If You Really Want To Do Something...

How did the first week of 2013 treat you? We're a week in and I haven't started to focus on any of my goals. This is the first blog post I have started to write. I haven't run. I haven't read much. I haven't made the time to do the things I need to do to succeed this year. Many people (and the person I was for many years) would throw up their hands, become frustrated and give up because they couldn't get started doing what they needed to do. They would quit without even really trying. We can't give up that easily.

I could also make excusing about why I didn't do what I needed to do. Work has been crazy and I have been putting in ten to twelve hour days. Even on my days off, I get phone calls from work (the last time I didn't get a call or text from work was while I was out of the country). By the time I get home, I am usually fairly tired and want nothing more than to relax with my wife. Friends were in town for some of this week and we had guests staying at our house. There were other things I had to get done around the house.

All of that is true, but none of it really matters. There are tons of people who work more hours and still find time to start a business, write a novel, go to school, learn a language, write a successful blog, invent something or do any number of things that many of us don't. Many people have responsibilities, commitments and schedules that keep them amazingly busy, but they find ways to chase their own dreams and goals. There are people who are able to do way more with way less.

Don't accept the reasons you try to give yourself for why you aren't doing what you want to be doing. They are excuses and nothing more. If you want to accomplish a goal, you can find ways to do it. No one else is going to hold you accountable...you have to hold yourself accountable. Maybe you get up an hour earlier. Maybe you go to sleep an hour later. Maybe you just schedule time into your hectic calendar and stick to your appointments to run or read or write or learn. Do it on breaks at your other job. We can find a way to do the things we really want to do.

Are the goals you set important to you? Think honestly about them...at one point they were important enough to set as goals. If you are able to work on them, would you still want them as a goal? If so, then figure out how to succeed. Decide what needs to be done and then work on doing it. If you need more time to train or learn or practice, then make more time. You have control over your life, if you choose to take control. No more excuses. We can either make the time and put in the effort or we can give up. I know I don't want to give up. Do you?

Change Happens

Change happens.  It's all around us...things are constantly changing every day. From small, imperceptible changes to monumental changes you can't help but notice, everything around us is in a constant state of change. Yet, we are terrified of change.

Wouldn't it be better to embrace, invite and chase change instead of fighting like hell against it?

What would happen if we just acknowledged that some change is going to be difficult, but we are just going to roll with it the best we can?

How would we feel differently if we were actively facilitating many of the changes happening in our life? Would they be less scary if we were part of the cause?

Change happens and is going to continue to happen every day. How are you going to react?

Chasing vs Running Away

In yesterday's post, I wrote about the importance of knowing what you are chasing. While this is necessary, it doesn't always mean you know what the next move will be. We all have defined goals (or if you don't, start defining them now), but we don't always know what each step will be to bring us closer to these goals.

When we make any change in life, when any door closes, we don't always know which new doors will open. We will never know how each action is going to change things, but as long as we stay alert to the possibilities, we can keep moving forward. Closing a door is hard. Making the decision to move on is hard. Stepping out from the ledge and falling in to the abyss of possibility is hard (and can be quite scary).

Just keep pushing forward. With defined goals, we know what we are chasing even if we don't know how to get there. Every day, things will change and we have to remain open to the possibilities. The key is to make sure you are chasing and not running away. When we run away, we are trying to move forward without keeping our head up and our eyes fixed on the possibilities. It's impossible to really move forward when you are running away and our problems always seem to catch up.

Before making a change, make damn sure you aren't just running from your problems. Know what you want and chase it.

Chase Your Interests

Let's make a pact. Let's stop watching our life go by as if it is a movie and instead start controlling our life and steering it in the directions we want. Instead of passively sitting by and hoping happiness or dreams or passions fall in to our lap, let's start chasing our interests. Today is as good of a day as any.

If there is something you have been interested in learning or trying, find a class or a lecture and sign up. If you want to learn Spanish or programming or yoga or meditation or particle physics, look for a way to make this a reality. If you hate your job and want to find a new one, start networking and applying for the job you want. If you want to start exercising, find a gym or a group of people who also want to start and then get going. We have to stop sitting around hoping everything will happen the way we want and start chasing our dreams.

This doesn't mean we have to have a plan or even know exactly what we want to do, but by learning more and trying more, we open ourselves up to more and more. A class or a lecture can show we really aren't interested in what we thought we were and that is just fine. If this is the case, move on to another interest and try again. As long as we are constantly searching and trying new things, we are working towards finding the things we love. 

Our life wasn't meant to be spent doing the same things over and over again. Our interests change, our passions can change and we are meant to continue to learn and grow. Try new things, learn new things and have fun doing it. While we might not enjoy or even be good at everything we try, at least we aren't sitting back hoping things will change or get better. Start today. Do something, anything, to add more knowledge and experience to your life.  

Dreams

This tree really has nothing to do with this post, I just like it.

We all dream. We all have dreams. Our most important dreams are those we have when we are awake. These are the things we are supposed do. We are meant to chase our dreams and if we try hard enough, we just might catch them. Once we do, we are lucky enough to be able to dream again and come up with something new to chase.

The worst thing we could ever do is ignore these dreams. We may never feel the time is right to start chasing them. We may have too many responsibilities or too many bills or too many people relying on us. We may feel as if we owe our company or our boss for the job we have or feel it would be selfish to quit. We may be afraid of failing. We have probably become really too good at convincing ourselves we still have time and we can start tomorrow, which becomes the following day or the following month or the following year. We are amazing at coming up with excuses. While we may never feel the time is right, the time you choose, right now, is the right time to start chasing your dreams.

We dream for a reason. Our emotions and heart and intuition know what we want to do, what we should be doing, how we can bring the most good in to the world. Because we have become so good at ignoring these, we dream. It's the best way for the emotion and heart and intuition to be heard. Listen to them and start chasing.