If you want the end you’ve got to also want the means. If you can’t see or don’t know what the end is then going through the means can seem senseless, futile, or unnecessary. This is why it’s so important to set a meaningful goal to anchor you and give you strength as you traverse the oftentimes tedious, unpleasant, tiring, time consuming means.
The more you embrace the means the more pleasant getting to your destination will be. When you get there if the prize of reaching your goal doesn’t shine as brightly as you imagined, you will still find satisfaction in its pursuit because you didn’t treat it as a grim-determined grind, a tedious struggle, a means to an end.
I can attest to this. Recording the audio version of Growing Bold did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. I started recording in the Spring; I got frustrated because my allergies caused me difficulty in getting a clean recording, so I put it down until September hoping my allergies would be better. Unfortunately they still plagued me. But this time I decided to plug on and fix the recording on the back end in the editing process. This was very, very time consuming and laborious. As I edited I got so caught up in the process that I stopped thinking about how much more time it was taking me and focused on the satisfaction of splicing in updates seamlessly. Now, four months later, the audio version is available and I’m amazed with the results.
I must remember this idea as I work diligently to make a big life change happen next year. I will share the news with you next week. There is a lot of grunt work to complete in a limited amount of time to make this life change happen. It can be tiring and stressful if I allow it to be, if I focus on wanting only the end and not the means as well. It seems like there are miles to go before I sleep and at times I don’t feel like crossing those miles. But to experience my envisioned future, to have that blissful rest, I am finding ways to enjoy the journey. So with this vision of my future firmly before me, I carry on feeling upbeat, despite feeling weary at times. This worthy and exciting vision fuels me, keeps me positive, and anchors me.
What is your vision for your life as we go into 2018? By this time next year what do you plan to be doing or celebrating? Perhaps your vision is so grand that it will take a number of years to come to pass, to put it all together. If this is the case, vision where along your multi-year journey you plan to be this time next year.
It all starts with a goal and a vision. We each create our life experiences first in our minds then as a we actually build them – from our thoughts and emotions come our actions and results. Sustaining a powerful and positive vision is a prerequisite to realizing your positively powerful dreams.
Take some time during the last couple of days of 2017 and the first weeks of 2018 to figure out your goals and vision for 2018 and beyond. Put your plan in place and begin. If you need to “Kick-start your Dreams” use the activity at the end of Chapter 1 of Growing Bold to set you on your course to “Run with the Stars”!
Photo Credit: Alice Achterhof