The 5 Buckets: A Framework for Living with Intention

By Bobby Dysart

The more we are able to experience what we truly are, the more we are able to give of ourselves.

Don’t wait. Start small. Learn as you go.

The 5 Buckets details a framework Bobby Dysart used to write his first book, build a community, and live his healthiest life. It gave him guidance when he needed it most. Now he gives it to you.

By naming, organizing, and completing intentions, you establish a deeper connection to time and how you spend it. You discover who you want to be, where you want to go, and what you want to create. You find your Self.

The 5 Buckets reveals a practice and insights to help you better enjoy:

• Relationships - The people that support, shape, and guide you.
• Creativity - The most powerful and most neglected skill.
• Health - The vehicle for your journey.
• Learning - The perception shaping your experience.
• Work - The contribution you choose to offer the world.

Bobby shares his personal experience using the framework along with an Intention Guide to record intentions and reflections for twelve weeks.

You have an opportunity to change how you live. You can live with intention. You can discover your authentic Self.

But for it to happen, you gotta begin.

You’re invited to begin.

Don’t wait. Start small. Learn as you go.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Think Twice Books
• Release date: Jan 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781646870974

Bobby Dysart

Bobby Dysart runs a consultancy helping early-stage software companies hire, train, and grow their sales teams. While navigating the isolation of 2020, Bobby rediscovered his passion for writing and self-development. He wrote The 5 Buckets, detailing a framework he adopted to keep himself sane and thriving during the pandemic. While he continues to help sales teams through his consulting work, his focus has shifted to helping himself and others live with intention. He shares short stories, interviews, and more in his weekly newsletter and podcast called Student of Intention.

Book preview

The 5 Buckets: A Framework for Living with IntentionThe 5 Buckets

A Framework for Living with Intention

BY BOBBY DYSART

Copyright © 2021 by Bobby Dysart

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by ThinkTwice Books.

ThinkTwice Books | www.thinktwicebooks.com

Cover Illustration by Lisa Taranchenko @awful.bliss

Interior Design by Ashley Santoro @imashleysantoro

ISBN: 978-1-64687-075-2

SPECIAL SALES

Think Twice books are available at a special discount for bulk purchases for sales promotions or corporate training programs. Special editions, including personalized covers and custom forewords, are also available. For more details, email [e-mail] or contact the author directly.

To all of us looking for a little guidance.

Thank you to Jennifer, Liz, Ela, Rohit, Ashley and my wonderful wife, Tracy.

CONTENTS

The Magic

Introduction

The 5 Buckets

Living With Intention

The Relationship Bucket

The Creativity Bucket

The Health Bucket

The Learning Bucket

The Work Bucket

How To Begin

Tips, Tricks And Suggestions

The Intention Guide

Original cover art designed by Lisa Taranchenko

DON’T

WAIT.

START

SMALL.

LEARN AS

YOU GO.

The Magic

It’s a mystical power just within our reach

Tough to master but easy to teach

Like words that form after writing for hours

A strange voice surfaces we know isn’t ours

We must nurture The Magic so not to waste

Effort and dedication what it craves to taste

It grows from listening, reading and waking

Available to us all, it’s ours for the taking

The challenge lies in its resistance to idle

It only shows when we put in our miles

Have faith The Magic always comes about

It also sees precisely what we put out

The Magic can’t be fooled and it does not play

It notices when we miss just a couple days

Commitment, one of The Magic’s strongest fuels

Test this truth and you see The Magic can be cruel

Fear not, The Magic can be forgiving too

It has a way of getting just enough out of you

Forgiveness is another piece of The Magic’s puzzle

Let things pass and you’ll have no trouble

Magic comes most easily with one simple action

Turns out love is The Magic’s greatest attraction

So pour love out for the world to soak up

You’ll have magic to fill even the deepest of cups

INTRODUCTION

I wrote that poem in May of 2020. Like many people, I was in a tough place. Only ten months into my second business, I lost over half my clients in the same week. Memories of closing my first business surfaced. I was scared it was happening again. The fear of failure draped over me like a weighted cloak. I retreated to my office, engulfed in apprehension and indecision.

I would hide there for hours, my laptop screen staring back at me. I slowly eked out blemished work stained by hours of negative thoughts, late nights and my partnership with alcohol. It was a bad friendship, I found comfort in hazy IPAs and a hefty dose of CNN. I was glued to screens: television, computer, phone… whatever would take my mind off the potential of failure. I was adrift. I gave more hours to my work for nothing more than giving hours to my work. It was a monotonous dream state where I limped through my life for two months.

Then I woke up. Literally, around five AM on a Saturday morning, I rose from my slumber. I thought about commitment. Commitment had fueled many good things in my life: my parents’ marriage, my marriage, my success in business, my wrestling career, etc. I wrote that poem that Saturday morning, knowing I had channeled a little genius. Thankfully, it drove me to explore myself and the other areas of my life.

When I first moved to Southern California in 2007, I had one driving ambition: live near the Pacific Ocean. It wasn’t the loftiest of goals but hey, I grew up in suburban Ohio. I wanted to stick my feet in the sand, hear the crashing waves and smell the salt-filled air. I wanted to wear flip-flops in December. And I wanted these things woven into my everyday life. I remember feeling spoiled each time I sat on the beach. It was pure bliss.

After a few years, my motivation shifted squarely to my career. I focused on getting a general management position at my first employer. Then building a web startup with a friend. Then climbing the ladder