“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less-than-perfect conditions. So what? Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident, and more and more successful.” –Mark Victor Hansen

Pivot constantly to be agile in your animal rescue efforts

I wrote recently about the concept of using an Agile approach to iterating things quickly rather than ruminating on ideas until they are perfect.  Today, I want to challenge you to take the next step and pivot in a different direction and apply the agile method until you see your new vision.

Why do we change our approach?

Like many others before me, I am facing some key decisions that are forcing me to prioritize my goals, desires and even purpose for being.  I am evaluating what I have achieved thus far in my life and revisiting what I truly desire so that I can align my go forward strategy with that which makes me happy.  I’m seeking to ignite my own desires and inspiration within me to rekindle the fire that fueled my passions in the first place.

There are many things I enjoy about my “day” job and many things that I don’t.  I’m sure I’m not special in that regard.  When you work for a large company or even a small company, often times the politics among the people you work with and the inefficiencies in the processes we live with cause us stress.  Things often seem harder than they should be and I constantly find myself trying to look at the logical reason for why things work the way they do.

Many of us have been asked what we would do if we did not have to work for a living.  For me, I know I would do something with animals.  What I would do exactly is always the question but with so many careers and possibilities, I’m quite sure I would never tire of helping.  While many have been inspired to help animals since they were young, I never knew as a child that my passion for animals ran this strong but the more I learn about them, the more I interact with them, and the more I am involved in saving them, the more I am inspired to do even more.

Your goals and purpose will change in life; You should change with them

Recently, several of my friends and colleagues have experienced life-changing events including the death of a close family member or friend, which caused them to re-evaluate their priorities in life.  We all know it’s an inevitable thing and all of us at some point or another will cease to exist.

It’s easy to get caught up in the day to day of our routine, going through the motions and performing the acts and tasks without the inspiration that once fueled us.  It seems as though it takes the loss of someone we know or some other life-changing event that causes us to press the pause button on our life, in order to allow us time to update our work plan for the future.

At the core of most everyone’s goals is a desire to be happy and to enjoy life for as long as we can.  The commonality stops there however because what is happiness?  What defines the recipe for creating that feeling of joy and bliss when endorphins are rushing throughout our bodies?  How do we recreate the sensation that we experienced as children when we had not a care in the world and were completely at peace enjoying our position in the universe?

Like many of you, I am happiest when I am contributing to the well-being of animals.  I am most inspired when my actions are focused on helping those without a voice and supporting the people that work with the same goals.  For me personally, I reach my peak happiness when I am combining my two passions in life, aviation & animals so when I have a reason for taking a flight and it involves helping animals, I am on top of the world.

As we talked about previously, the idea of the agile method is to continue to iterate or develop something.  Whether that something is software, or a product or even just an idea, start with the minimum viable product and launch from there.

If you’re waiting to figure out exactly what your purpose is in life, what your goals should be, and where you should focus your attention, I challenge you to stop waiting and start living.  Try something new.  Take on a new career, a new challenge or a new goal.  If animals are your passion, pick something that you have not done before and see where life takes you.

If you need inspiration, check out the Professionals in Animal Rescue podcast.