“Dad, what career do you think I would be good at?”
“I don’t know, Dude. I think you could do anything you want.”
“No, Dad I’m serious. I really want to get this figured out.”
“Well, I doubt that we’re going to figure it out right now. After all, you’re 11 years old, I’m super tired and it’s not the kind of thing that people decide on the way home from baseball practice.”
This was an actual conversation that I had with my son recently. It’s funny to read, but he was totally serious. He truly wanted to decide his career direction in a 15 minute car ride.
My first thought was that there’s no way anyone can decide their direction in life that quickly. But, then I remembered a tool that I had created to accomplish that very task. It’s called the Main Thing Mission.
I designed it to be the answer to any time I say, “The main thing is…” It takes a while to complete, however once it’s finished, the information it provides is so thorough that a person could almost make a heavy decision like their career in about 15 minutes.
So fast-forward 2 months or so and rejoin my son on his first day of working for me this summer.
“OK, Dude. Do you remember when you asked me what I thought your career should be?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I have something here that might help.”
“OK, what is it?”
“It’s called the Main Thing Mission. I created it to help me answer that same question for myself and now I want you to give it a try.”
“Do you think I can?”
“Sure. Why not? I will tell you, though, that I’ve given this to lots of adults who couldn’t manage to get it done.”
“OK, I’ll try it.”
And He Did! My 11-year-old son completed the Main Thing Mission and gave me some incredible answers along with a good dose of pride.
So, today I’m going to offer it to you. And I’ll tell you the same thing I told him. Many have attempted and failed to complete it, but those who have, swear by it’s results. This document changed my life for the better and I know it can help you regardless of your situation.
Silver, Gold, and Diamonds
Let’s go back to the equations I shared with you in my last post:
Time + Talent = Treasure
Treasure + Time = Talent
Talent + Treasure = Time
I like to think of these resources in terms of precious and valuable substances. It offers me a clearer perspective. I think of Talent as Silver. I think of Treasure as Gold. And I think of Time as Diamonds.
Let’s run those equations again, only this time we’ll replace the names of the resources with their material counterparts:
Diamonds + Silver = Gold
Gold + Diamonds = Silver
Silver + Gold = Diamonds
Since diamonds are the most valuable of the three, it seems odd to trade them in any combination for something of lesser value. But we do it all the time.
How often have you spent time on something and said to yourself, “Well, that was a waste. I could have been spending time with my family.” That’s you realizing that you just traded down and lost value.
This is why sales funnels work the way they do. Let’s say you get an email about a great opportunity. Someone has written an ebook about business that will help you find the success you’ve always wanted. So you buy the ebook for $7 or something like that.
A couple days later you hear from the same guy offering a series of online videos and worksheets to go with the ebook. This will help you to make use of the material in the book faster and easier, so you buy the course for, let’s say $197.
The next time you hear from your friend, he’s created a coaching program where you can interact with him via webinar once a week for so many weeks while you complete the course and read the ebook. Now you can actually ask him questions and maybe get an answer, so you buy the coaching program for $497.
The final step in the process is that you get a special opportunity. Because you showed that you were serious by buying the ebook, the online course, and the coaching program, you qualify for an elite membership into a mastermind group. This is where you get to talk with your friend and others like him on a regular basis and have him walk you through the program and guarantee your success for $997.
Now, I’m not picking at people who sell things this way, because if they are truly providing awesome value and helping you get where you want to go, their products may be a very worthwhile investment. The reason I shared this illustration is to show you that the closer you get to the creator, the more the experience will cost, because of the value of Time.
Never take pennies on the dollar for your Time!
If you’re dissatisfied and don’t know why, it’s likely because you took pennies on the dollar for your Time somewhere. If your marriage, parenting, friendship, or professional relationships are strained, it’s likely because you took pennies on the dollar for your Time.
If you aren’t where you want to be in life financially, mentally, physically, or spiritually, it’s likely that you took pennies on the dollar for your Time. Go over the equations again. How do they apply to you? What would you like to change?
The Entrepreneur’s Commandment
Before you begin the Main Thing Mission, you need another piece of critical information. I call it the Entrepreneur’s Commandment and it goes like this:
To be a successful Entrepreneur, I will work as much as as I have to, to make what I need, so I can do what I want.
Now, take a second and let that sink in. This is how you achieve true success and amass a wealth of Time. Most of us think: “I’ll work as much as I can to make as much as I can so I can have whatever I want.”
The problem with this logic is that we end up spending our diamonds and our silver in pursuit of gold, but we never settle the issue of what we’ll do with all that gold when we get it. This creates a “crisis of enough.”
You see when we don’t settle the issue of what we want, we never know if we’ve achieved it. If we never know if we’ve achieved it, there is no concept of “enough.”
If there’s no “enough,” there’s ultimately no peace of mind. And, without peace of mind, there’s no joy in life.
This is why I created the Entrepreneur’s commandment. In order for it to do you any good, you have to work it in reverse. Then you can determine how much money and work it will take to achieve it.
At the same time, you define what is “enough,” so you know when you have arrived.This gives you peace of mind and ultimately joy in the pursuit of your goal. This is what the Main Thing Mission does best. It helps you decide what you want in three categories Fulfillment, Freedom, and Recognition.
Once I determined what I needed to feel Fulfilled, what I needed to feel Free, and how I wanted to be recognized by others, I was able to clearly see the path that would take me to all those things. I want you to find your path, so here it is.
The Main Thing Mission
Instructions: There’s nothing tricky about completing the Main Thing Mission. You just answer the questions as thoroughly as you can and then condense what you’ve learned about yourself into your a summary.
I’ve given you my summary on page one as a guide. Page two is a blank summary for you to fill out. The rest of the pages are filled with questions for you to answer and work through.
By the time you’ve completed it, you should know what you want and have an action plan for achieving it. My hope is that this tool will help you as much as it has helped me and many others.
Good Luck, and please feel free to contact me through my website if you have questions.
Do you know what you want? If you were to start working on the Entrepreneur’s Commandment right now, what would you do first. Share a comment and Let’s talk about it.
Click Here to Download the Main Thing Mission
