Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China. In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program. Today is the 171st day.
Today's topic is: Where There Is a Will, There's A Way
Today we will continue to talk about traveling.
Most people make the excuse that they can't travel for two reasons: either they have time but no money or they have money but no time. And some say that have neither the time nor the money. We already know we can manage the time well using our time management skills. If we can manage this time, we can also manage enough money for the trip.
In the previous two lessons, I shared five reasons I travel and my specific plan to travel. Today, I will explain how, specifically, you can achieve the dream of traveling.
First, I want share my experience with you.
On Sep. 21st, 2013, less than three years ago, I had a conversation with my son about learning English. The conversation spurred me to action and eventually caused my dream, to travel around the world, come true. Just the day before, my son and I watched the movie Turbo. In the movie there are three classic sentences that I will never forget: A life with a dream is a beautiful life. No dream is too big, and no dreamer, too small.
I really hope my son studies English. Having the ability to speak English will help him realize his dreams. So I asked him: "What's your dream, son?" My son didn't have an answer to the question. Maybe he had no idea about what his dream was at the time. But he asked me back: "What is your dream, Dad?"
My brain went blank. I thought long and hard for the answer and that's when I found it. I had planted the seed of this dream before – the dream of traveling around the world. I told my son my dream of circling the globe and touching new lands I had never been to before. Unexpectedly, my five-year-old son asked me: "Why don't you do it, now? What are you waiting for?" Then, my son went off to study English. And I was frozen in bewilderment. The simplicity of his question struck me. If this dream of mine is important, why don't I start now?
Today, let me ask you too. Do you have a dream to travel around the world? Are you working on your dream now? Do you travel across borders and over new lands today? If not, then you are probably affected by the following equation: I want X, but Y. I want this and that, but this and that.
When I ask my classmates from the Yixiaoneng why they are not working on their dream, they always answer the same: "I have no money and I have no time."
So let me tell you about my own story from 3 years ago. At that time, I hadn't visit nearly any countries and I had never been to a travel agency in my life. I didn't have any friends who enjoyed traveling and never heard anyone tell me they wanted to travel around the world. At that time, Yixiaoneng was just starting, so I had very little time to travel. And I had no money either, so I couldn't spend much to travel.
However, I did three things - three things to set me on my path.
First, I set a deadline to accomplish this dream of traveling around the world.
When my son went to study English, I was remained outside thinking. Should I do it? Yes, I agreed, I should do it. I want to try to pursue my dreams and make them a reality. I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying. We must always try. So, I committed to my dream quickly, I devoted my spare my time and travel to traveling around the world for one month in 2014.
The second thing I did was talk about my dreams out loud to other people.
I shared it to my friends on WeChat because I wanted openly to allow folks to find the people in the same camp as me and the people with same dream. Meanwhile, it was a great way to help more people, so I shared it. At that time, there were very few people in my circle of friends.
After sharing the information, I got replies from lots of people, so I organized a group quickly. I don't want to share these details with you and bore you to sleep. I continue to share my dreams with others, and finally, it warms me and the people beside me, and a great many people continue to enter in.
One fellow told me that, Mr. Ye Webin can certainly implement the plan to travel around the world and it will likely be very happy. These words strengthened my confidence. Can you see how important it is to share and receive feedback from others by openly expressing your goals?
The third thing is always live for the next act and the next thing.
Throughout this whole process, I encountered countless difficulties, but I just went on sharing and went on designing and improving. I implemented the ideas of Yixiaoneng to transfer a complex thing into next action. I never see the difficulties, but only the way how to solve it optimism.
At the beginning, the plan to travel around the world was too large for me, so later I compressed the goal into smaller goals that were manageable. And then I found that it is too difficult to go abroad, so I began to organize domestic travel within the country. I organized a trip to Guilin with many people. And there are lots of stories came up in the process. And I have no time to tell you all the details today, but I do want to repeat this phrase to you: Where there is a will, there is a way.
There are three steps to realize this dream:
First, have a dream, and then set a deadline for it and turn it into a goal. From dreams to goals, whether to travel around the world or bring other dreams into your life, you set a deadline for all of them.
Second, speak your dream out loud, and continue to share it until it comes true, in the end.
Third, turn large dreams into smaller goals, then transfer it to even smaller one or two little items. Turn every item into action.
There you have it: the three steps to realizing your dreams. Whether your dream is traveling around the world or not, whatever your dream is. Will you start today? Will you start right now?
That's all sharing today. Thank you being with me together. Have a wonderful day!