This is a role-playing exercise using two chairs. One chair is for you whenever you’re out of ideas for how to overcome an obstacle to getting your dream. The other chair is for the imaginary Idea Wizard. The Idea Wizard is a special kind of consultant. His firm pays him a thousand dollars for each idea he can persuade you to consider seriously.

Here’s how to play:

1. First, sit in your chair, and explain what you want and why you can’t get it.
2. Then, change chairs, and become the Idea Wizard. Answer the first chair as if you were still in it, and come up with as many ideas as you can for overcoming the stated obstacle. Remember, you’re being paid a thousand dollars for each idea that genuinely interests the other party.
3. Change chairs again, and evaluate, as fairly as you can, all the ideas given you by the Idea Wizard. This is not a contest to you, and you’re not trying to shoot his ideas down. Consider each one, and explain what looks interesting to you and what you object to in each suggestion.
4. Change chairs again, become the Idea Wizard, and use your best ideas to solve the objections or enlarge on the interesting ideas.

Change roles at least three or four times.

Write down every interesting strategy you come up with. Remember, even if you don’t find anything you can use right now, your thinking will be stimulated and will soon get you unstuck on its own.

Incidentally, if you’ve got a video camera, it can be fascinating to record this exchange. For fun, make a wizard’s hat and wear it when you play that role. Then turn the chairs so they half face each other and half face the camera. When you watch the conversation later, you’re almost certain to get some startling insights into yourself, so keep a pen and paper available for notes.

I think you’re going to discover that it’s possible to get any dream you want, without wrecking your life.

In a new comment below, tell us about doing this exercise. Did you videotape it? How much did your Idea Wizard earn? Are you more excited about one of your dreams now? Don’t forget to read what others wrote and leave your replies.

Please be sure to subscribe to future comments on this exercise or to check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 32: How Do You Live Now That You Know You Will Not Live Forever? after you are done adding your comments.

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Remember the box you kept beside your chair? It should have pieces of paper in it, each one describing what stands between you and your dream. Some of these obstacles don’t matter anymore because you’ve already cut those dreams from the list. Find the remaining obstacles, and lay them out on the table.

Obstacles are problems to be solved, so pull out some paper and pencils, roll up your sleeves, and get ready to solve them. Now look at your list of dreams and all your obstacles, and frame them into this very special sentence. I call it an “Idea Generator”: “I want to do _______ [fill in the blank with your dream], but I can’t because of _______ [fill in the blank with your obstacle).”

What’s so special about this sentence? It creates an irresistible urge to solve the problem in anyone who hears it. What you shouldn’t do is say the first part of the sentence without the second. If you say, “I want to do x,” others will supply obstacles, most of which have nothing to do with you.

Okay, get ready. You’re going to run your obstacle past as many people as you can. So have your personal phone book nearby, and keep a piece of paper and a pencil ready so you can write down every suggestion, good or bad. Now pick up the phone and start calling your friends and present them with the Idea Generator: “I want to do x, but I can’t because of y.” And then say, “Have you got any ideas?”

That’s all.

Say it to anyone, and you’ll find, nine times out of ten, they’ll start coming up with solutions. Watch the ideas rain down. And your phone won’t stop ringing for days, as your friends come up with more and more solutions [including]…

Moonlighting….

Wing walking….

Piggybacking….

Climb down the ladder to the nightjob….

Take a sabbatical….

Get a job with normal hours and build a dream after work….

Fit your dream into your present life….

Find a job that lets you leave and come back again….

Develop chutzpah….

Make a long-term plan….

Liftoffs and springboards….

Get a job….

For this assignment, make a minimum of three phone calls. In each one, tell your friend, family member or mentor, “I want to do _______ [fill in the blank with your dream], but I can’t because of _______ [fill in the blank with your obstacle).” Write down the answers in your daybook, notebook or Word document. Then, in a new comment, tell us about this experience. Did you get any good suggestions? Were you surprised? After you share your experience, read the rest of the comments and reply to a few.

Please be sure to subscribe to future comments on this exercise or to check back here on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning for new ones.

Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 31: Idea Wizard To The Rescue after you are done adding your comments.

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We are nearing the end of It’s Only Too Late If You Don’t Start Now. Only a little bit of the book is left, but there are some very important exercises in the 22 pages remaining in Chapter 11: Turning Dreams Into Goals.

After we finish the chapter and exercises, we’ll reflect on what we have learned this week and last.

And the book club remains open through November 15, 2024, so please do not panic if you are not quite done yet.

Here is what we will be doing this week:

Exercise 30: Troubleshooting Obstacles

Exercise 31: Idea Wizard To The Rescue

Exercise 32: How Do You Live Now That You Know You Will Not Live Forever?

What I Learned from Chapter 11: Turning Dreams Into Goals

Problems

Need help with anything about the book club? Send an email to webmaster@barbarasclub.com.

Use the Next link (up above the title) to continue on to Exercise 30: Troubleshooting Obstacles, or use the links above.

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