Episode 707 - Chart Your Course

In this week's episode of Monday Morning Mojo, Phil shares a story that starts with a simple airplane conversation and unfolds into a powerful reminder about how we view change. His seatmate felt stuck, like life was happening to her, but Phil gently challenged that mindset. Through a thoughtful exercise and some honest reflection, he shows how shifting our perspective can help us feel more in control, even when everything around us is shifting. If you’ve ever felt like life is happening to you, this episode offers a timely nudge to take the helm and chart your own course.

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Transcript

Top performers in every field surround themselves with those that inspire them, who seek to build them up, and who push them to reach beyond their current limits. I’m Phil Buchanan, executive chairman of Cannon Financial Institute. I designed Monday Morning Mojo to provide you with a weekly spark, a push and motivational insight to live your best life. Thanks for joining.

Good Monday morning. It is Phil here with episode 707 of Monday Morning Mojo. I was on a cross-country flight recently and had the opportunity to sit beside a very delightful seatmate. To say that she held different views and had totally different interests than me ; would be an absolute understatement; yet for almost four hours, we engaged in very wonderful conversations.

During our talk, she admitted that she was a very anxious individual. She had her beliefs, she didn't like change, and that at this stage in her game, nothing really was going well for her. I asked her to do something that I often ask participants and attendees my events to do, and that was to make a list of the three biggest changes that had occurred in her life over the last five years.

She grabbed a pen and started making notes, and then without asking her to disclose what was on her list, I asked her to pinpoint any changes that were so unique and exclusive to her that it meant that she was likely the only person alive to have had that specific change happen.

She hesitated for a moment and then she looked at me and said, “Well none”. I smiled and said, “Well, that's true. But for the others who have faced similar changes, they had to do so without seeing the changes through your eyes. So, it's not so much the change that occurs, but it's our own perspectives of what that change means to us”.

See change is a natural part of the human existence. It's been occurring throughout history, and it began for us the very day we were born. Now the challenge for many of us, including my seatmate, is that as these changes are occurring, it can seem that everything is just beyond our control. Now, many, perhaps even most of the changes that occur during life are beyond our control.

We can't stop time. We can't slow down the future. But what we can do is intentionally chart our course towards the goals and objectives that we seek. Again, intentionally charting our course towards the goals and objectives we seek. Now, think about this when we feel most quote unquote in control, is usually when we are being proactive towards some cause or goal that we've got in our life.

And when we feel most quote unquote out of control is when we believe things are happening to us. Let me give you kind of a story to bring this point home. Assume that you are the owner of a sailboat. It is in dock, and you're not using it. You're racking up costs on a monthly basis for dock fees, taxes, and insurance.

This is not to mention the capital that you have tied up in the boat. The bottom of the boat is becoming covered in slime and barnacles. The top is becoming moldy and mildewy. Things are happening to that vote. Now contrast this with the boat owner in an adjacent slip. It is a boat of the same make and type that you own.

Every week, that owner is taking their boat out for a trip. Now, perhaps it's a short cruise in the harbor. Perhaps it's a two- or three-week sale. Now, the same dock rentals, taxes and insurance rates apply, but because the boat is being used, the fees don't seem so appalling. And because the boat is being used, the bottom stays cleaner, and the mold and the mildew is controlled.

So, we've got two similar boats, two different owners, and two very different perspectives. In one instance, things are happening. In another instance, there is proactive use of the vessel. See, life happens, changes occur. We either have the choice to stay in port, or to chart a course towards a better destination, I challenge each of you to go chart a course.

Monday morning Mojo is a production of Cannon Financial Institute, executive producer of Monday Morning Mojo is Sarah Jones. Editing and mixing is done by Danny Brunner. Until next time, I'm Phil Buchanan reminding you to be a force for good. Have a great week and thanks for being part of the Mojo community.