Do we have a vision for where WE are taking our lives? Are we continually taking actions towards goals we have for ourselves, for our families, for our careers, for our businesses? Or have we succumbed to and become complacent with the routines and habits in our lives not really engaging in creating the path ahead? Are we just along for the ‘ride’ life has to offer? Have we turned off our conscious, creative and visionary selves and allowed our unconscious self create and direct our lives?
I’m reminded of an interaction I had with someone who was describing the goals they had for their business and their athletic endeavours. Reflecting back on this conversation I remember doubt creeping into my thoughts. I doubted this person’s ability to actually achieve the things he discussed. He had visions and plans and was taking action toward achieving his goals and all I could think about was if I actually believed he could. What do my beliefs have to do with whether or not someone else can achieve the visions, goals, and plans that they have for their lives?
I realize that this is the way that I live my life and the way that a lot of us live. We doubt our own abilities to go out and go after the things that we want in life. When we’re presented with other people who do have big dreams and plans and are actually taking action we impose our own beliefs (which our only about ourselves) onto them.
The beliefs that we have help us stay stuck where we are. Our unconscious motives hold us in place. These unconscious beliefs that we have can be like anchors that have us trying to swim forward in our life but we’re not going anywhere because we really don’t believe in the possibility.
If we want to discover what our beliefs are about what possibilities exist for our own lives we need to simply look at our lives and the people who are closest to use. Are they innovative, creative, pushing themselves forward in various aspects of their lives or are they content with where they are in their life that appears to be moving but is simply stagnant. Life for most people appears to be moving only because time goes on and appearances change when in reality they’re living the same life now as they were living 10, 20, 30, 40 years ago.
We ALL have the ability to take our lives any direction we want. Sometimes it can feel like we’re taking one step forward and two steps back. Sometimes it can feel like we have no momentum whatsoever. The point is that we need to continue to dream up anything we desire in any or all aspect of our lives. Anything truly is possible. We just need to dedicate some time to what direction we want to take our lives in and then break it down into steps that we can look toward achieving each day, each week, and in the coming months and years of our lives.
The only thing we need to focus on is the dreams we have and the small steps we’re taking. As Gary Vaynerchuk says, it’s all about the clouds and the dirt. My interpretation is that we’ve got to keep our head in the clouds and have those big dreams but we’ve also go to have ourselves in the ‘dirt’, in the here and now, and what we can do in this moment to create that which we want most in our lives.
As always, Strive To Optimize!