You're Not Stuck—You Just Don't Have a Plan
Make a plan. Work the plan. That's it.
When my parents passed away, I was the executor of the estate. I cleaned out their house.
And I found their dark corners.
In my dad's office: real estate investing programs still shrink-wrapped. Dan Sullivan marketing courses never opened. Materials purchased with intention, with hope, with a vision of something more—still in the packaging.
In my mom's desk cabinet: stacks of legal-sized yellow pads filled with her writing. Children's books. Stories she created. Someday to be published.
She had physical calendars with notes to herself. "Write one thing today." "Buy more legal pads."
She was trying. She wanted it. She just never crossed the finish line.
Someday never came.
We all have dark corners. Those places where unrealized dreams go to collect dust.
The gym membership you stopped using. The business idea you never launched. The degree you never finished. The skill you were going to learn. The career move you were going to make.
They sit there quietly. Gathering dust. Reminding you—if you let yourself look—of who you said you were going to become.
Here's the thing most people won't tell you: you're not stuck because of your job. You're not stuck because of the economy, your boss, your circumstances, or your lack of time.
You're stuck because you don't have a plan.
I see it constantly. People say they want more money, a better career, a different life. Then you ask them one simple question:
What have you done in the last 30 days to move toward that goal?
Silence.
If the answer is nothing—or next to nothing—you don't really want it as much as you say you do. You have a wish, not a goal.
Goals have plans. Goals have deadlines. Goals require you to give something up—because your day is already full.
Every 24 hours is completely allocated. You're not going to "find" time for your goals. You have to take it from somewhere else. That's the trade. That's always the trade.
"Success is goals, and all else is commentary. All successful people are intensely goal oriented. They know what they want and they are focused single-mindedly on achieving it, every single day." — Brian Tracy
The people who break out of the $50K ceiling aren't smarter than you. They're not luckier. They just got clear on what they wanted—and built a plan to get there.
They didn't wait for motivation. They didn't wait for the perfect moment. They decided what they wanted, figured out what it required, and started doing the work. Every day. Even when they didn't feel like it.
That's it. That's the whole secret.
Make a plan. Work the plan.
Keep it brief. Clear on direction. Detailed enough to know what to do tomorrow.
Here's the hard part: your current routine will fight you.
It will seem far easier to finish dinner, shuffle to the couch, and zone out for a few hours than it will be to work on the thing you say you want. The couch is comfortable. The screen is easy. Your goals are not.
If you can't find the discipline to exchange comfort for progress—even for an hour a day—your goals will stay exactly where they are: wishes, dreams, hopes, and eventually regrets.
Eventually, dark corners.
Some of those dusty dreams deserve to stay dead. They were ideas from a different version of you, a different season of life. Let them go. No guilt.
But some of them? Some of them are still alive under the dust. Still waiting. Still possible.
Be honest with yourself. Do you actually want it? Then prove it. What's your plan? What did you do yesterday? What are you doing today?
The worst outcome isn't failure. It's never trying.
It's leaving shrink-wrapped potential in a corner until someone else has to clean it out. It's stacks of yellow pads that never became the books they were meant to be. It's calendar notes about writing—instead of writing.
Don't let your dark corners be the loudest thing you leave behind.
Open the package. Start the course. Write the page. Make the call.
Make a plan. Work the plan.
That's it.
— Scot Free
