It was in the audio recording from Earl Nightingale I first heard the quote from George Bernard Shaw.

“People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”

In that audio recording The Strangest Secret, Earl credited this as part of his definition of success. Focus on what you want, care enough, and pursue it. If you do not see the circumstances for what you want, go create them.

This idea, this phrase, has stuck with me for many, many years as I have pursued creating my own circumstances. One hurdle I have found is no one explains how to create them, or offers any suggestions to doing so.

The advice to “just go create the circumstances you want” will only take you so far and there is plenty of advice to go deep on any one particular step but nothing complete. So I began to look for a series of practical steps I could take on my own.

What you are about to read is a culmination of the advice I have received, my own experiences and observations, practical applications, and the hours of valuable information I have consumed on goal setting and goal achievement, all distilled into an easy to consume and easy to enact list.

We all have some level of ability to change the circumstances around us to something more favorable towards our own goals. Doing so is not always easy but it is something within our locus of control whether we are talking about a career move, a relationship, a location, or even an identity.

“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”

Here are the steps I believe are essential to finding, or creating, the circumstances for what you want in this world.

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​Creating The Circumstances For What You Want In This World

Become super clear about what you want.

Write out a description of what you want in your life. Be crystal clear. Dream in 8K-HD. Take the limits off of your imagination and your vision and dream big.

Is it a physical thing you want? Is it a feeling or status or position? Is it a location? Is it a relationship or a connection? Is it an accomplishment such as running a marathon or publishing a book or speaking on a stage? Is it a specific vacation experience? What is it? Get clear on the dream.

This exchange from the Alice in Wonderland book by Lewis Carroll sums it up nicely. It is when Alice first meets the Cheshire Cat and asks for directions.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” asked Alice.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

If you do not have a destination, any road will take you there. Your dream or your goal is the destination and the circumstances are the roads which take you there.

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Change your inputs.

Turn off the streaming services and log off social media. Turn off the notifications and unsubscribe from the endless emails. Change the settings in your phone so you are not getting every single news update under the sun.

Eliminate the distractions and replace them with the vision in front of you, focus on that every day rather than having constant noise filling your senses.

Instead, dive into the magazines about what you desire, read books from leading authorities on the subject, listen to a few podcasts until you find the one which resonates with you. Focus on what you want because where focus goes energy flows.

Change your inputs to your goal like tuning a radio to the station you want to listen to. Do you want to listen to country, rap, classical, Christian, AM talk-radio, or sports? Change the input on the radio to what you desire.

This will help you to see the opportunities as they cross your path. Success occurs when opportunity meets preparation. Prepare yourself to see opportunities.

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Attend local events.

This is something that has been a game changer for me in recent years; getting out from behind the keyboard, from behind the phone, and meet people in real life.

Find the events in the industry you want to be part of, or around the thing you want to create in your life, and be intentional about attending them. Go with a plan to meet a certain number of people and do not leave until you reach that number.

Large events such as industry conferences, expos, conventions, trade shows, seminars, launch parties, fundraisers, workshops. Smaller events like happy hours, meetups, retreats, game nights, walks, even coffees.

If you are looking and do not see events happening in your area, think about organizing something small like a meetup or happy hour. Use a platform like Meetup.com or EventBrite.com to organize it then social media and email to promote it.

I can guarantee there are other people in your local geographic area just waiting for someone to announce something they can attend and connect with. If you put something together and get the info in front of others you will establish so many connections that will propel you forward.

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Find a mentor and mirror.

Find someone who has done the thing you want to do, follow in their footsteps. If you can become a mentee of theirs and apply their history to your present. What can you learn from the path they have already walked down?

Mentors do not have to be a formal relationship, although it can help tremendously to have a formal mentor if you can. A teacher on YouTube or a podcast, an author and thought leader on the subject you are now diving into, a person who shows progress and success in the exact thing you want.

Mirroring their path to success (as it applies to your situation) will shave years off of your journey. Find a mentor and mirror what they have done.

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Do the little things.

Send the email. Join the facebook group. Write the letter. Make the phone call. Send the DM. Purchase the software. Subscribe to the YouTube channel or podcast about the topic you are starting to dive into.

Set a schedule for your day so you can prioritize your sleep. Eat a healthy diet. Hydrate consistently. Exercise regularly. Journal daily. Take a step each day, no matter how small, closer to your goal.

It is not always about taking massive action, sometimes it is about taking small action, consistently, over time towards what you want. Make progress a habit and make habits a routine.

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Do the big things.

Sometimes it is about taking massive action. In the older logger days the way to clear a log jam was to throw a stick of dynamite into the middle of it. This would disrupt the jam and allow the logs to flow down the river again. Sometimes you need to do something radical and out of the norm in order to disrupt the routine you have found yourself in.

The actions you have taken thus far have got you here, so something new, something different, something dynamic, is what it takes to get you moving in the direction of your goals.

Build the webpage, announce the business, take the trip, apply for the job and go to the interview, sign up with the personal trainer, hire the business/life coach.

If you are an introvert or not very experienced in putting yourself forward the little things can sometimes feel like big things, but it is important to do the big things in pursuit of creating the life you desire.

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​Do not stop until you reach your goal.

A goal is a goal for a reason. Hold it close and pursue it with everything in you. Remember why you started and do not stop until you get what you want. Create the circumstances and give the tree time to take root and grow.

If you became crystal clear on what you want (Step 1) then you will already know what success looks like. Anything less is unacceptable. Keep going.

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Bonus;

-You must also make space in your time, in your calendar, in your schedule to work on the things you want.

-You must make space in your mind, in your attention, to focus more on your goals.

-Make space in your soul, in your emotions, in your heart to align with this new thing you want to create as a reality in your world.

-Make space for the circumstances in your life to create what it is you want.

-Show the universe/God/your life you actually care for this thing you say you want and pursue it with all your being as you are able to do so.

-Put up a fight for what you want.
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We have all heard the phrase “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” which is often associated with hard times or unwanted situations. I believe sometimes you need to go out and pick the fruit you actually want, take it home, squeeze out some juice into a glass, add some ice, and then you can sit back and enjoy a nice cold refreshing beverage.

Don't just accept lemons are the only option when you know there is other fruit and you want other fruit. If life gave you lemons, but you wanted apple juice, go find some apples.

Heck maybe mixing apples and lemons together will taste way better than apple juice or lemonade would by itself?

It is within your control to create what you want. It is within your control to change your circumstances. You are in the driver's seat of your life and you are directing the car.

“The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can’t find them, make them.”

Go out, make the circumstances for what you want, today.