Flowing into a Meaningful and Specific Epic Life

One of the quotes that had great impact on my life when I was in college was Zig Ziglar’s famous question, “Are you a meaningful specific or a wandering generality?” This quote came to mind as I was thinking about the ingredients that make a life of purpose, direction and productivity. A keen study of the lives of people who excel will reveal that the main ingredient for their success is usually one thing: passion. Their dedication to a cause, belief in people and commitment to living their best life come from their passion. They find the one thing they really enjoy doing, then do it with passion. Passion is the key ingredient to success. 

Where does passion come from? How can we use it to become meaningful specifics? Passion is born out of desire – having a dream, vision or longing to see something different from a current situation. What do you see in your future? What’s your dream? Martin Luther King Jnr. was a very passionate man because he had a dream for racial equality. Princess Diana had a passion for charity work because she wanted to see a better world. Your passion will enable you to soar from obscurity and into the limelight. Your passion will enable you to realize something greater than yourself. Your passion will enable you to be a meaningful specific. 

Passion is effective when it is birthed from the inside. You must be motivated intrinsically. You cannot exhibit passion on the outside when deep down you are shallow. You’ve got to cultivate it deep within yourself. That comes by immersing yourself wholeheartedly into pursuing your vision or dream.

Here are two key things that generate passion:

a). Relentless Dedication – In order to become a meaningful specific, you must be relentlessly dedicated to making your dream come true. What are you doing on a daily basis that is adding value to your ability to fully become who you were born to be? Are you being true to the voice within you that is calling you to perform at your optimum level? 

b). Steady Focus – Steady Focus comes from always having your vision right in front of you. Think about why you have immense success driving every day – the windshield is right in front of you and you are always looking out through it! It’s the same thing with your dream. You must keep it right in front of you. There are many ways that you can do this. Write it down and recite it throughout the day. Design your environment to remind you of your vision every day.

Are you a meaningful specific or a wandering generality? Go on, live an epic life.

A Formula For Fulfillment: How to live an epic life

Imagine living the life of your dreams – an epic life! Imagine doing what you’ve always dreamed of doing for a living – flourishing in the flow of peace, fulfillment, prosperity, wisdom and happiness. Imagine having the time to do the things you love to do with your family and friends – a combination of engaging, participating, interacting and creating with them. Now, here’s the formula to make that happen:

Desire + Decision X Determination = Destiny!

What does this mean? Let us look at the three components of the formula:

Desire

In The Road to Arrival, we discovered the joy of positive desire and defined it as being an unsatisfied longing (p. 105). Dreams are the product of desire. The starting point of all accomplishment is desire. The fact that you can imagine a certain kind of lifestyle fro your self is a good indicator that you have a desire. A dream is simply a strongly desired goal. Desire is the key to motivation because it develops within us a passion to pursue that which we long for. Your desires, however, must be backed by good decision making.

Decision

Decision is the ignition key of progress because the instant one makes a solid decision, change will be automatic. It’s one thing to have good desires but it’s quite another to make a quality decision of getting up and pursuing those desires. Many people falter in this area because they do not want to make a commitment. Making a quality decision enables you to find the power of being commited towards your desires. Nothing ever changes until a man or woman makes a decision. Decision should lead to determination.

Determination

In Battling for your Prophetic Destiny, we learn about Abraham Lincoln and how he had many failures yet remained determined to pursue the dream of becoming America’s president (p. 33). Lincoln himself said, “Always remember that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing”. Once you make a decision to pursue a dream, there will be many obstacles and challenges to keep you form working towards your dream. You must be persistent.

The key to realizing your desired destiny is to make a decision to be determined as you pursue it. You can live the life of your dreams. You can reach all your goals and surpass them. Stay focused!