Disconnect Your Oughta-Pilot(tm)

Wow! I can’t believe so much time has gone by since my last post. You have my profound apologies. I just got caught up in moving to Portland, surviving the loss of my beloved laptop, and creating a whole new website!

Talk about a lack of attention to intention.

What exactly is that three-word phrase and what does it mean?

As I mentioned in my last post, the phrase, “Attention To Intention” popped into my consciousness one night when waking up from a dream. What it means to me is that you need to always keep your intention clearly in your mind. I know the idea is a little insulting, but the process involved is rather like the old carrot on the stick. Keep the carrot (intention) always before you and you’ll always be moving forward towards your goal. Keeping it present is the most important aspect of this; that and having a clear goal in the first place.

Once you get your sights set on the prize, it’s a lot easier to not be diverted by all the Oughta-Pilots(tm) that show up as soon as you’ve identified it.

You can’t believe how wonderful it feels when everyone around you is giving you advice and yet you don’t lose sight of what you’re doing and why and you can take their advice, but remember that advice is worth what you pay for it. By that I mean, you don’t have to take it as gospel, consider it if it sounds valid, but remember it may not be any truer than anything else you’ve heard.

WE Are In Charge Of Our Own Choices

I say there are only a few truths: Water is wet, rocks are hard and perhaps there’s a few more out there, but you get the idea. You do NOT have to do what your parents/teachers/spouses/guru-of-the-days  say once you’ve chosen to live a life of your own making. They’re trying to do the same thing you are – find happiness and satisfaction. Poor folks who don’t know what you do – that we’re all in charge of our own choices.

So, to summarize, choose your goal(s), and don’t lose sight of it.  Keep it in front of you somehow – with a vision board, bulletin board, screensaver, anything that works for you. Filter all advice through your own belief system, disconnect the oughta-pilots(tm) and fly, baby, fly!

My poor little (?) doggie, Hobo, had fleas.  We’re in the final stages of erradication (I hope).  But as I was spraying under and over his bed in our room once again, it occurred to me that fleas are very much like Oughta-Pilots(TM) in that just when you think you have them controlled and gone, one or two will pop back up and bite you!

I’d wash him and his bedding, air out the rattan basket, vacuum and spray the rug under the basket and any place he’d been laying and he’d get into his basket, ready for a nap (he does that very well, by the way) and just when he was relaxed and drowsing off, he’d suddenly jump up and out of the basket and start scratching and biting at himself. Poor thing.

He caught fleas last Thanksgiving when we visited my daughter and stayed at the Travelodge near the Portland Airport (don’t ever stay there with a pet). He’s one of those dogs allergic to fleabites so we almost lost him. But the battle sure has made me think.

How many times have we thought that we’d handled an issue, a problem, a test or a challenge and thought we were finished with it? So we relax and go about our merry way until it shows back up and smacks us in the face once again?

I woke up with a start the other evening, with three little words going around and around in my brain -

ATTENTION TO INTENTION

I’d be really interested to hear what those three words mean to you.  Next post, I’ll discuss what they mean to me.

I’m having so much fun with the first DYOP teleseries – I’m going to do it again! Starts May 12 and I’ll be offering an early bird special once again to sign up.

Watch this space for updates.

What’s in the Teleseries?

I have separated the series into 5 1-hour telecalls to be followed with exercises and coaching.

• Week 1 – DYOP – the big picture
  • This is where we’ll talk about what Oughta-Pilots are, how they work, and why you’d want to disconnect them.
• Week 2 – Watch Your Mouth Your Subconscious Is Listening
  • We will look at how we talk ourselves into and out of situations, decisions and how we all have a personal DJ who plays our old tapes for us to listen to and believe in, identify areas where we sabotage ourselves and create mechanisms to dispel it.
• Week 3 – The Joys of Failure
  • We’ll examine how we define failure, what power it has over us and how our fears of repetition stop us cold in our quest for our dreams.
• Week 4 – Recycled Virgins
  • Ever want a do-over? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to start all over again? What if you didn’t have a firm idea on what awaited you? What if you took on an opportunity with no preconceived notions of what could go wrong? We’ll look at where we set ourselves up because of something that happened before and might happen again and we’ll create a strategy for recognizing when this happens again.
• Week 5 – Pulling It All Together
  • What have we accomplished, where do we go from here, and how do we keep those Oughta-Pilots(TM) disconnected?