When I get together with my fours sisters, as I did recently over the holidays, we often reminisce years gone by.
We we’re chatting about the oldest of the four girls (I’m the oldest in the family, with four sisters younger than I) and the birth of her four babies.
You see, she’s the academic in the family. Made the rest of us look smart.
She became and currently is a successful lawyer.
And she had four babies. Barely interrupting her career.
She’s a great mom, and her clients love her too. She totally kicks butt in the “having it all” category.
But here’s what I found truly fascinating. You see, the sisters were chatting, and sort of poking fun at her ability to schedule the birth of each baby.
Not a medically induced, scheduled dealio. But old school, organic, natural, baby comes when baby is ready.
She would put the babies due date in her jam packed schedule, and, baby came THAT DAY.
Here’s what’s really cool.
With one baby, she had a visit with her doctor the day before her due date.
The doctor said something to the effect of…:
“baby’s fine, you got about ten more days before it comes…..hang tough…”
All the while, her due date was the NEXT day. AND, the baby came, the NEXT day.
I chuckled….maybe, maybe not, that because she “scheduled it”, the baby, on the day she had in mind.
It reminded me of the power of writing things down.
Goals, Plans. Ideas. Crazy thoughts. Dreams. Hopes. Wishes. Aspirations. Births.
But mostly goals.
True story:
My wife and I and our nine year old girl moved into our new ‘dream home/home studio’ back in 2005.
It was uncanny.
Going through my office, cleaning out some of the drawers in my desk, I found a sheet of paper with my five year plan written out on it… from, you guessed it, five years prior.
I totally forgot I even had this tucked away.
I read it.
And was blown away. On that five year plan I had written down the following:
*in five years I’ll be living and working in a home studio (we were at the time renting a commercial space)
*this place will be 3,000 SQ feet
*it will be wood, lots of wood
*it will have cathedral ceilings
*large lot
*it will have a home studio on location
*it will be not too far from the city, yet not too close
And that’s it. All I wrote. And as I’m reading this long lost list, I got chills.
It dawned on me.
Our new home was, you guessed it:
- exactly 3,000sq ft
- cedar outside, everywhere. Hardwood inside
- 1200 sq ft studio out back, all cedar as well. About 20 paces from the patio doors out back
- it was right on the city line. Bears, deer, moose, foxes, coyotes and more. A two minute drive to everything
- cathedral ceilings….(I’m not shitting you!)
- acre sized lot
I ain’t making this up. Coincidence? Nonsense? I don’t know, don’t care.
I’ve had this happen to me many, many times in my life…Cars, Hasselblads, health and homes….and more.
I can honestly say I’ve achieved more, way more by doing TWO things:
1-having a clear mental picture of what I wanted….CMP I call it
2-writing it down
I believe in this principle. A lot.
It’s why I teach and preach it. And help other photographers, young and old, newbs and oldtimers,
get better, stronger, healthier and more prosperous.
BUT, you gotta start inside. In your heart and soul.
What do YOU want?
What’s getting in YOUR way?
Start there first. Cool?
You with me?
Success IN photography starts on the inside,
Rob Provencher
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