Sunday, November 08, 2009

I look before I leap...

So I felt compelled to expand on the Facebook status message I posted the other night. If you missed it I said: "I feel like I am not doing what I should be doing". I got a lot of encouraging and supportive responses all with great advice. I just felt like perhaps I should expand on my comment a little more.

The statement I made refers to more than just my career. I enjoy what I do and I think I do a pretty darn good job with it. I have always had tons of goals in life, but it seems I have always looked for reasons not to do things. When I was a sales manager I had people that would spend lots of time telling me they could not meet their objective and explaining why. I used to tell them to quit looking for the reasons they cannot do something rather look for the reasons that they can.

I guess really this sort of refers back to an earlier post by me in which I said I was always good at "Talking the Talk", but I really need to focus on "Walking the Walk". Zig Ziglar says: "If you wait until all the lights are "green" before you leave home, you'll never get started on your trip to the top."

I spend time seeing the red lights and never beginning the journey. It is easy to think that we do this because we are scared of failing. I believe differently, in my case I think I am afraid of the success. Where will I go next? What will the expectations be from everyone?

I remember a few years back struggling with a decision on whether to take a leap without looking. I sat with my Dad and talked to him about what was going through my mind and the goals and dreams that I had. This is what my dad said to me...."If you think the grass is greener on the other side, then stand in your own grass and throw fertilizer and water on the other side before you step over there". Heck I never liked mowing my own yard let alone taking care of someone elses. But I knew what he was saying and since that time I have used his advice in my life and with others.

Many of you that know me know that I have always enjoyed performing and being on stage. That has always been a part of my life in fact, it was what I wanted to do. I wanted to get my degree in music and spend my life performing and teaching others to have the same appreciation for music and the arts that I had.

In college I decided that I needed to be more realistic and ended up getting my degree in business administration. I quit performing almost entirely at that time. Then after starting my career I began performing again and became pretty active in a few different theater groups. it was awesome I had the best of both worlds.

Now here I am and it has been almost six years since I was last on stage. Everytime I find something I would like to be involved in I find the reasons I cannot do them. I see the red lights and never start the journey.

It is time for me to stop seeing the red lights, quit finding the reasons that I cannot do things and start "Walking the Walk". It is time to be what I know I can be and do the things I know that will make me more fulfilled in life.