Back to the Drawing Board

When I was young, many lessons taught in school were put on a chalkboard or drawing board. The purpose of the board was to make things clear so they were more easily understood.

Then, in high school, our gym teacher would map out our plays on a board so we could get a clear picture of each play. He would point out each of our assignments before we went out to practice them on the field or on the court. Because we were young and inexperienced, we often made mistakes. That's when he would say, "We need to go back to the drawing board!"

In class, the teacher used the same technique of writing things on the board to help us learn math. He would have us go to the board and draw out the problem, explaining each step. Many times, he would stop a student in the middle of their presentation and ask someone else in the class to tell us the next step in solving the math problem. In hindsight, he did that to keep everyone on their toes and to see if everyone understood the process it took to answer the problem correctly. When we could explain it clearly, he knew we understood the concepts and would move on to the next lesson. But when we were unable to explain things clearly, we went back to the drawing board to go over things again.

The drawing board works the same way in life and business... it helps us paint a clear picture of what we are trying to accomplish. Having a better life won't happen automatically or by accident. Neither will having a better business. There are daily disciplines and daily steps that need to be taken to achieve your dreams and goals. And, it's proven that if you have a clear picture written out on a piece of paper, you are more likely to accomplish what you are trying to do.

In business, these written goals form a business plan. Are you aware that a bank won't loan you money, nor will you ever get very many investors involved in your next venture if you don't have a clear business plan laid out for people to see and understand? A business plan is nothing more than a document that someone developed by going to the drawing board and writing out the steps they are trying to accomplish to achieve success in their endeavor. That is what it takes to be successful in anything. It’s the mundane, non-sexy trackable part of goal achievement nobody likes to talk about. But when we don't know what to do, we need to go back to the drawing board and write things out clearly in such a manner that makes sense.

So, what happens if you have a written plan but make a mistake or slip up somehow? Well, you could do what we used to do as kids on the playground. If we were playing baseball and someone missed catching a ball or accidentally dropped the bat while trying to swing, they would immediately yell, "Do over!" in essence, asking for another chance to get it right.

I believe life is one big "Do over!" We all make mistakes. But that shouldn't cause us to quit; rather, it should cause us to become wiser. No one makes correct decisions all the time, so let's acknowledge our mistakes, evaluate them, learn from them, take a "Do over", and do better next time. Life is a process, and there is no better way to learn how to do things than by simply going back to the drawing board, retracing our steps, and seeing where we went wrong so we won’t go down that road again the next time.

I don't know about you, but the longer I live and the older I get, the more value I see in the wisdom life has to offer. Life is such a great teacher! If we don't learn what it's trying to teach us the first time, the lesson will come over and over again until we finally get it. I don’t think anyone sets out to live in a foolish, haphazard, wasteful manner. We all want our lives to be productive, full of love, joy, peace, happiness, and many other qualities. Success is the result of hard work, focus, discipline, planning, and being willing to learn from the mistakes we make on the journey.

I encourage you to look at some of the areas where you've not been as successful as you want to be. Be willing to get a pen and paper and write out the goals and dreams you would like to accomplish. Put a date on them and add the specific, measurable, benchmarkable steps you will need to take along the way.

If need be, yell, "Do over!" and go back to the drawing board to make the necessary adjustments that will help you have the life you so richly deserve.

Remember: in this game we call life, there are only 2 rules when choosing to become great

1. Show up
2. Don’t quit

Most days will be messy and not look like greatness, but through consistently going back to the drawing board, over time, you will become undeniable, and the world will notice!