Let’s say that you’ve aimed for something incredibly difficult and then you’ve finally achieved it after exerting a lot of time and effort. What do you do next? How do you sustain the high of winning throughout your life once you’ve attained the unattainable? That’s what I asked Roger Killen after he sold out 400 seats several weeks before the highly acclaimed TEDxStanleyPark event last May 23, 2015.
Aim for something even higher
It’s been said that Buzz Aldrin had severe depression when he returned to Earth after having gone to the moon. After all, once you’ve been to the moon and back, what’s next? Now that Roger Killen knows that the demand for 400 seats can be easily met, he has now reserved a 2,750 seat venue for TEDxStanleyPark 2016 which is at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Now that you’ve gotten into that coveted Ivy League institution (or graduated from it), or landed that dream job at that prestigious firm that you’ve wanted to work at all your life, what are you going to do now?
Keep on reinventing yourself
After winning in one area, you can try to become a champion in another. Before Tim Ferris became a best-selling author (he wrote “The Four-Hour Workweek) and the highly paid speaker that he was – get this – a kickboxing world champion. And he didn’t even train that long to attain that distinction (it took him less than 2 years from scratch). He was also the founder of BrainQUICKEN, an online nutritional supplements company which he successfully sold. As a result of this, he has also become an angel investor and has put money into creative start-ups like Uber, StumbleUpon, EverNote and Shopify.
Look for new challenges
To avoid the “Buzz Aldrin Syndrome”, I would have (1) lobbied NASA to go to Mars now that I have “gone to the Moon and back” on my resume or (2) help set up a privately owned space agency to help passengers who can afford to pay for a ticket on a space shuttle to prepare themselves to fly to the moon. Or to put it another way, I would have found something else more exciting to do than just sit back and be depressed. I mean… life’s too short be feel sorry for yourself, don’t you think?
Announce your next big idea in advance
Roger has already announced his ambitious plans for TEDxStanleyPark 2016 to the world. Why put it out there? Well, if people know what you’re about to do, you’ve just made yourself accountable to everyone in your circle of influence and there’s no motivation like not wanting to let a whole bunch of people down and falling flat on your face in public in case you don’t follow through with your plans.
Photo Credit
Photo is Wikimedia Public Domain
Guest Author Bio
George Verdolaga
George Verdolaga is an author, educator and speaker. He helps people get out of their own way so that they can reach their career and lifestyle goals faster and more efficiently via The Job Farmer and The Contractor Lifestyle books and his Sitting Pretty Course.
Read his blog here and be sure to subscribe to his e-Newsletter.
Blog / Website: Verdolaga Learning Systems
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