What Do Your Goals SMELL Like?

I’ll be honest, in the 12+ years since my Dad and I built it, my recording studio has never smelled better than it does right now. Sure, I’ve been the recipient of some pretty cool Yankee Candles over the years (the ones that smell like cherry lollipops are my favorite), but there’s a special scent of awesomeness wafting around here right now.

The reason?

I’ve got a goal that’s been on my list for much of my adult life…and it hasn’t happened yet.

Splashed across many of the Vision Boards I’ve constructed over the past decade are pictures of the barn I wish to have gracing the back yard of my future dream home.

It hasn’t happened yet.

I was recently wondering if I still really want it, or even expect that I can make it happen.

As I encourage at my live speaking events and trainings, it can be HUGE if you include as many of your senses in your goal-setting.

Last week, I decided to walk my talk with a trip to a local sawmill where my Dad and I picked up fourteen 8-feet pieces of rough-sawn pine to build a ‘barn wall’ in my recording studio.

Being the ‘Motivational Firewood™ Guy’, natural wood is a big part of my brand.

Now, I’ve got a wall of beautiful barn board gracing the ‘webinar wall’.

By late that afternoon, I couldn’t walk into the vocal booth without smiling.

This wall is already making a big difference for me, grabbing me by the senses to make my goal seem more alive than ever.

SIGHT: the bright clean boards, with random knots, are rustically gorgeous.

SOUND: being a soft surface, they help give a warm ‘sound’ to the studio

TOUCH: I’ve already gotten a few splinters touching the wall (not a bad thing)

TASTE: got some sawdust in my mouth while cutting some of the trim pieces (not a bad thing)

SMELL: fresh-cut pine…WOW, does the studio smell great!

Back in my days as a carpenter, the smell of the wood meant that there was something new in the world, some new creation which had just been a combination of a dream and a set a hastily-drawn plans shortly before.

So, what’s on YOUR list of goals that sometimes feels like it may be slipping away from reality?

Is there something you knew you wanted with all your heart, but it’s suffering from a lack of attention from your other senses?

How can you beef up that goal by exploding it across that awesome 5-sense rainbow?

SIGHT: can you take a picture of it, preferably with yourself in the shot?

SOUND: any chance you can record it, or the sound it makes, or YOU reacting with excitement?

TOUCH: can you lay your hands on this goal somehow, close your eyes and ‘memorize’ its feel?

TASTE: depending on your goal, it may have a flavor you’ll savor!

SMELL: this one is HUGE, how can you capture it?

Okay, I’ll admit: I am smiling a mile wide right now.

Why?

Because I just turned around at my desk to look at the wall. Yes, again.

I can smell it from my desk, close my eyes and ‘see’ the day that this one wall wraps all the way around me.

Until then, I’m happy to sit here and be recharged by the smell of fresh-cut pine barn board, stinking up my recording studio in the greatest way possible.

What do YOUR goals smell like today?

-Steve Gamlin