HAVE A LIFE ATTACK

BALBOA PRESS

Contents

Introduction: Are You On Purpose?................................................1Sean's Story.....................................................................5Your Life Attack Tools...........................................................13Life Attack Tool #1: Passion.....................................................15Life Attack Tool #2: Vision......................................................22Life Attack Tool #3: Goals.......................................................30Life Attack Tool #4: Action!.....................................................35Life Attack Tool #5: Thought Life................................................38Life Attack Tool #6: Life Coach..................................................49Lessons learned along the way....................................................51Summary..........................................................................55Introduction.....................................................................57Our Story........................................................................60Love Lives.......................................................................67The Three Cs.....................................................................74Gratitude Journal................................................................88Conclusion.......................................................................91Planet Mirth.....................................................................93Enjoying the Journey.............................................................95Does a spoonful of laughter make your medicine bill go down?.....................97The Shortest Distance............................................................104Happy Humour Hour................................................................107Conclusion: Over to You..........................................................115Starting a Mentor Movement.......................................................117Conclusion.......................................................................123

Chapter One

Your Life Attack Tools

"Look, I don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive you've got to flap your arms and legs, you've got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at very least think noisy and colorfully, or you're not alive." —Mel Brooks

Some time ago, I heard Wayne Dyer sharing a story that he had been given to read when he was a young man.

Wayne had been standing on a dock with his uncle Bill, waiting to embark on a twenty-nine-day journey across the Pacific Ocean in order to join the navy ship to which he had been assigned.

Wayne remembers that, as they said their farewells, Bill handed him a book of short stories by Leo Tolstoy and told him to specifically take a look at the one entitled, "The Death of Ivan Ilyich."

This story tells the tale of a judge in Moscow who hated his work, his wife, and much of everything about his life. He pursued this life regardless until, on his deathbed, he looked into his wife's eyes and asked her, "What if my whole life has been wrong?"

Then he died.

For Wayne, the message from this story was clear—choose to live life!

After reading the story, Wayne went on to journal himself a simple request: "Dear Wayne, don't die with your music still in you."

I believe that we can all make this request our own. In fact, "don't die with the music still in you" has already become one of my life aspirations and goals.

I don't want to reach my deathbed with all my potential and capacity still locked away inside me! Do you?

Reconciliation

Wayne's reference to the "music still in us" reminds me of the movie August Rush, which tells the story of a young boy with exceptional musical talents who leaves the orphanage in which he was raised in order to find his parents.

He believes that they are still alive, that his being put up for adoption was a mistake, that they still want him, and that if he "follows the music" in and around him, it will eventually lead him straight to his parents.

The music (passion) inside this boy draws him to encounter and affect numerous lives along the way and to be ultimately reconciled with his mom and dad.

I believe that once we answer the "music" (passion) inside our hearts, our purpose becomes reconciled with our vision, which leads us to achieve our goals and to live the life of our dreams.

We give birth, as such, to our goals when our passion causes our purpose and vision to unite.

I once heard someone sharing on purpose, visions, and goals describe purpose as being the essence of who you are, which serves as your "true north" for the decisions you make, the actions you take, and the results you achieve in your life.

This is why the first tool for your Life Attack Challenge is PASSION.

LIFE ATTACK TOOL #1: PASSION

Are you in love with your life? This is a vital question to ask yourself quite early in the game. If you are not leaping out of bed each morning, humming a happy, albeit off-key tune as you face the day ahead of you, then what exactly is the point, I ask you?

Do you merely exist to pay your dreaded bills?

Are you coasting through each minute of every single day until the weekend like a true thank-goodness-it's-Friday (TGIF) type of person? (If this is you, you'll be horrified to note that you hate 71.43% of your life at the moment!)

Are you aware that you are allowed to do what you love, because what you love to do is what you are meant to be doing with your life?

There are many possible reasons for your failure to pursue your passions and dreams:

• You might feel that you owe it to yourself, your parents, or your families to live "more responsibly"—pursuing sensible vocations that will provide a sensible income to secure yourself a sensible future.

But all this sensibleness has you dozing in the audience of your own life. It's time to wake up!

• On occasion, you might have tumbled out of the nest in pursuit of those dreams whizzing by, only to be shot out of the sky with opinion and ridicule.

Those holding the shotguns could have been your friends, parents, teachers, religious leaders, or other significant loved ones.

It is tough to be believed in less than we need to be. Consequently you may have chosen to walk everywhere and as a result have never learnt to fly. • The concept of living and doing what you love might never have crossed your mind.

You might have grown up believing that the things you love to do should be classified as hobbies and luxuries, while what you do for a living should taste, feel, and smell like work—arduous, boring, uninspiring, dutiful —definitely not like a kid let loose in the toy shop of his or her wildest imaginings!

• You might have bought in to the belief that money or education is the deciding factor for living a life of dreaming.

You long to live significantly and in step with your passions, but you just don't have the cash or the skills.

You might...