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Who do you choose to listen to for advice? And are you willing to do what they tell you to do? Those are two of the biggest questions we have to answer in our lives.

There’s so much noise in the world with social media, the internet, and books being published on demand. Everybody can be an expert, guru, coach, or mentor. And much of your success depends on who you choose to listen to and what advice you decide to take action on.

Jim Rohn is famous for articulating the belief that we are the average of the five people we hang out
with the most. That advice is built on the older proverb that if you “Walk with the wise, and become wise.” Pretty simple logic.

So then what are the keys to choosing who to listen to, who to read, and who to follow? And how do you put that advice into practice? Here are some quick tips:

• Look for the wise. Who has done what you want to do? Find the people who have experienced and gone before you on the path. Listen to their advice. Find someone who has lasted for a long time as well. Many may have achieved something in the short-term, but it takes character and consistency to stay at the top.
• Be coachable. Have an attitude of doing what the person says to try. Take their word and do what they say.
• Experiment with what they recommend. Everyone is different. You are an n of 1. Try the advice and see how you like it. If it doesn’t fit with your personality, values, or goals then you can change or discard.
• Build in a ritual of discovery. There are many wise people in the world. Create a ritual of reading new material, listening to podcasts, and doing new activities that will expose yourself to the wise to be able to soak in their advice.

I’ve had the fortune to be able to be around some of the most successful retired football and basketball coaches in the nation. They get together for breakfast every couple of weeks and I join in. Mostly I just listen and they tell stories of games, former players, and the current state of sports. But in those stories are gems of living life well. I want to continue to surround myself with people that have done it and can transfer that wisdom to me.

Who do you listen to and what was the best advice they’ve given you?

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a modern marvel. The fact that we can plug a location into our phone and get turn-by-turn directions to our desired end-point is amazing. The system helps scientists studying the movement of the earth, the military keeping our country safe, and even farmers planting and harvesting more efficiently.

GPS uses a network of satellites to precisely pinpoint your physical location on the earth’s surface by using signals between themselves and a receiver, like your phone.

We need to use our own personal satellites to determine where we are so that we can successfully make our journey through life and live to the fullest. How do we do that?

Each of us has our own three satellites that we can use to determine where we are. They are:

• Personal Mission,
• Personal Values, and
• Personal Habits.

Each one of these satellites work together to help us determine where we are and where we are going.

Personal Mission

Your personal mission first provides the meaning behind your destination. Your mission is much larger than a goal. A goal has a defined ending point. You know when you’ve gotten there with a goal. On the flip side your mission is the meaning behind the goal and it doesn’t have a beginning or ending.

Your mission serves as a major GPS satellite in helping you determine not only where you are but where you want to go. You are a leader. A leader of yourself, your family, you spouse, your friends, or your co-workers. Knowing your mission concentrates your effort on what you need to be doing and becoming instead of wasting time on unnecessary detours.

Personal Values

The second satellite we need to pinpoint our location is our personal values. Values or principles are how you do things, your operating system for performing the activities and tasks that you have to get done.

When we identify and prioritize our core values we can use them to make decisions quicker and easier. We can know if the actions we are taking will move us closer to fulfilling our mission or farther away. We can decide if the habits we’re forming are how we want to live our life. You will be able to use them to make yourself accountable to your actions and to measure your progress.

Personal Habits

The third satellite is our personal habits. Your habits, rituals, and routines determine what you do. You’re where you are because of what you’ve done in small, tiny, seemingly insignificant behaviors. Your success is dependent upon intentionally changing your habits and building the changed behavior until it becomes automatic. Then through daily repetition of those positive habits you can fulfill your personal mission.

Changing habits is hard work. You take a routine that you aren’t currently thinking about and focus on it. That takes energy. That takes effort. But it can be done. As John C. Maxwell observed, “Habits aren’t instincts; they’re acquired actions or reactions.” And if you choose certain behaviors to change then it makes others easier to change.

The bottom line is that if you want to know where you’re at you have to look at your habits. You must be willing to exchange your unproductive, careless, lackadaisical habits for productive, thoughtful, passionate ones. Only by changing what you do will you change where you are.

Using these three satellites help you determine where you’re at in life. What is your mission, values and habits that tell you where you are?

 

In the South we have these insects called “Palmetto Bugs.” It’s a cute name for a cockroach. They are disgusting creatures that thrive in the dark. And scurry around everywhere.

Catching them sucks. They’re fast and hard to catch. And they have a weird crunch when you do smash them. It’s gross and time consuming.

Busy work is the same way. Unnecessary tasks, unimportant activities, and insignificant jobs distract us from what we need to do. They have us flying around stabbing at air like chasing those Palmetto bugs.

Maybe we “catch” it and get it done. But we haven’t really accomplished anything. Seth Godin, author of Linchpin stated, “Most of what people do all day is roach stomping. The little tasks that distract us from the art of the work, that slows us down and wear us out.”

How do we keep from having to stomp cockroaches day after day? One is to identify your ONE thing as suggested by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. What great thing are you working on that you can’t be, won’t be distracted from? Focus on it and keep after it until you get it done.

Second is to time block your schedule so that you can focus on your priority task. If you don’t protect your schedule you will be at the mercy of other people’s interruptions. Instead of being reactive, be proactive by scheduling extended time to focus on the big activities that will push you forward.

Finally, use the compound effect to get exponential results in your life. When you kill roaches you can either chase them and crush them with your shoe or you can call in the exterminators. And you can sign up for quarterly service. Spraying every few months will eliminate those pests.

The same principle holds true in our lives. What little activity can you do that will have a big impact later on? Do the little thing. Every day. And eventually you will have accomplished a monumental tasks.

How do you keep from having to smash Palmetto bugs all day?