life embrace the uncertainty, and therein lies
the breakthrough opportunities!
More often, failure in the future is the result
of inadequate imagination in the present. I
think about growing up in a modest family
environment with my Dad working six days
a week to put a roof over his family, food on
the table, and clothes on our backs. Then, I
look at myself racing and finishing 15 Ironman
competitions; bungee jumping the world’s
highest jump; flying a jet fighter plane; hang
gliding above the Christ the Redeemer statue
in Rio de Janeiro; diving with great white
sharks off the coast of South Africa; traveling
the world as a professional speaker; and the
list goes on. This despite being educated as an
accountant; not knowing how to swim at the
age of 58; no flying lessons; and a fear of public
speaking! This begs the question—how?
Let’s go back a long time, when I was 13 years
old. I worked as a caddie at a private country
club and quickly realized that the members
were living a significantly better life (success
as I saw it) than my Dad. Given a choice, I’d have
preferred their life! So, while carrying their
clubs, I ended up “interviewing” about 200
of them. I peppered them with questions as
to how they achieved such success and what
advice could they share with an ambitious
kid who sought similar success. Here’s what
I heard: 1) Set goals, don’t pick too many, and
put them in writing; 2) Build a written plan on
how you will achieve the goals, indicating both
activities needed along with associated time
frames; 3) Have a system of measurement
of activities; and 4) Share the goals and have
some folks hold you accountable.
I picked four goals, all of which I would
complete by the “old age” of 30, covering
the following areas: Financial, Professional,
Education, and Family. Once I had my vision/
destination, the task was to “reverse engineer”
and identify the things that needed to be done
in order to arrive at the desired end zone. Well,
the goals were all accomplished and in less
than the stated time frames. This did not
happen without incurring sacrifices. This did
not happen without facing down adversity.
But the magnetism of the goals and the
sharing with others all assisted in me pushing
through to the end zone. The amount of “noes”
I had to express was at times overwhelming.
The social events I missed were numerous.
The question to be wrestled down is, how bad
do you want it? In order to ask that question,
you must first determine what “it” is! Then,
laser focus and grit.
What was started at 13 years of age has
continued through the years, and here I am
in my late 60s and the process continues.
I encourage a visit to jackdaly.net to see
my personal goals for the year and my Life
Bucket List (75 percent complete). Over the
years, my central categories have changed.
I’ve worked with others, and they’ve set
categories of a different nature because the
definition of success can differ from person
to person (no right, no wrong). Health has
become a significant category for me as my
life has progressed (without that, nothing
else matters). What one does Professionally
will generally be a key category. (Happy there
leads to happy in many other arenas. Put
another way, unhappy there and likely unhappy
elsewhere as well.) For some, the category
of Spiritual will be a significant category; for
others, it might be Financial; for others, Family,
etc. Identifying your categories of importance
and painting a picture of your “success” is the
Vision. Then there is the task of breaking each
down into actions with time lines, and we are
on our way to success!
Here are a couple fun exercises aimed at
enhanced personal success.
1. Photo A Day
Every five years (I do this on milestone
years like age 50, 55, 60, 65, etc.) I decide to
take at least one photo each day during that
year. Some days merit several photos while
on others, I might struggle to snap one. Once
the year is over, I then produce a photo book
I call “A Year in the Life of Jack Daly.” Since I
have plenty of notice when that year is upon
me, I find myself building an over-the-top year
of special events. My goal for the year is to
have such a year that when people view my
photo album, there is a sense I’ve lived more in
one year than most have lived in their lifetime!
A funny byproduct is going to bed each night
having a sense of excitement for tomorrow’s
photo but then waking up in the morning
looking to top it—total fun. What you don’t
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want is a photo album of 200+ photos of you
sitting in front of a computer or something
similarly less inspiring. Life is to be lived!
2. Go To Your Room!
Take an evening where you and your
significant other will each go to a separate
room with a pad and pen. (A computer can
work too; I just like the creativity I get with pen
and paper versus a keyboard.) Pleasant music
playing in the background tends to improve
the results of this activity. Set a time frame for
the activity (maybe one to two hours). The goal
is for each party to write down as many things
as they can think of that they would like to do
“before they are too old to enjoy them.” The
key here is quantity. Don’t bother with ranking
or prioritizing at this stage. Once finished,
put the lists away with no discussion for 24
hours between you and your partner about
what made it onto the lists. The next evening,
both parties share the same room, place the
lists adjacent to each other, and discuss and
develop a merged “Life List” in some order
of priority. This part of the exercise might
go on beyond one evening and will require
some negotiation. Once you have one list,
begin setting time frames for completion.
You know you have your Vision, and it’s all
about the process of identifying specific
actions to “Make Life Happen.” Have fun!
“WHAT LIES BEHIND US AND
WHAT LIES BEFORE US ARE
TINY MATTERS COMPARED
TO WHAT LIES WITHIN US.”
—RALPH WALDO EMERSON