Bazooka Joe Wisdom

“If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

                                                                                      - Tony Robbins

When I was young, I loved bubble gum.  My mom taught me how to blow bubbles with my chewing gum, and I loved showing off my skill in producing the largest bubbles possible without allowing them to pop and caught in my face and hair.

My favorite bubble gum was the Bazooka Joe brand.  Its flat rectangular shape fit easily into my mouth, and within a matter of seconds, the sugary, pliable, pink substance popped joyfully into my mouth.  I also liked Bazooka Joe because of what was inside each wrapper – a comic strip.

One day, I opened up a piece of gum and found a comic strip that had Bazooka Joe standing under a large streetlamp, feverishly looking for something.  In the next frame, his friend Bill appeared, and the following dialogue occurred.

Bill: “Hey, Joe. What are you doing?”

Bazooka Joe: “I’m looking for my keys.”

Bill: “Want some help finding them?”

Bazooka Joe: “Sure, just go in front of my house to look because that’s where I dropped them.”

Bill: “Joe, your house is five blocks away.  If you lost your keys there, why are you looking here?”

Bazooka Joe: “Because it’s totally dark in front of my house and I can’t see a thing.  But here the light is amazing!”

How often do we choose to take action on things that are familiar to us because they feel safe and we can see what we have to do? 

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I can get caught up in distractions and menial tasks when I am about to embark in a big project.  Particularly those where the amount of work it will take to accomplish, the risks it will require and the results I will experience are unknown. 

In this case, I am taking action, but not the kind that is inspired, efficient and productive.

I then realize engaging in familiar activities, simply because they feel safe, do nothing in allowing me to grow and make an impact.  Rather, staying occupied in “safe zone” only allows me to avoid my fears of embarking into new territory that will no doubt challenge me and cause me to grow and expand.

Take a moment to do a little exercise with me now. 

First, make a fist, gripping your fingers over your thumb.  It does not take a Black Belt to know what would happen if you punched something with this hand clenched this way.  You would most likely break your thumb, correct?

Let me take this a step further.  What if you practiced punching like this a thousand times? 

You would get pretty good and breaking your thumb!

You can see in this example that progress really had nothing to do with taking action, but it has everything to do with taking the correct, most productive action you know how to take in the moment.  And then taking the next right action and then the next right action, and so on.

As we say in martial arts,

“Practice does not make perfect; perfect practice makes perfect.”

With the clarity of knowing what you want and taking the appropriate inspired action to make it happen, miracles can happen in your life. 

This week, I challenge all of us to be present with the actions we are taking to move towards our goals.  What are the steps necessary to get us where we want to go and where are we replacing these inspired actions with activities that are safe and familiar, but are keeping us distracted from what we really need to be doing?

The answer is as clear as a well-lit street.  Thanks, Bazooka Joe.

Chris Natzke                                                                                                        

Black Belt Leadership Speaking & Coaching

PS:  If you are looking to take the inspired action that will lead to your own breakthrough, check out my Breaking Through Online Program .