Did you take a single step last week towards or away fr
om something that was going to take courage to make the change? Or, did you make excuses and procrastinate the action that you needed to take? In other words, did your need to stay in your lane get in the way of progress?
I can hear the voices in your head going “But, it could all go wrong.” Maybe, the voice in your head should be asking you “What if it goes great?” You can play the ‘What IF’ game forever and never get off start. It is important to fail early and fail often. If you have never had a failure in your life, you haven’t learned anything.
Early in my career, I attended a lecture given by Jack Canfield to guidance counsellors. It was when he was just starting out. He had several messages.
- The first message was that “FEAR is an acronym for Fantasized Expectations Appearing Real”. Whatever you do, you must refuse to let fear rule your life.
- As I write this blog post, I can hear him deliver the second message, “This planet is the Olympics. Only the best get to play. You are you out of 100,000,000 potential other yous. You won the most important race of your life, when you won the sperm race. You came into this world a winner. Why would you want to learn to lose?”
- His third message was ‘when we try to put people into boxes, we start teaching them to lose.’ These three messages changed my way of working with people.
The bottom line is that you are in the Olympics called Life. You will never be a medal contender unless you do something different today than you did yesterday. Why would you squander the time you have? Why would waste a minute of a day, where you could make a difference? Where are you stuck? Who can help you get unstuck?
When you are born, you deposited between 27,000 and 30,000 days in the bank account called life. We were born to make a difference. We were born to actively participate in this world rather than withdraw from the world. Every day is a withdrawal from your life bank account.
My Rule 5 Challenge for you:
- Make your bed every day. It is good to start the day with a success. I have done this since I was old enough to make a bed. It will become a habit quick enough.
- Unplug from your technology for at least 2 hours every day. On your tombstone, it should read ‘we only saw the back of their head’. Go for a walk.
- Put down the mobile phone. Conversation is a people activity. Try actually talk to your family.
- Call a friend. Friends of friends on Facebook® and Instagram® aren’t people that you can call if you are in jail and need bail.
- Appreciate the people in your life. Relationships are what makes this world work. Take care of the relationships that you have.
And again,
- Complete one thing on your to do list. Cross it off the list.
- Celebrate.
Get off your backside and do something, anything. Stop making excuses. To paraphrase, Richard Branson “Screw it, just do it.”
Have an absolutely amazing week.
Quotes of the Week
“You’ll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.” Irish Proverb
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
“I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.” Gilbert K. Chesterton
