2. Execution.

I would always crib about my busy schedule. In spite of having scope of creating time, I would program my mind saying - I don't have time. This would usually happen when I wanted to procrastinate or put the task on lower priority. I would overlook the scope. On one hand, I would say - I want to do a lot of things in my life and on the other, I would crib about not having time. Also, Did I really have the time to enjoy all the leisurely things I possessed or was I just left with the pride of possessing them? I had programmed my mind to fool myself. Ironically, I didn't have time to create a life which is nothing but a collection of time units.

Each day, I would get 86400 seconds of life. This was the capital. How would I invest it? 1/3rd in sleep - dreaming and relaxing, 1/3rd in earning bread and the rest 1/3rd would be variable. Generally, it would be spent in commuting, eating, extra-working, day dreaming, health concerns, establishing/maintaining relations, arguments, disputes and the list continues. What I really wanted is to spend time with family, friends and above all, myself. Myself, in the sense, to do all the things I always really wanted to. To create an extraordinary future, present was the execution time. An expectation of sudden change from ordinary to extraordinary would be just another foolish thought. Each of the 28800 seconds (the remaining 1/3rd) was required to be invested wisely with a purpose of creating an extraordinary life.

Goal-setting was the primary key for the wise investment. I wanted to learn a lot of things - dance, swimming, meditation. Besides, I wanted to read, write, and work-out on regular basis. I started with categorizing the goals as short-term (< 8 months), mid-term (< 2 years), long-term (< 5 years) and dream (< death). I created a list of goals and put them below either short, mid or long term. The point to be noted here is no matter what category the goal falls into, the implementation time would begin NOW. It's not that the mid-term goal will start only after the accomplishment of short-term goal. At first place, the listing of goals was a difficult task as there were many things I had sometime thought of doing and thereafter they were out of my mind. I wanted to dig and rediscover them. I would like to pen down a list which might help in the rediscovery.

Pursuing further studies.
Writing a book.
Composing poems.
Playing musical instruments.
Learning martial arts.
Singing.
Designing jewelry.
Sports.
Conducting trainings.
Public speaking.
Trekking.
Movie making.
Playwriting.
Globe trotting.
Photography.
Body building.
Interior design.

These goals could be further narrowed down as well. For instance, sports. It could be indoor - chess, table tennis or outdoor - football, baseball; could be adventure sports - car racing, gliding. Ditto, for other goals. These goals could be either a part of current profession or totally far from it. Either ways, they can be set not just with an accomplishment target but also with an objective of excelling.

Dream goal was an abstract but fantastic concept. I wanted to put only one goal in this category. This goal could be anything, literally anything. It could be associated with plain destiny or it could be just about putting efforts or could be a mix of both. Let's see some examples.

Acting in a movie.
Buying a dress from a celebrity auction.
Driving a Rolls Royce.
Publishing an article in a news paper.
Participating in a TV show and winning the prize money.
Winning a lottery.
Flying an aero plane.
Skydiving.
Traveling in space.
Flying over the city in a helicopter.
Dancing on the streets.
Working for a month with my favorite actor as his chauffeur or secretary.

As mentioned earlier, some of the goals may be associated with plain destiny; still I feel the efforts too play an important role. For instance, to win a lottery ticket, I need to put efforts in studying and buying. Nonetheless, whenever a thought about dream-goal appears, one usually feels - If my dream goal is accomplished, I would die peacefully. A happy and a satisfied ending! The important thing is the satisfaction (and not the significance).

At the beginning of implementation (i mean NOW), the mind will start playing its tricks. Let's say, I start working on a short-term goal of writing a book. My mind will instantaneously move my focus towards the end result. It will show me the printed version of my book with a vibrant cover page and so many copies in front of me. This visualization would swiftly make me feel - It's not an easy task to write a book. Where will I find a cover page designer, a printer, publisher for my book? Such queries would start surrounding like an enemy and eventually kill my thought. My mind will start defending by saying - It's not a time to take any hasty decisions. Rather, I should first understand what writing is all about and then start implementing the thought. Hence, it's better if I take a certain portion in the future, dedicate full time in understanding and then start writing the book. This would be a smart investment which shall make me accurate and consistent. In simple sentence, the thought was postponed and probably killed.

What would have happened if I had started writing immediately? I believe that would have been an investment. A perfect step towards the destination! The first written word would have been a second major milestone. The first milestone, of course was the goal of writing the book. Every step I take and every move I make is an investment. The thought of investment might sound ambiguous. The mind will allow to invest but with a craving of some kind of instant result. It will frame the process as a cycle of investment-result-investment-result-investment......result. The real scenario is altogether different. It's like – investment – investment – investment –investment…….. ........result(s). Of course, the intermediate milestones are inevitable.

Let's take an example of earning bread. As written above, I invest 1/3rd of my life after earning it. When do I get the end-result? If I am a daily wage worker I will get it at the end of the day. This is actually a milestone but let's consider this as a result. Still, it didn't happen instantly after investment. Not after an hour of work, I get the result. After continuous efforts of 8 hours, I get it. What happened to the result for the previous 8 hours? Did it not happen? Yes, it did happen. The result did happen but just that it was in the making. An investment towards the destination certainly assures that the result is in the making. A constant investment would result in a consistency.

Gradually, the goal would convert into habit and once it becomes a habit, it takes off at full pace. For instance, once a person gets into habit of consuming alcohol, alcohol starts consuming him. Similarly, once a goal becomes a habit, it will start ruling over the mind and also make sure that the goal is successfully accomplished.