Stop Dreaming

I just finished reading Year of Yes by Shonda Rimes. This is a funny and interesting take on what happens when you stop saying no to everything offered you. One section of the book that has really stuck with me is her commencement speech at Dartmouth delivered in 2014 titled Dreams Are For Losers.

Now, I am not going to rehash the entire speech as I think it is valuable enough (and short enough) for you, dear reader, to find and read (or you could do as I did and just pick up her book and give it a read). But, her advice is spot on and something I needed to hear right now. Stop talking about your dreams and start doing something to make them happen.

It all boils down to the question: Do you want to die with unfulfilled dreams or do you want to spend your life doing everything in your power to make those dreams come true? The world has enough dreamers who do nothing more than constantly talk about their dreams. This world really needs people who are going to roll up their sleeves and toil to make things happen.

Which are you?

Fear

Fear holds you back from doing everything you want to do
Fear keeps you from trying new things
Fear stops you from doing your best
Fear conditions you into thinking you can't chase your dreams
Fear destroys creativity
Fear keeps you from shipping
Fear breeds perfectionism
Fear leads to inaction
Fear causes you to conform
Fear encourages you to follow the flock
Fear hates change
Fear is what keeps you watching TV every night
Fear is what keeps you in that job you hate
Fear is what keeps you in a toxic relationship
Fear is what makes you follow the "rules" of life
Fear closes your heart to new things

Fuck Fear.
Stop being afraid of life and actually start living life

Limits

The only limits are the ones you put on yourself. Said another way...you can do anything you want to do. It's not going to be easy. It will take work, often a lot of work, but if you put in the time and energy, you can accomplish anything.

Stop listening to the naysayers. Pay no heed to the soul suckers. Forget about the doubters. Ignore everyone around you who doesn't support you. Believe in yourself, especially when others don't. Rise above the day to day bullshit and follow the path you want to follow.

No matter what you do, there are always going to be people who think you are crazy; people who will tell you no; people who will doubt you; people who just don't understand you. If they are going to be there no matter what, shouldn't you focus on what you want to do? Find people who will support you and surround yourself with them, then hit the ground running. What do you really want to do? What's really stopping you?

Tough Days

Some days are just going to be tougher than others. It matters how you handle these difficulties.

No one cares what you can get done when things are going well and everything is lined up for you. People will notice what you can get done when the shit hits the fan, nothing is working properly, everyone is under pressure, the tension is palpable and everyone wants to run away and hide. What you do during these moments really defines who you are. The tough days make us the people we are.

Embrace the tough days. You will learn more about yourself when things are tough than you ever will when everything is working properly.

Simple Questions

What are you doing to make today better than yesterday?

What are you doing to grow in to the person you want to be?

What are you doing to help others reach their potential?

How much more can you do?

What's stopping you?

Simple questions, but not so simple answers. What would happen if you actually answered these?

Talk Is Cheap

On this blog, I write a lot about doing great work. You can find numerous other blogs and books that also talk about the importance of doing great work. We can talk about taking chances and not fearing failure and not caring what other people think until we are blue in the face, but talk really gets us nowhere. Once we are done talking, it is difficult to actually make changes to who we are and what we do. Without making changes, the only thing we will be able to do is continue to talk about doing great things.

I know it is hard to change the way you do things and how you think. I have the same difficulties myself. I'm not as productive as I would like to be. I don't always do the things I want to do. There are times I let fear control me. I don't take risks as much as I should. I don't speak up. Sometimes, I just try blend in with everyone else. I don't always volunteer for the tough projects. I don't stick my neck out enough.

In all honesty, this frustrates the hell out of me. I urge others to do all of the things I don't do as much as I would like. This makes me feel like a hypocrite, but I know these feelings of frustration and disappointment are not productive. Instead of these feelings, I need to use this as motivation for living the life I talk about. If I want to do more, then I need to make sure I am doing more. I am the only one responsible for my actions, just as you are the only one responsible for yours.

You see, no matter what, life isn't about perfection. We are going to have our ups and downs and we are always going to strive to be or do something more than we are right now. We all have room to grow and we all have the ability to improve. Feeling down about the things we aren't doing isn't the way to grow. Instead, celebrate the things you are doing well and learn from the things you are not doing as well as you would like. Make changes to try to improve the areas where you think you need improvement, but don't beat yourself up over what you view as shortcomings. Just keep working towards doing better.

You are not perfect. You are not going to do everything exactly like you think you should every time. You are not always going to take the right risks or do as well as you would like. You can learn to do more of the things you want to do. You just have to be conscious of the things you need to do and force yourself to do them. Force yourself to speak up in a meeting and share your idea. Volunteer for the next project offered. When you feel fear holding you back, do exactly what you are scared of.

Be cognizant of what you aren't doing as well as you would like. Don't let this frustrate you, but recognize what you need to do, acknowledge the things holding you back, then overcome them. As I said earlier, you are the one in control of your actions. If you don't want anything to hold you back, then don't let anything hold you back. You can accomplish anything you want to accomplish. It's going to take work. You have to hold yourself accountable. You know what you must do to overcome whatever has stopped you in the past.

I know I will never be perfect, but I can be better than the person I was yesterday. I will continue to work on the things I want to do better. I will be more productive. I will not let fear stop me. I will take more risks. I will speak up more often. I will volunteer for the tough projects. I will stick my neck out. I will do more than I ever have. Will you?

Life Is What You Make It

I have been thinking about the idea of life is what you make it. I know we often talk about being in control or taking control of your life or doing what you love or anything of the sort, but how often do we really do any of these things? How often do we actually take control of our life instead of reacting to the stimuli constantly occurring around us? How often do we head in the direction we want, instead of following the path the winds are blowing us towards?

Some things are out of our control and it is important to make the best out of what happens around us (and to us). You may lose a job or a relationship will end or a manuscript will be rejected or you will be passed over for a promotion or any number of bad things that can happen to you. Don't dwell on the bad things when they happen. We've all heard the sayings: "there's more than one fish in the sea" or "when a door closes a window opens" or "everything happens for a reason". While we all know these are true, we have to do whatever we can to really make the best out of things that happen.

There are times, though, when you just can't make the best out of what happens. Instead of falling into an abyss of depression, sometimes you just have to shake your fist (often with your middle finger extended) to the heavens and use the anger as the fuel to learn as much as you can, pick yourself up and move forward. Not everything is going to work out in the end. That's perfectly normal and okay, no matter how many people mention a cute, little quote like the ones above. Sometimes shit just happens and we have to continue to get up in the morning and live life. We don't have to make the best out of these situations, but we do have to keep moving forward doing the best we can.

It would be great if someone could just give us a shortcut on making life exactly what we want it to be. We look around and we see people who seemingly are living the life they want and we just want to know how to get there. The real answer and the one most people don't want to hear is they worked their ass off. Yes, they may have had some lucky breaks along the way, but they still worked their assess off. I know, it's not the answer I wanted either. I was hoping for an easy way too...but everything you really want is going to take a lot of hard work. There really aren't any shortcuts on this journey, unless you don't really care about the outcome.

As you are trying to make your life what you want, remember no one really has all the answers. If they act like they do (or actually think they do), they are going to do more harm than good. You can read tons of books or listen to people speak or subscribe to all the self-help blogs and podcasts out here, but you are never going to find all the answers externally. Part of life being what you make it is knowing what you want with your life. Other people have their own agendas and ideas that probably don't mesh with yours. The only way to get all the "answers" from other people is to give up your own ideas. No matter how you spin it, this sounds a little too cultish to me (and trust me from experience, no matter how smart or well-known a leader is, they aren't going to be right about everything).

This life is what you make it. The good, the bad, the happy, the sad, the anger, the joy...everything rolled into one. While we are never going to have control over everything that happens, we do have control over ourselves. We can react to the things that happen and we can work towards the things we want to happen. We can fight. We can get angry. We can work our asses off. We can get lucky from time to time. We can have things ripped from our grasp. We can try to make the best of the shitty things that happen. We can just dust ourselves off and push forward when the really shitty things happen. We can curse the gods. We can thank the heavens. We can learn and dream and hope and pray. We just can't stop trying.

Get Good At Discomfort

As I was reading one of the blogs I follow, I came across this quote: "Get good at discomfort. Avoiding discomfort is very common, but a big mistake. Learning to be OK with some discomfort will change your life." The idea of learning to be okay with discomfort has stuck in my mind and I know we would all be better off if we followed this advice.

I look at my own life and think about the times I have kept going, despite discomfort. Hell, I can think about my morning run today and my mind screaming at me to stop, even though I was just a few minutes in. I was able to quiet it down and keep going, but the voice popped up again about 2 miles into the run. I have a love/hate relationship with running and feel the discomfort each and every time I hit the street. I don't let it stop me. I know I am going to feel it and keep on going.

Many times, we shirk away from things that make us uncomfortable or feel discomfort. We don't have the difficult conversations. We don't speak up for our ideas. We don't try new things. We don't set goals and stick to them. We don't exercise as much as we want or should. We don't go to new places. We don't strike up conversations with strangers. We don't ask for help. We don't push ourselves as hard as we could. We don't chase our dreams.

We don't do a lot of things because we might feel some distress or mild pain. We choose to stay where we are and avoid discomfort at all costs. Does this make any sense to you? Look at your life and any accomplishment of which you are proud. Did it come without discomfort? Were the great things in life the easy to accomplish?

Get good at discomfort. Hell, for the next couple of weeks, go out of your way to do things that bring discomfort. Feel some distress and mild pain and see how easy it is to keep going. Don't listen to the voice telling you to stop and keep on pushing. You are never going to know what you are capable of accomplishing until you push further than you thought possible.

Discomfort is good...when you feel it, you know you are trying. Stop avoiding it.

Begin it now

I know I write about this a lot, but I came across this quote attributed to Johann Wolfgang van Goethe recently and no matter who actually wrote it, this gets the point across. 

No matter what you want to do, start doing it. If you are terrible, then you are terrible, but practicing is what will make you good. If you are scared, good. The things we are most scared of are usually the things we should be doing. If you don't know if it is right, then try it. How will you ever know unless you try? What if you fail? Then you try again. 

We spend so much time thinking about whether or not we should do something that we make starting the hardest part. Stop thinking so much and just get started. Starting doesn't mean the world is going to be figured out or that you have to keep doing it the rest of your life. Starting just means you have taken the first step...you have gotten past the hesitancy and you have begun. Starting is neither the end of the world or the change you have been waiting for. 

Starting is the first step (of many) down the path you want to follow. Just like every other path you have followed in life, there will be many other branching paths you can take as you move along it. Starting doesn't decide everything; it just gets your ass in gear. Starting doesn't commit you to anything, it just allows you to move forward. Stop standing still hoping change will come to you. Whatever it is you want to do, begin today. No more hesitation, no more fear, no more over-thinking...just start.  

Be You, Glorious You

How many days do you have left to accomplish everything you want to accomplish?

If you really think about this question, it's quite scary. For many of us, we have procrastinated accomplishing things thinking there will always be tomorrow. We haven't traveled as much as we wanted. We haven't pushed ourselves as hard as we wanted. We've watched more TV than we should. We haven't spent as much time with friends and family as we would want. We've worked jobs we hate to pay for shit we really don't need. We've silenced our dreams to do what we think society expects us to do. We've wasted precious time doing things we don't remember or care about.

We can read all the blogs and books ever written about how to lead a meaningful life, but unless we make the choice to do something, we are going to continue to do what we have always done. This life is ours to do with what we will. If we choose to skate through life, then we won't really accomplish what we want to accomplish. No one has the goal to just get through life. We want to live fully and do what excites us. We want to leave a legacy. We want to be remembered.

No one is going to remember what television we watched or what work we half-assed. No one is going to remember the people who did little and made no waves. No one is going to remember the vast majority of people who live today. What mark are we going to leave on this world when we pass? What are people going to say about our life once we are gone? This doesn't mean we need to live our life just to please others. We want people to point at us as an example of how to actually live.

We don't have to do what we think society expects of us. We don't have to do what we think other people, even trusted people, think we should do. We don't have to get frustrated when people question our passion. We don't have to live our life pleasing anyone else but us. We don't have to live our life afraid to offend others. Some might say this is selfish, but this is our life to do with what we will. We don't have to buy the shit everyone else buys and we don't have to chase the same goals other people chase. We are individuals and should have our own beliefs, our own goals and our own dreams. We have to be true to who we are.

There will always be people who don't understand us. This is okay and we don't have to convince them of anything. If they stand in our way, then we'll go around them. If they can't give us what we need, then we'll find someone who will. We can't let the doubters hold us back. We can't let other people slow us down. We can't buy in to their bullshit and if we offend a few people along the way, then good. Maybe it will help wake them up. We have to forget about the status quo and not rocking the boat. Rock to your heart's content. Do what needs to be done to keep pushing forward. Don't ever give up and lead the life you are meant to lead. Be you, glorious you, in everything you do.

We all need to make the choice to live our life. We must stop putting aside our goals and dreams and start chasing them. We must stop taking things as they are and start making them better. We must forget what everyone else says and follow our heart. It's time to silence the fears in our head and start moving. It's time to get out of our comfort zone and risk failing again and again. Failure isn't bad. Choosing to not get back up is when we lose. If anyone tells us they haven't failed, then they are either lying or not trying hard enough. We can't listen to them. We can't listen to anyone who tells us something different than what our heart tells us. We have time, but we have to start doing what we need to do.

How many days do you have left to accomplish everything you want to accomplish?    

We Have To Start

As a writer, there is nothing quite as frustrating as having a blank page and not knowing what to write. The cursor mocks you, just sitting there and blinking over and over again, but not contributing to the words that take up the space. The longer you sit without writing, the harder it gets to actually start.

I see our lives like this. We know there are things we want to do, but getting started is the hardest part. Making that one choice, doing that one thing to get the ball rolling helps us pick up momentum and pushes us forward. Newton's first law shows that a body at rest tends to stay at rest unless an outside force acts upon it. In life, we are the outside force. We have to start the process to get moving, otherwise we are going to continue to sit and only think about the things we want to do.

Why is getting started so difficult? Each of us has our own answer to this question, but for many, the answer lies in either being afraid of what will happen once we start moving or being unsure of what we actually want. Once we act and start moving down an uncharted path (at least for us) we can't see what is ahead. We know what we would like to happen, but we are unable to see if it will. This makes starting scary. Some people hesitate very little before starting, but others hesitate for so long they lose all courage to actually start.

Not only is starting scary because of this, but rarely do we know exactly what we want. We think we do, but we aren't sure. Instead of going after what we think we want, we look deeper and deeper inside, constantly questioning if this is the right thing to do. We see other people doing great things and wonder if we would be happy doing them too. We look at our own lives and come up with excuses on why it wouldn't work or figure out ways to convince ourselves that it isn't what we actually want. Staying at rest is much easier than summoning the courage to start. We don't want to step out of our comfort zone, but the great things are rarely found when we are comfortable.

How do we get better at starting? We have to force ourselves to start more. We have to sit down and just start writing and get the words on paper. We have to force ourselves to have the difficult conversation with a boss or loved one. We have to buy the plane ticket. We have to apply for the job we really want. We have to step out of our comfort zone and see what happens. Sometimes we are not going to get what we want, but even when this happens, we learn more about who we are and what we are capable of doing. We have to start.

It's going to be difficult. It's going to be scary. We are going to be unsure. We are going to want to hesitate. We are going to want to think about it more. We are going to want to make sure we are positive that this is what we want. All of this is okay to feel and think, but we can't let it stop us from doing. We have to throw caution to the wind and start. It's much easier to make adjustments as we are moving. The goal is to keep pushing forward, to keep doing, to keep being that outside force not letting our body stay at rest. We have to start.

Try not!

A wise, green, little Jedi master once uttered the words, "Do or do not, there is not try." While many people will smirk at the reference, these are great words to live by.

Commit to something. Trying, in itself, includes hesitancy. By "trying" you are already admitting this may not work and giving yourself a way out when it doesn't. With this net, you will not give your all and you are already planning the excuses when it doesn't. If you go into something believing there is a good possibility of it not working out, you are setting yourself up for it not to work. Trying is the easy way out. You can throw up your hands after giving 50% and say "I tried". Trying doesn't push you to accomplish anything.

Do it. Whatever you want to try, instead convince yourself you are going to do it. If you want to try to run a mile, instead say to yourself you are going to run a mile. By doing, you are not allowing your mind a way out. You are not giving in before you start as there is no hesitancy. There is no easy way out. When you commit to doing anything, you are going to work your ass off to make sure it happens. You still may not succeed, but you are going to give 100% to get it done. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work. At least you will know that you did everything possible to do it.

Elimante try from your vocabulary. More importantly, eliminate try from your mind. When you want something, commit to doing it. Don't give yourself an out. Don't lose before your even start. Either commit or don't, the choice is yours, but quit hiding behind try. Once you start believing in yourself and commit to doing, your will start accomplishing the things you set out to do.

Go Do It

If you could do one thing today, what would it be?

Now that you know, go do it. No excuses, no buts, no "I cant's".

Go do it.

What Do You Really Want To Do?

When you allow yourself to think and dream, what do you really want to do? What passion are you holding back, not allowing yourself to realize? What reasons do you have for holding back?

What needs to happen for you to do what you really want to do? Sit down and write it out. Start at the top of a page with whatever you're dreaming of doing. Now, write out the steps below that would allow you to do it. Can you do step #1 now? If not, break down this step into smaller steps to figure out what you need to do to get to step #1. Now, what needs to happen for you to start on sub-step #1?

If you actually do this, you will realize there is nothing stopping you from getting started. You don't have to have the entire plan in place or the ability to do all the steps right now. But, you will find it is much easier to do step #2 once you start and do step #1. What are you waiting for?

What To Do With 2012

Well, 2012 is upon us and if you haven't already, it is time to figure out what to do with this year. We can continue along the same way we have lived 2011 (and probably 2010 and 2009), or we can try something new. Even if 2011 was a banner year for you, is there something more, something different, something interesting you can do in 2012?

For me, and I believe for many, there is a list of things waiting to be done. I have physical lists and mental lists of things I have always wanted to do but have not. I want 2012 to be the year I stop procrastinating and start checking things off the list. I know this sounds easy, but there is a reason I haven't checked them off the list yet.

It is often easier to continue doing the same things day in and day out and never push forward to complete things you really want to complete. We have structured our lives in a way that makes accomplishing them very difficult. We have a groove we follow and it is usually easier to keep following this groove than to pop out and change our routine.

I hear a lot of my friends talk about how they don't have the time or the money to do things they want to do. They make resolutions each year to do them and by the end of January, these resolutions have fallen away as they continue in their previous groove. Once you are in your groove, physics works to keep you there. For many of us, the forces acting upon us are the same forces acting upon nature. Just like it was easier for the Colorado river to stay in its groove for years and years, our groove keeps us where we are.

Starting a new routine can be difficult, but once started it becomes easier and easier to follow. Do you want to continue in your current groove or would you like to start a new groove, a new routine to help you accomplish things you haven't been able to accomplish just yet? In 2012, I plan on checking off some of the items on my to-do list. It's going to take work, but if these items have been sitting there for years and haven't disappeared, I think the work will be well worth it.

Do Trust in the Things You Love

This video exemplifies why I am in love with Do Lectures. Mickey Smith comes across as a very nervous and unassuming man who has done a lot of interesting things in his life while chasing his passion. He has a great story to tell and shares a beautiful video near the end. His story may challenge you to do more, want more or try more. Life is precious and we should go through it with a smile. As he says in the video, "if I can only scrape a living, at least it will be a living worth scraping."

Take a few minutes, sit back and enjoy this lecture. Think about what kind of life you want and what you feel the need to do. We can learn a lot from the people around us and the internet has made this group of people even larger. We are lucky to have so many people doing so many great things. How can you not help but be inspired?

Take the First Step

I think there are many people walking through each day wishing they could figure out their passion and then start following it. I know I have often floundered in the thoughts of wondering what I was supposed to be doing, what would bring fulfillment into my life and what would give the happiness I often seem to be missing. I have struggled with these thoughts and never made any move as I always wanted a plan in place. I needed to know what I was going to do and how I was going to pay the bills and where I was going to end up. This rarely, if ever, happens.

If you speak with anyone who is doing what they love and making a difference in the world, they will all tell you plans tend to change, focus tends to change and the direction tends to change. Every day brings new challenges, new knowledge, new ideas and new paths for us to follow. We will never be able to plan out the rest of our life (or even the rest of the month) because we will never know what is to come. Everything is not going to work the way we want, just because we want something to happen or events to unfold in a certain way. This doesn't mean we are going to fail; it means we are going to make choices along the way to keep on moving forward.

Of course, make some plans, but realize they are very likely to change. Yes, you may need to think about how you are going to pay the bills before making a radical decision. There are always going to be reasons why you should or shouldn't do something and the reasons why you shouldn't are going to be the loudest voices in you head. This voice loathes risk, hates taking chances and abhors change. This voice rarely has anything good to say and focuses on the worst case scenario (and usually even exaggerates these). We are so used to listening to this voice, we usually don't even realize when it is speaking. This voice may seem very rational, but it is not. We all have to learn to listen for this voice of fear and find the best ways to ignore it.

There is one sure way to start your journey towards finding your passion and allowing your purpose to embrace everything you do. Take the first step. Yes, it is going to be scary, but the other option is to sit back and listen to the voice and continue to hope you will one day be smacked in the face with your passion and everything will be given to you on a silver platter. This is never going to happen. Start searching, start doing, start dreaming and start moving towards something. You don't even need to know what that something is just yet, but for most of you reading this, you know what you have now and what you do now isn't everything. For most of us, we have a lot more to offer the world. We have a lot more art to make and the only way we are ever going to find the courage is to start moving forward. Once you start moving, it will take more energy to stop than to keep going. You will never know what doors will open for you along the way unless you take the first step.

Turn Off The Television

Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of relaxing to revitalize your body and mind. While there are some people you know who seem to have endless energy and never need a break, I know most, if not all of us, need to take the time away to recharge and refocus if we want to create beautiful work. We have our own talents and skills and we have to find a way to connect these with what we want to do. Everyone has dreams. Everyone has goals. We start to fall short in reaching them when we don't understand how to leverage our talents for the greatest good.

Many people work in jobs where they are unable to (or have yet to figure out how to) use their talents and skills. They continue to toil away at this job to pay the bills and haven't connected the dots to figure out how to utilize what they offer to create a more lasting impact. In many cases, what we do outside of the daily job utilizes these skills and talents in ways we could never do within the work. We live in a society where we label each other based on what we do for a living. We have titles and ranks that may have nothing to do with what we can actually offer the world if we were using our skills and talents.

Many people feel stuck by their place in life because they are afraid to let go of what they have to try something different. They see their pay or their benefits and wonder if it is worth giving them all up to do something "crazy". This is a personal choice. But, it doesn't have to be the only choice we have. Many people create beautiful things while working a job to pay the bills. It's a good way to start, but requires motivation and dedication because it involves working outside of the work we do to pay the bills. It requires reorganizing your life and giving up some of the things we do after a long day (or in my case before a long day) of work.

We may hear this a lot, but turn off the television. Many of us spend so much time glued to this box watching things that don't really bring anything in to our lives. I used to be this person. I would DVR tons of shows and then spend my downtime catching up on the latest episodes of House or Survivor or anything else that looked good at the time. I would veg out in front of the television and the next thing I knew, I had been there for hours with nothing to show for my time except I could talk to other people who did the same thing about the shows we watched. I wasn't really growing or becoming a better person by doing it. I'm not saying you have to remove television completely from your life, but take control of the remote and spend some time creating instead of watching.

You have the ability to bring some beauty in to the world utilizing your skills and talents. The world deserves your creations. What if we could do something that brings a lasting impact, even if it is for just one other person? How would we feel? We have this ability. We just have to do instead of watch.

Stop Talking and Do

Seriously, how is it already December? Life is flying by and seems to fly by at a much faster rate the older I get. It feels like only yesterday we were celebrating 2011 coming in to existence. I look back at the last year and realize I have had a really good year, even if I didn't accomplish or do a lot of of the things I wish I had. For most people, this is true when we examine the year as it comes to a close.

Yesterday, I wrote about goal setting for the upcoming year and wondered how I would be able to accomplish more of the goals I set. Motivation and focus are the two important traits I need to stoke to actually do the things I want to do. With a little more work and a little more organization, I hope to do more in 2012 than I have been able to in other years. As December 2012 rolls around, I hope I can look back at the year and realize I did accomplish more of what I wanted to accomplish, as well as having another great year.

For me, and I am sure for many of you, we push our goals thinking they can be done tomorrow or next week or next month and we never seem to get to the point where we can start working towards them. For next year, one of my goals is to really focus on doing the things I want to do. I need to stop the procrastination and focus on really doing the work. I am not sure if I procrastinate because I am afraid of not being able to handle doing what I want, because I don't want to put in the work and then have the final product be less than I imagined or because I just think there will always be time. It's probably a mixture of the three.

I have to train my mind to realize there is no time better than now to focus on all of the things I want to do. The time is never going to be perfect and pushing off my goals is only going to end with never actually accomplishing the things I want to accomplish. I don't want to look back in December of 2015 or 2020 and wonder how I still didn't accomplish the things I am thinking about this year. There is always tomorrow is a mantra I have to remove from my vocabulary. I want to actually do everything on my list of goals and the only thing holding me back is me. As I look back at 2012, I want to see the year when I learned to do instead of just talking about it.    

Be Great

Many of us are dreamers and thinkers and visionaries, but we get stuck when it is time to do. We aren't sure the best course of action or we think we need a full plan or we just hold back when we have the opportunity. I know I have done this more often than I would like. Dreaming, thinking or envisioning a better world, a better job or even a better day is great, but without actually doing something, none of it really matters.

We have to do something. When we look around and notice great people, it isn't because they had great thoughts or ideas, it is because they put these thoughts and ideas in to action. They realized they didn't always need to know the best course of action or have a plan, they just started doing. They took their idea or thought and ran with it. They didn't hold back; they released their gifts to the world. Things might work out or they might fail. The great people realize that either way, they will have more thoughts and ideas to work on later. When we start doing, we free our mind to come up with more (and sometimes better) ideas.  Everyone can come up with an amazing idea, it's the truly great who actually do something with it.