Yesterday, I left off indicating that I had started to act toward becoming more involved with Renovo Bikes. In doing so, I put down initial deposits on a booth and the hotel room.

But then I indicated that putting down the money is only the first step. Yes, it shows commitment. It is an act in the right direction. But, it’s a dedication of formerly gathered resources or future credit only.

Putting money on the line still is not getting down and dirty and actually doing the necessary work.

This is really important. I’ve been in the personal development orbit of the Proctor Gallagher Institute and now the Napoleon Hill Institute for almost 6 years and I notice that the vast majority of people pay the money, get the information, but don’t act on it. Why?

The answer comes down to the fact that they haven’t quite found their “Why”?

Now, this isn’t to necessarily say that these folks are in the throes of the nihilistic angst which gave me cause to try personal development at the beginning of 2019 in the first place.

Most people have enough of a why to sustain themselves at their current level.

And that’s kind of the whole point. If you are going to go to the next level, you have to find the why which will make it happen for you.

Want to lose weight? Then think about how phenomenal you will look and feel stepping on the scale after having lost 20 or 30 pounds and fitting into that incredible new outfit … bonus emotional points if this is because you want to look phenomenal for a big event – like a wedding (especially if it is your own).

Want to quit smoking, but can’t seem to quit. Then, take a look at some pictures of those dying of lung cancer and think alternatively about being able to play with your grandkids in the park.

Want to make more money, but can’t seem to get motivated. Identify what that money will buy for you, a trip, a car, a new boat or house. Tie the money to something meaningful.

None of these were really applicable for me, but there was one thing that I did come to realize would be a driver for me.

I envisioned helping create a situation in which I could use the intermediary skills that I have built up helping to bring neighbors to peace as a boundary dispute attorney to bridging the gap between extremely busy fathers and their sons.

I figure that there must be a market for wealthy and extremely busy men to take a break for a long weekend to build a set of bikes with their children.

As someone whose father was and still remains very busy, I can count on a couple of fingers the times when we took a break to do something together alone … and it is a core memory for me.

This was when right between my Junior and Senior year of college we went up to the Boundary Waters are the lakes between Minnesota an Ontario which despite separating the US and Canada can be traveled through and around by canoe with appropriate permit.

I loved it! We double portaged to and through 33 lakes over our 4 or 5 nights in the woods. Only many years – no rather decades – later did I realize that this had really pushed my father too his limit.

Interestingly, I never thought of my father as having any limits. His three stock phrases are:

God helps those who help themselves.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

And his all time classic …

Starting is half done.

Notably, I don’t use any exclamation points or other form of emphasis; for him these are all simple facts.

The other time was when I was much younger. I was probably somewhere between the ages of 10 and 12 and I would watch him building the canoe which now is in my garage and is in the picture above.

In my little mind, we built this canoe together. Much later in life he was retelling the details of how he took over the canoe from a relative who decided to abandon his canoe building project and some of the intricacies associated with getting the cedar strips in the right place; setting up the gunwales so that water could easily drain when the canoe is placed upside down; and creating the nylon seat weaves too, and I realized that I really hadn’t made any contribution beyond perhaps the normative … “OK, now hold the light right here.”

For a dentist, there are big expectations as to the exacting direction of lighting, but still not that significant that it warranted acknowledgement. Oh well!

But, this made me think that this could really be a gift of fathers to their sons … and to themselves.

Why the later? Well, sure as sheep shoot, I fell into the same “cats cradle” as my father and worked long hours and wasn’t around nearly enough as I would like as my own children were growing up.

They always say, “they grow so fast.” Yet even when you know that’s the case, it is so damn easy to fall into the old programs that are taught to us by our parents and other key people in our lives.

So, in many regards setting up a “Build Your Own Business” with Renovo bikes in which I help fathers to connect with their kids as they build a bike which can later be a touchstone to the child of the experience every time he or she rides it … that just seems to have a magical quality to it.

That’s it! With respect to building Renovo Bikes … that’s my why!

Now, I have other projects which have other whys, but we’re not talking about any of those here. We are only talking Renovo Bikes.

And I think that this is a good point to insert another point before returning to the be willing to act. You see, upon reviewing my notes further, I realized that before I pursued the Western Design Conference, I had signed up for and had started going to a woodworking course … but then something happened.

So tomorrow, I want to talk deciding when and when not to keep on track of goal performance.

Cheers! BZ/JUSTICE SMILES, pllc