer her questions, let alone keep the conversation going.

I was 17 and Joanne was one of the most popular girls in high school and I had such a crush on her. But she would never have known, because I didn't think I had a chance.

Not to mention the fact she was dating the football hero of our school.

I remembered the times she would look and smile at me in chemistry class and then quickly look away. Or how on graduation day she came up to me and excitedly told me she and Jim had broken up. Yet my shyness and being reasonable kept me away. I felt like a prisoner in my own reasonability.

And while I have long since lost touch with Joanne, I have not lost touch with the lesson I learned. It does not pay to be reasonable and not go after what you really want in life.

And the regret that ensues sometimes never goes away.

How about you? Any missed opportunities from being reasonable?

Most of us have been taught from a young age to be reasonable in our expectations, our desires, our requests from others and most importantly, from ourselves. We've learned that it is rude to be unreasonable, to ask too much from others and even ourselves.

But when you think about it, this is completely counter-intuitive. Our purpose in life is to follow our bliss and to go beyond what might be considered reasonable by others.

That is how we expand our selves, nation, species, and universe.

So how about making a game of your dream business, and attracting it in 90 days?

Creating an UnReasonable Game

We will call it a “Game” because like any game, while the object is to win, as long as you are out there having fun, winning becomes secondary. By calling it a game takes the urgency and importance out of winning.

Also, much like a game in sports, you will set up rules to your game in the following four steps:

Step 1: Where's Your Field? Select an area in your business you would like to bring to the next level. If you are not sure which area to focus on, ask yourself what you find yourself thinking about the most. Increasing sales? Hire a new assistant? Launching a new green product line?

Which one feels most exciting and urgent for you?

Step 2: What's Your Purpose? This is what keeps you motivated and inspired, especially when you're out there playing on the field and things start to become unclear. Having an inspiring, powerful and short purpose will keep you focused, direct and clear in achieving it.

For example, you created a great way for people to remember to bring their reusable shopping bags with them. It’s fun and super easy.. A sample purpose is “helping people enjoy shopping without contributing to landfill waste".

Step 3: What's Your Pleasure? For your game to really work and for you to stay focused on the purpose, it must be fun. Without fun, you will lose interest much quicker, and things will become more like work, pressure and effort. Also, give it a name to keep you focused on the fun of it.

In our example, you decide since you love making people laugh you will create a wild and crazy marketing campaign with your reusable shopping bags while delivering a very serious message.

Step 4: What Are Your Measurements? This means you will need something to focus on, an end goal. This automatically aligns your energy and focus into that specific goal, thus making it much easier to attract it you.

Back to our example, you decide that you have won your game of launched your new line of reusable bags when you take in your first order.

It’s really not much more difficult than this. I suppose if I had known the power of really getting outside my comfort zone when I was 17, I might have had a date or two with the lovely Joanne.


Action Steps for the Week:

What have you been holding off on? Maybe you’ve been “thinking” about doing it for so long, you’ve forgotten it.

Yes, that thing!

Decide to take action on it. Get clear on what you are really committed to in life.

Know you will absolutely be OK. And then put your game plan together.

Looking back years from now, you’ll be glad you did.

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Article Tags: beautiful smile, bliss, brown hair, chemistry class, desires, dream business, football hero, game, graduation day, joanne, lips, popular girls, purpose in life, shyness, third time, universe, woman of my dreams



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