Recently by Paul Krake

Part of getting organized is realizing that there is never a perfect time for it and that there is power in just starting and doing. As you progress, you can prioritize your life in terms of what the most important activities are based on your individual goals.

This sounds a lot easier than it is with our daily routines of work and family duties. It is all too easy to go through the daily mundane tasks we all share and decide by days end that you have had a productive day. In fact I was just discussing this with my wife. Should we be striving to find a way to be able to outsource these tasks or should we embrace them for the purpose they serve?

What do I mean by this? Are we mentoring our kids to be responsible stewards of all that they get or will have in the future? We all should appreciate everything we are blessed with and take care to look after those things. This is just common sense, right? I do appreciate the fact that my children will know how to cook, look after their pets, sew, do their own laundry and mow the grass, just to name a few activities. These are essential life skills so that they will be able to function in life.

What about activities that really produce change that we want in our lives? Can we exchange some of the mundane responsibilities for more of the purpose filled activities that   

make life exciting and challenging? I am working on this. You see I am the personality type that finds it easy to get into a daily routine, focus on the task at hand and then repeat. This is a blessing and a curse. It can also make a person seem one dimensional really quickly. It also stops anyone from really knowing who we are and what matters to us.

I have the ability to see things through but also the stubborness to keep at it when it is not working. It is the definition of insanity 'where you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result'. Unfortuntely, my wife has seen me do this first hand and felt the failure in this along with me. "If only I work harder, longer, better.... I know things will change for the positive"... if only this were true.

Ever heard the phrase "work smarter, not harder"? This is essential if we do not want to get sucked in to the thought process that we just need to put in more time.

I am at the point where I want to maximize my time in all aspects of life.

Produce while you are at work, use every minute to it's max but know when to shift gears and focus on other aspects of what makes life so exciting! Do not define yourself by what you do but by who you truly are and what you want to become. That sounds pretty cool doesn't it?

How do we do this? How do we make extra hours in our day in a day that has a finite amount of time? I am willing to bet that we have all asked ourselves this at one time or another. The first step is to organize and prioritize your days. Include activities that are in line with your purpose, your goals. Include fun activities that are good for your soul. Pretty soon when you hit the pillow at night you have had a very satisfying day. One filled with our daily 'have to' activities but most importantly life fulfilling activities like donating time to the betterment of others, your family and keeping relationships alive and well.

Include activities that improve your health, physically and mentally and spiritually so that we get recharged and fired up!

If we do not have a plan full of small action steps this is overwhelming. I know this first hand. I am not a planner. I have to become one! My family and friends will attest to this. I can easily fool myself into believing I have had a productive day if I go to work, make some money and tuck my kids into bed at night. Don't get me wrong, I know that individually these things are a blessing in their own right. I just want more. I believe many people do too.

The first step is realizing that life is more than the mundane and being willing to give yourself a chance to benefit from all life has to offer. Embrace organization, get prioritized, begin activities that will allow you to truly become a mentor to others. Life if full of endless opportunities if we decide to open the door ourselves and not wait for someone to come knocking first!

Join me now in this adventure!!

Life is full of choices. I am making a choice right now. I am writing. When I read this, it is almost comical in it's simplicity.

As people we must do. Now if you can take a goal, turn it into a plan with action steps and a time line and actually DO THEM great things grow from simple. A seed turns into a plant but only in the right conditions, with the right input and in a very orderly way.

The key is in the focused doing of simple individual steps all linked together in an orderly fashion to produce a phenomenal outcome!

Now, as humans we complicate things and get in our own way more often than not. So, how do we get passion for all we do and hold onto it, translating it into action to produce an extraordinary life?

Do not settle for what is expected. I have read many different books on overcoming, being a person of influence, excelling in life. Only to fall back into a pattern I tell myself I cannot get out of, a thought process of the average because it seems to be the easiest way. In reality it is the hardest. It takes no time at all to settle for what is deemed by the majority to be OK. The exact opposite of the top 5% rule. Running with masses is not what we should strive for.

"I've walked the road most travelled for too long."

It is not OK to make excuses!

The beauty of passion is that it does not even allow for negative self talk or excuse making. It fills your head with only possibilities and action steps. The amazing opportunity to start new every day. It's said, " life is short, get doing, act on the plans you have. Do not limit yourself because you are a miracle that was put on this earth to strive for your potential!"

The last 10 years of my life have flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was getting married to a beautiful woman in Bellingham, Wa, that we just had our first boy, Tristan, who is now 13. Now we have 4 awesome unique, young people that depend on us to teach them how to cultivate their own passions.

I believe we are accountable to show our kids through our actions how to do this. Do we always succeed? No, as I can attest to. But, do we need to refocus and challenge life daily to cultivate our own passions for life? Yes! This is my first baby step in starting what I know will be a very challenging, enlightening and fun filled experience as I embark into a new territory for me, different from that which I have known. Into an exciting arena filled with many ups and downs I am sure, but with the passion to put in the effort needed to challenge the expected.