My youngest daughter got her travel bug from me and is quite the adventurer. Currently in a job where she has the opportunity to travel a fair amount, the other day she shared she has already been to twenty countries.
On one of her trips to Switzerland, she decided to try paragliding. The smart girl sent me the photos after she went; my heart was in my throat seeing her with hands wide out and a big smile hundreds of feet above the ground. She said that after pushing through the fear to step off the mountainside, the feeling of soaring through the sky was incredible.
Well, I don’t think I am going to jump off a cliff anytime soon, but it made me think of all the ways that fear holds us back in other areas of life.
Imagine how it would feel to not let anything hold you back from everything you are meant to be? How it would feel to follow and accomplish your dreams. To break through the barriers keeping you from the life you want to live – to spread your wings and soar!
You have special gifts the world is waiting to see but only you can unlock them. Isn’t it time to get started?
Your Wings Are Already There
A woman I had the privilege to coach and mentor shared with me that I gave her the wings to fly. The truth was those wings were always there. What changed was she became aware of her own power and strength to use them. Once she discovered them they grew and led her to a life of greatness, one she only imagined but she always had deep down inside.
It warms my heart each time I see her living the life she dreamed of when we first met. It’s not perfect (as no one’s life is) but it’s real, full, and rich beyond measure.
What is holding you back from taking on that new opportunity; making that transformational change; living the life you dream of?
You are in control of your life and just like a baby bird learning to fly, it’s time for you to spread your wings. Take that leap of faith. Spread your wings as far as you can reach and be everything you are called to be. You have greatness within you that is waiting and ready to soar when you believe in yourself.
You can do this, you know. Choose to make this next year the year you finally break free of those shackles holding you back from embracing the world.
I can’t wait to see you begin living your dreams because I know you can and will. You’ve got this.
It’s Time for a Reset
Life gets in the way of your dreams, it’s just the reality. When you have the full and busy life of an entrepreneur there is always something competing for your attention. The goals that you have set for yourself get put on the back burner while you deal with other things.
Here are a few examples you may relate to:
- You had that workout class in your calendar but the school called and you need to pick up your sick child.
- You were going to take that vacation but one of your key team members gave notice.
- You committed to a relationship boundary but gave your power away and fell victim to an old pattern.
My friend, there is no one that gets it perfectly. That’s why it’s important to give yourself a regular check in, a time where you can take stock of how you are doing.
This has been a year full of blessings and challenges and there may be things that happened that were beyond your control. You may wish to blame circumstances, or the tough economy, or something else.
The truth is, there is much you can control. You may not be able to control what is going on in the world, but you do have the power to control your own life. You just need a reset.
So, whether you feel stuck and want to learn how to take your life back, or you want to take yourself to the next level of performance it’s important to do a life reset from time to time.
This is how you gain clarity over your life to make new success habits and transformational changes.
Who Do You Want to Be?
It is goal setting season again, and whether you take time once a year or once a week – I encourage you to take out your calendar and make some time where you can think deeply about your life.
This last month I spent intentional hours alone with my thoughts and journal reflecting over this last year. The practice of year end reflection and goal setting has been an important discipline of mine for several years now and has made a significant difference in my leadership and life.
The power of reflection is one of the topics I coach on frequently. Reflection is important as it provides you context to better prepare for a successful future.
I added a new question to my reflection time this year and encourage you to do the same. Instead of spending the majority of time on what you did or would like to accomplish, start with this important question:
Who do you want to be?
When you face yourself with honesty, only then can you really see who you are. Then you can reflect on who you want to be.
Sometimes you like what you see, and sometimes you don’t. But this can be an important catalyst for change. I realized when I asked myself this question, that in the next year I want to care more about who I am becoming that the things I am accomplishing. It needs to start here.
As you begin to think about the year ahead, let me share some reflection questions to help you get started on your own “life reset”:
1. As you think about the last year, how do you compare to the “you” of one year ago? Reflect on how you have changed over the last year. It is easy to compare yourself to others, but the comparison that is most important is comparing you to you. When you think about “who you are becoming” do you see areas of growth? Why or why not?
2. What were your biggest accomplishments? If you set goals for yourself, review them to identity which ones you achieved, and which ones were missed.
3. Why were you successful? It is something to be proud of when you accomplish a goal you set for yourself, but if you understand why and how you accomplished it, it helps you to sustain better results for the future.
4. Why did you miss? Sometimes it is easier to ignore the goals you did not make; however, every miss is an opportunity to learn and grow. There may be a higher priority that takes precedence, and this is a valid reason for putting a goal aside. The other reason can be circumstances that occur beyond your control.
If it does not fit under these categories, unpack the causes to why the goal was not accomplished. Here are a few likely culprits:
- The goal was not realistic
- The goal was not clearly defined
- There was not an accountability plan
If one of these three occurred, you can learn from each situation and improve your future goal setting results.
5. What was your biggest shift? The one thing you can always be sure of is change. Change happened for you in some way this year, and it made it necessary to pivot either personally or professionally. You may have made changes without really thinking about them that will have a significant impact. Where did you make a shift this year that has had a positive result?
6. What was the lesson? In challenging times, it is easy to miss the lessons amidst the difficulties. In facing the obstacles of my own life, I have found that they have been my greatest teachers. Observe where you have grown, and what you have learned this year. Even if it is something you learned the hard way – it can be instrumental to your future.
Use these reflection questions to take an honest look at your life. Though you want to take this time to better understand yourself and what you would like to change, remember to celebrate all the good things. When you reflect on the last year looking for the blessings, you will find them.
You know that your highest performance as a leader starts with you being the best version of yourself. When you are operating at your best, you create a ripple effect that not only improves your own life, but impacts your business, your family, and your world.
Then, as you look forward to the year ahead, I will end this blog with one of the questions I started with:
Imagine how it would feel to not let anything hold you back from everything you are meant to be?
Just like my daughter who pushed through her fear to do something she wanted to do. Choose to make this next year the year you finally break free of those shackles holding you back from embracing the world.
