Risk & Business Magazine JGS Insurance Magazine Spring 2019 | Page 13

BY: JACK DALY
are figured out, successful people in 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 “no’s” 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
BEING SUCCESSFUL
for tomorrow’s photo but then waking up
in the morning looking to top it—total
fun. What you don’t 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
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