52 Steps: Step 5 - TAKING CONTROL

Step 5: TAKING CONTROL


“If not you, then who?
If not now, then when?”
– Hillel

READ IT:


WOW! As you read this and prepare for the week, you’re close to finishing a month of stepping closer to your Performance Edge! How do you feel? Have you been able to reach closer to your goal? Have you been able to see the picture more clearly of what you can have? If you can, you are on the path to achieving more than you ever realized. If the view is a little fuzzy, it’s time to step up and take control!

I want to ask you a simple question. If you were told you only had today left on this earth, what would you do with your last day?

I know some of you are saying, I wouldn’t be on a diet, I wouldn’t be at work, I wouldn’t be this and I wouldn’t do that. WHAT WOULD YOU DO! The reason I ask is that I had that exact question asked of myself recently, and my mind raced! At first I thought I’d get a plane ticket and go see and spend time with my family and have my best friends and that amazing person in my life come and be together. Then I thought, no that would take up most of my day with travel. Have them fly here. I’d get on the phone and contact as many friends as I could and tell them how much I love them, appreciate them and thank them for being part of my life. I would take that person that you hold near and dear to your heart and let them know how special they are and the impact they had made on my life! I would gather as many of those that were close to me as possible and we would have a party like you wouldn’t believe! I’d really LIVE THAT DAY! That was my thought.

What’s wrong with the above scenario? What’s wrong with the answer you came up with? WE DON’T KNOW WHEN OUR LAST DAY WILL ARRIVE! We don’t have control over our life span, just our performance plan! I for one, do not want to have my last day come around with me saying, I SHOULD HAVE!

We can’t wait for the right moments, the best time, or the next season to do what we know we need to do and should do today. The bible says if you wait until the wind and the weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything (Ecclesiastes 11:4) and Napoleon Hill said to “Never wait. The time will never be just right!”

I ask you, whatever your last day plan was, act on it today, do it immediately, do it with excitement. William James, the great writer and philosopher said, “To change one’s life start immediately – do it flamboyantly – no exceptions!” WHAT A CHALLENGE!

Someone once told me you cannot do much about the length of your life, but you can do a whole lot about its width and depth. We don’t know the exact length of our life, but we certainly know how to add to the width and depth. So this isn’t about me telling you to just sit and do nothing! I’m telling you to take control of your performance plan. Isn’t that why you are reading the 52 Steps? Isn’t that why you made a decision to step closer to your PERFORMANCE EDGE and change something in your life? At some point over the past month, you made a choice to change your life. What a challenge for the last month it’s been. I know it has. Has part of your life span improved because of the challenge you set for yourself in your performance plan? Or has your performance plan this past month been marked with “white out” and “eraser scratching”.

DO IT:


1. This week the DO IT is easy! TODAY act on your one day plan, do those important things you thought of TODAY. Don’t wait until tomorrow – we never know the future. After that, review your performance plan that you set for yourself, reset those goals and priorities if you need to and know that you will change your life! Don’t change it quietly and privately, do it with a bit of flair. Add a bit of flamboyance to your life now!

2. When you do your one day plan, grab someone else and get them involved in your dream. Let them in on your vision. Let them know that even though we never know what tomorrow can bring, that today you’ll make the most out of what you can do, and want them to go along for the exciting ride. Let them know that you’re in control of your life while you’re here and plan to make the most of every day! Make today amazing and find that amazing person to take along on the journey.

52 STEPS: Step 4: HAVING FAITH IN A RESOLUTION

Step 4: HAVING FAITH IN A RESOLUTION

“Some things have to be believed to be seen” – Ralph Hodgson

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HAPPY NEW YEAR! Have you made out your New Year’s resolutions? Wait a minute – if you’re reading this now, it isn’t even January, we're past that, right? Well then you’ve already set those resolutions, are on track to accomplish those goals and move on to new ones. Or did you reach those goals? Are you still working on those goals? Have some of those goals went along with wayside? Do you need to have a New Year to set your sights on what is available?

The reason so many people set their resolutions on January 1 is that it’s a new year, a new beginning and new fresh start! We look to take that time and wash way the old and faulty. Most of us are in the habit of setting a resolution at the beginning of a new year. Most of us never stick to these resolutions!?

It is usually the practice when setting a resolution to give up something, to rid ourselves of those things we enjoy in over-abundance. We rely on our ability to deny! Webster’s dictionary gives us the definition of a resolution as the act or process of reducing to simpler form. I really like this idea! How simple to simply simplify. Take what ever task we have laid out in front of us, analyze that complex notion and break-it into simpler tasks. A good friend of mine was just telling me the other day she is working hard to work smarter, not just harder. She is finding ways to make things easier. The point to remember here is, as we take the path to find new ways to make things simply, we might have a little extra work and effort at the beginning while we try new things, implement new ideas or train others that can help us down the road.

How far away 365 days can be. I know there are some with the 52 Step Process that have read it, but already set it down and gone on to other things. They lost sight, desire, determination, dedication to follow through on 52 simple steps that would have made a huge impact on how they live their life. How simple it is to follow an assignment, task, goal that you set for yourself for one day. Take that one day, follow it with the next, add another day and another until you have put together your year. Sounds easy?

We know on paper it is, sitting in your comfy chair it’s a cake walk, in reality it’s a little harder. So what’s the secret? Pure and simple – FAITH! Faith, making an allegiance to duty. In the Texas Rangers Baseball locker room at the Ball Park in Arlington, Texas there is (or was) a sign that says, “Faith – Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see!” With faith, you can set your sights on your destination, and know the goal you have set you will be able to obtain. See yourself there, grabbing the gold ring and making your vision become a reality.

There is a story of a little boy that goes to church with his family and on that day, the sermon was on sin. The pastor, in his sermon talks about leading a life of no sin. On the way home, in the car, the young lad proclaims to his family, “I’m never gonna sin!”. The family smiles and the father tells the son, “That is a great idea, but pretty hard to accomplish – Jesus was the only one that went his whole life without sinning”. After hearing this, the little boy sits back, and being a pretty smart young man, comes up with a new plan and explains, “Well then, I’m not gonna sin for a year!”. Everyone smiles and again, the father says to the son how hard that challenge can be. So the little boy, things for another few minutes and says, “Then I’m not gonna sin for a month!”. Again, the father says that is a great goal – but may be hard to accomplish. The little boy asks his dad if he things he could go a week without sinning. The father says he might, but that is still a long time to go with being “perfect”. The little boy then says he will go a day without sinning. Again, the father says what a great goal that is, and they hope he can be able to achieve that lofty goal. Finally, in disappointment, frustration and a little bit of angry, the little boy asks, “DAD, DO YOU THINK I CAN GO ONE MINUTE WITHOUT SINNING?!” With this, the father says, with a big smile, “Yes, I’m sure you can go one minute without sinning!” With that, the little boy sits back in his seat and has his own grin on his face and exclaims, “THEN I’M GONNA LIFE MY LIFE MINUTE BY MINUTE”!! Out of the mouth of babes!!

As the year progresses, you will encounter road blocks, stop signs, detours and other “traffic” that may slow you down or even get you to the point that you want to stop your journey., just like the detours the little boy encountered. When you find yourself up against one of these hazards, stop, step back and find your faith. Find whatever it is in you that made you give that allegiance to your task in the first place. Rekindle the fire and KEEP AFTER YOUR DESTINATION – KEEP THE FAITH. No one ever got anywhere standing still or stopping their journey.

DO IT

Take out the goal you’ve set for yourself. This is the goal you laid out when you went to see your mentor. Examine the goal and, on another sheet of paper, make two columns. In one column, put down the obstacles that could come up during the process of reaching that goal. Maybe you’re looking at losing weight. You might put down holidays, family gatherings, vacations, or even moods or events that seem to trigger emotions that get you off track. With putting in time with the community group, you might put down work commitments, travel, family events or other activities that might take you away from your ability to donate your time and effort to what you want to do.

Now take that list and along the second column write out how you will deal with the ituation that comes up. Make a disaster plan before the problem arises. In Rudolph Giuliani’s book, “Leadership”, he writes a whole chapter on the topic “Prepare Relentlessly”. He states that preparation was the single most important key to success, no matter what field! He believes it was planning and preparation done long before 9/11 that allowed New York to handle the disaster like they did. Problems will come up – that you can bet on. The way you handle those events will determine your success. Plan now. Your on your diet and know you’re having a party. On your list you’ve written down to get in extra exercise the days leading up to the party, really get strict with what you’re eating a few days before, and at the party you’ll limit yourself to the AMOUNT of what you eat and drink – but not WHAT you eat and drink. By having a plan in place and working the plan, you’ll develop the faith in yourself that you can reach your destination and that you had the resolve to stick to your resolution!