Over the last month, I've been highlighting a book I recommend to those on the journey to become more gritty – Beginner’s Pluck: Build Your Life of Purpose and Impact Now, by Liz Forkin Bohannon. If you missed my introduction, I suggest going back to that overview before reading further. Part 2 is here and Part 3 here. In this fourth and final part of my review, I’ll share some thoughts on Chapter 11 – Stop, Drop, and WOW .
In this chapter nestled within her 14 principles, Liz cautions us to jealously guard and incubate our dreams in their infancy. I whole-heartedly agree. In my experience, we too frequently expose them to skeptics before they are ready for close examination. Or, we ask practical questions like "how can I do this?" or "how can I overcome that?" prematurely. Here is an excerpt chock-full of her wisdom.
We all know that a dream without a plan is just a wish. But wigging out about not having a Grand Strategic Plan before you actually need one is where we lose a lot of good people....
Listen, I will be the first to tell you that ideas are a dime a dozen. Even the best ideas don’t lead to jack diddle unless the dreaming is backed up with doing and grit and promise keeping. And the people out there building remarkable lives of purpose and passion and impact are always the ones who eventually transitioned from the WOW to HOW. But as true as that is, it doesn’t negate the vital importance of the Power of WOW. I am not advocating that we all sit around in La La Land and sing Kum-by-WOW for all of eternity. But first things first, people. And if you want to build a life of purpose and passion, WOW comes before HOW. Every. Single. Time.
Bohannon, Liz Forkin. Beginner's Pluck (pp. 155-156). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.