If there’s anything I’m passionate about (Oh, who are we kidding? There’s a LOT I’m passionate about), it’s growth management. It’s success stacking. It’s identifying a goal, laying the groundwork for success in achieving that goal, studying the clues others have left in attempting similar things, refining methods for my own success in my own way, and then executing the frick out of all that.

And when I can do all of that for others? With others? Help y’all turbocharge your dreams in whole new ways? Man, that’s just a whole bunch o’ goodness wrapped in happy for me!

So, about this preparing for success thing. It requires clarity in a few areas:
~ What you want.
~ What you don’t want.
~ What you hope is possible.
~ What you believe is possible.
~ And what work you’re gonna put in (hopefully from as aligned a place as possible).

Here are two stories so you can see how to come at this from whichever is closer to your worldview.

One: My sobriety.

In this photo, I’m about 12 hours sober. More specifically, it’s about 16 hours since my last drink and about 12 hours since I woke up and texted Keith, “I’m done.” And — from a preparing for success perspective — it’s two solid years after I’ve declared in my journal, “There’s a future me who doesn’t drink at all.”

Even though I’d spend those two years negotiating moderation and trying to figure out ways to have a better relationship with drinking, I knew deep within that my personality is built on pretty clear absolutes (I do binary well, thank you ENTJness) and the most likely form of success for me in this part of my life for which I’d been craving change was gonna be just being done with drinking.

And I spent two years before this photo was taken studying enough about how I knew *I* would want to be sober that — when I chose sobriety — it was all about executing a plan. I didn’t have to figure anything out about how to do it other than the very real part of living through anything NEW. On paper, I already knew who my sober coach would be, what my daily program for support would be, who my role models were and how and when I’d be reaching out to them, and how much of my personal experience would become a part of how I live my public life.

I prepared for the success I continue to have to this day.

Second example: Neighbor kid. More specifically, our landlord’s oldest kid. Becoming old enough to drive.

When we moved in here at the beach nearly 15 years ago, our landlord’s wife was pregnant and of course I’d convinced myself that was the oldest kid and we still had a couple o’ years before needing to stress about a new driver having access to a minivan that parks next to my beloved TicTac.

The hubs lovingly, patiently “let” this argument go so this portion of the BonBlast is so I can say the hubs’ favorite words, “Keith was right” about which kid was not-yet-born when we moved in all those years ago. 😉 And we found out he was right when we came home from SLC last week and saw the aforementioned minivan covered in “Happy Sweet 16” decorations.

Shit. We now have a new driver on the premises.

*If* our landlord’s family has been preparing for success with this, the oldest daughter has been enrolled in driver training. She’s been taught how to drive and park and be aware and alert and safe. And she’s been given the talk about the quirky neighborlady with the nearly 30-year-old beloved roadster that is never to be dinged.

(Hey, we can dream.)

Without question, the fam has known this daughter was nearing 16 and has done things like invest in more insurance coverage. They’ve prepared for success… or possibly failure. Either way, there has been work done BEFORE the big moment in anticipation of that day everyone could see coming (even if I thought, hoped, wished we had a couple more years left). 😉

So, whether we know we want something or DON’T want something, we can prepare for its success in our lives through the things we do *before* we’re anywhere close to the moment at which we begin executing the change, seeing the growth, achieving those early goals.

Now I’ll ask you: What is it that you say you want in life AND what are you doing to prepare for its existence?

If you’re single but hoping for coupling, spending more energy in the love life section of your life pie must become a priority. Yes, even when you’re the only one IN your love life.

Wanting the life of a working actor? You’ve gotta be clocking in for working actor behaviors even before those activities generate residual checks!

Hoping to create change of *any* kind that you hope will stick? Start laying the groundwork LONG before you’re seeing signs of spring. Those seeds you’re planting need fertile ground. Then water. And sun. And time. But first, be sure the soil is even ready to receive all those glorious seeds you may be THINKING you’re planting.

Because if the soil isn’t just right, they can be the most dream-packed seeds plopped down and tended to with all the love and support in the world, yet nothing will take root.

So… growth management is soil selection, first.

How’s your soil? Comments are open below! I’d love to hear from you on this one! 🙂 (For a deeper dive on this, watch my last Facebook Live on the topic of ending self-sabotage. It’s a good one!)

Meanwhile, alumni ONLY, please apply to join us in the mind-body mastermind Expansive Capacity for May if you’d like to rock our next topic: Your Relationship with Your Intuition. Woo! Sooo excited for this one! (Deadline to apply is April 25th, if you’d like to start with us on May 1st — we’ve got a five-day orientation for you first.) Any questions, lemmeknow! I’m loving what we’re building with this next-tier work! Thank you for joining us!

EVERYONE, heads up: It’s almost SMF-mAy — we’re celebrating 20 years of my writing for actors the whole month of May (get it? SMFA becomes SMF-mAy? So cute! Thanks, Erin!) and that means 20 days of FREE training on all the actor stuff you could possibly ever need! Want emails reminding you before we go live at Facebook? Want links to replays? Want your chance at a scholarship for our flagship membership program Get in Gear for the Next Tier? Just click here to get all the details! Cannot WAIT for all this time together! 🙂 Woo HOO!

(If you don’t ask for all those emails, don’t worry. You can still keep up by bookmarking this page and then visiting it regularly.)

Okay, off to build more success in more areas of life! Remember to share below what you’re going to do to be sure your soil is its best to receive FULLY all those amazing seeds you’re planting. 🙂 Don’t just think about it. Get dirty! It’s so worth it!

Much love,

Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!