A year from now you may wish you had started today.  ~Karen Lamb

You think big, dream big, plan big and take action in a big way.  Unfortunately this often happens only in your mind.  On the out side you continue on with the day to day, looking busy but procrastinating on that which is really important to you.

Think about something that really matters to you, something that you know if you took action on would have  an amazingly wonderful impact on your life.  Something that would take your business, relationship, or health to a new level of greatness and satisfaction.
What action have you taken on it?  Possibly little if any.

If its so important why have you let all this time pass, how could you even let a week go by without taking any action.

To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.  ~Eva Young

Initially it is important to think of everything that needs to be done in order to achieve our objectives, but once you have thought it through and created a plan, don’t think about it anymore Just Do It! Action overcomes fear.

If you believe you can do it, know that you can.  Decide on the first steps required and make them happen as soon as you can.  If you can do it today. Do it!

Life moves so fast, before you know it a year will have gone by.  Make the important things in your life happen.  Let this week be the week you truly begin to make your dreams a reality.

Begin Your Journey To Greatness.  Book a FREE Executive Coaching phone session.

Today as I was sitting at my computer, and as a result of a recent email, I checked a quote for a stock I once had invested in. When I sold it, I made a profit. It eventually went down to 50 cents, but today it was trading $5.

I immediately found myself thinking, If only I had kept that stock. If only I had bought more shares when it was at 50 cents.

If only… If only.

What are some of your If onlys?

• If only I would have married…
• If only I would have dated…
• If only I would have studied…
• If only I would have chosen…
• If only I had… I could have had…

Where does this type of thinking lead you?

Returning to the Past

Probably back into the past. It reminds you of choices you could have made and failures that resulted from not having made that set of choices. Perhaps it leaves you feeling frustrated or depressed, because you’re not nearly as far along as you’d like to be.

How well does this type of thinking serve you? How well does it help you get closer to achieving your goals and dreams?

As you take a moment to reflect, I am sure you realize that being frustrated with the If only‘s  and What ifs of your past doesn’t serve you in a positive way. Living with past disappointments holds you back from achieving successes in the future.

So what can you do if struck by an If only?

ROAR

I’m not suggesting that you pretend you’re a lion and roar away, although I wouldn’t be surprised if that released some endorphins, made you smile and increased your overall feeling of well being.

Reflect – Take your self back to the situation. Try to understand what thoughts and feelings were at play when you made your choices.

Options – If a similar situation were to present itself again, what choices might you make? What thoughts and emotions might you draw upon?

Action – Once you decide the options that would work best, what will be your action plan when a similar situation would present itself in the future.

Reflect Forward – Imagine a time in the future when this situation presents itself again. See yourself taking Action on the Options  you have chosen. Spend the time to savor the feelings that arise from this forward reflective process.

By going through this type of process, you free yourself from the negative life impact of living in the past and instead harness your life learning to drive yourself forward to future successes.

A businessman decides one day that he wants to create an inheritance for his family. Something that will help them in the generations to come. He choses to grow a forest. He has plenty of arid land and if he plants the forest now, in 50 years it will be a valuable resource for his descendants.

He buys 1000 Saplings and hires a worker to plant them.

The week that the project is to begin he is called out of town on business. So he shows his worker a map of his land and tells him to plant the trees while he is gone.

A week later the businessman returns anxious to see his future forest.

He asks the worker to take him to where he planted the saplings. The worker proudly takes him to the lake where he did his planting. When they arrive at the spot the businessman only sees a handful of saplings by the lake. He asks were the rest are. The worker with a confused look on his face tells the businessman that he has planted all the saplings here by the lake. It seemed like such a good place to put them right by the water, so no one would have to carry buckets of water to care for them.

The businessman asked the worker.

“Didn’t you realize that the tide would wash away the sapling from the shoreline? And besides, there is barely enough room here by the lake for 20 trees, how could you plant all 1000 right here?”

The following week after learning what was involved in planting and growing the businessman bought another 1000 saplings and explained to the worker what the forest was to look like in the future, where to plant the trees and how to care for them. Throughout the process the business man was there supervising and supporting the workers efforts.

And so it became that the dream of the businessman was realized. Fifty years later those saplings had grown into mighty pine trees. As the trees grew they released their own seeds into the land and now there were far more trees than those original 1000. It was a fine forest providing lumber, saplings and other materials for many generations to come.

Do you have vision? Do you hold a picture in your mind of what your future life will be? And if you do how is that vision expressing it self in your daily actions.

In the story the businessman is your vision of a meaningful future. A realization that action has to be taken know to ensure material/physical/spiritual success down the road.

The worker is our actions. The doing required to achieve our visions and goals.

In the story our worker (actions) failed the first time around because our businessman (vision) went away and left the worker without sufficient information. This is representative of actions taken on a fleeting vision. You here or think of something that inspires you and you rush to take action on it, but your action is without solid awareness of what is required. The result is failure, frustration and lost effort.

In the end our businessman realizes that it is more than just having a vision, he must deepen his awareness of what is involved in bringing that vision to realization. And with that clear understanding of what is involved the worker can take the proper action, and be guided by the businessman holding the vision ever present.

YOU must SEE and KNOW the forest, before you plant that first sapling.

Coaching Questions.

What is your goal?

Why is it important to you?

What information do you need to make that goal happen?

What are the action steps required to achieve your goal?

What is the first action step?