Feel and think…

The best things in life follow a distinct pattern, I’ve discovered. The pattern is feel and think. Let me briefly explain.

Think back to the love of your life. You felt the electricity and then thought about what to do with it. Think back to your home purchase or design. You felt something when you walked in the foyer that informed your thinking – this is the place for us to make our home. Think back to your favorite restaurant, book, vacation, car, bicycle, boat, friend, or food – it’s a feeling that informs your thinking. This is why when it comes to your opus, friend, your builder is going to make you get to “hell yeah, that’s right” with regard to your O & P (Overarching Vision and Purpose) before they let you think through the unifying strategies for how you live it out. You’ve got to feel the “O” the same way you’ve felt any other love, if it’s to become your labor of love. Make sense?

After you feel love, you’ve got to think through how you’re going to stay connected when you don’t feel so much love. We feel our way to the big dream, then we stick to disciplines we’ve thought through to live our best work and life (unifying strategies). Do not mix the order, friend, it doesn’t work well when we get busy doing, even good stuff, before we feel the dream with crystal clarity. Most get busy on the do do trail and it’s hard to do do do and feel like you’re living the dream. Slow down and think for awhile. Slow down.

Feel and think. Dream and do. Not do or die. Not think and hope the feelings come along for the ride. Once we get the dream down and it’s worth living, we think our way to living it. Feel and think. This is more of the why behind the design of the BTL opus. Order matters. Do not miss the most important piece. A labor of love starts with a feeling. You feel energized, engaged, and ecstatic even at the thought of living the dream. For me, this started long ago with a feeling of building individuals, teams, and leaders my way which has transformed into our way. It all started with a feeling that there had to be a better way. We’re still thinking about how to build it even better as together we transform, right. So, every morning when I get out of my bed, I thank God for the gift of another day. I remind myself of who I am and meditate on my strong core. I reflect on my opus – my labor of love. I feel immense gratitude and then get busy thinking about how best to use the gift. I get busy preparing for practice, being with, Miss, sports, business, hours of study, giving more than I take, and it is good.

Feel and think. Good…