What makes the difference between those that become and those that don’t?

• They have a vision for something that is bigger than just them and extends beyond just today. It is a dream fueled by passion and connected to action.
• They deal with the uncomfortable, awkward and negative issues, situations and relationship challenges that arise. They know that simply waiting for it to go away could leave them waiting for the rest of their life and time is precious.
• They understand the power of consequence and so not make decisions solely on the comfort and convenience of today.
• They take action…EVERY DAY! They have accepted responsibility for the realization of their vision and move toward it step by step day by day. They don’t despise the small steps, but are thankful for even small increments of progress.
• They have not only defined what they like, BUT ALSO what they don’t like. They don’t focus on the “NO’s”. However by clearly defining what “NO” looks like, they are able to recognize what carries negative influences much sooner.
• They operate with grace. Because they choose to forgive, they are free to move forward in the NOW and are not tied to the past.
• They know what it is to be a part of a team. They know their own strengths and weaknesses and are not threatened by others whose strengths and weaknesses are different from their own.
• They are not afraid of change and they are not trying to make everyone happy. As they move forward there will be others who are not supportive and who do not agree with the choices and decisions that they make. They understand that old adage, “You can’t please everyone all the time.”

Choose to grow to to greatness!
Sara Hand

 My world of yesterday was a world of comfort.

I knew who I was and what I was to do. Expectations were clear for me and I knew what to expect from the others in my life. But things are different now. I have grown. As an adult I grow as a person. This may not be as easily identifiable to the people in my life. They may see a few changes on the outside. But much of the change has been an inside job, only visible to someone looking at my heart.

 How do I make it through this time you ask? For if we are really living life; we will go from one state of change to another. There will be times of settling in, but these will again lead to more change.

Don’t make major decisions when you are tired. When you are tired the good is too good and the bad is too bad. Rest brings objectivity.
Have an accountability person in your life, and expect them to hold you to the goals you have set previously.
Continue to reevaluate and measure goals against “life values”. Although goals will change, “life values” will not. These will act as a compass in the midst of whatever may come your way.

Remember that whether your opportunities were chosen or thrust upon you, it is not so much what happens to us but what happens in us that matters.

It is time to do something. And you are going to do whatever it takes, or so you thought! Now you are wondering…do I really want this that bad? Is it really worth it?

All my friends know about this caterpillar thing. How I killed the prospective butterflies and kept the weeds…so much for transparency. Then, having learned my lesson, I publicly proclaimed that I would no longer care more about the appearance of my front flower bed and would allow the caterpillars to eat to their hearts content knowing all along that the leaves on my bushes would grow back…they did last time…and that I would be the butterfly benefactor.

However, because I killed those nasty pests last time…I did not fully appreciate how bad the front garden would look. They have been eating my bushes for about 6 weeks and they’re huge! Last week I was having a party…a friend suggested I put a sign up front, “Feeding in Progress.” It has been a tremendous joke.

So I am struggling. I mean when are they going to do this cocoon thing anyway? Do I really want to go the distance? Herein lies the power of Weight Watchers, AA and all groups that provide true accountability…it doesn’t matter whether I feel like it or not today…I will persevere. I have shared this story with all sorts of audiences…hundreds of people. It doesn’t matter how messy and unattractive this growth process is…the caterpillars stay…at least until they become butterflies.

<— Weeds #1: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
<— Weeds #2: The Bugs are Back!

Well, I am incredibly fortunate to have phenomenal coaches, counselors and accountability people in my life…however there was this one thing that had been nagging at me for a couple months. I had all this material; I was wading through it, but just couldn’t seem to find a common thread…voila…an hour with a friend earlier this week made it all seem so simple and so obviously apparent.

If you don’t have someone in your life who can give you objective feedback from a point of some expertise…find someone who does it well, whatever it is. Spend time with them; give them permission to give you feedback and to hold you accountable to follow through on your discussion.

Life changes when I do!

Joy Beyond Freedom is a Journey!

I can’t live in the past or change one moment of it, and neither can I live in the future. Although intellectually that all makes sense, what I know in my brain may not be truth for my heart. Sometimes I am so busy scurrying towards the future I miss NOW. I miss the beauty of the Florida sun shining on Tampa Bay. So I am working and I don’t have the day off to go play in it, that doesn’t mean I cease to recognize its existence.

Or maybe the pain in my past has been so great that each day I wake with it right in front of me. The wounds still so fresh, that each person I talk to reminds me of my pain. Although time presents me with a tomorrow, I cannot see mine for the yesterday in which I live.

Great achievements come from men and women who understand living in Now. There may be pain in my past, but that is my history not my future. My future may be bright, but it is not NOW. My TIME is MY LIFE. This is it. I do not get a do over for this time around. This is not dress rehearsal. The curtain is up and the show continues whether I choose to run off the stage or not. So I will look at my history, my experience of yesterday to help me plan for tomorrow. But I will choose to be present…I will choose to live in today.

Bob, an uncle tells a story of laying pipe within a nuclear power plant. In their calculations, they would measure off of a pencil dot. As a supervisor, he spoke to the men of “centering” off that point. A younger worker insisted that they “were centered”…Bob let it go…sometimes your staff learns best by experience. Although it was only the outside edge of that point, several hundred yards later that equaled almost an inch…in a nuclear plant that is a lot!

”Vacation habits” like souvenirs of summer, love to “stow away” in my day to day activities. Unless I am vigilant and periodically take inventory…it could be Christmas before I notice. So every so often, I revisit my goals and action plans to see if I am still on track.

Hidden in my daily routine are the secrets to whether I am successful or not. Periodically, tune your instrument, calibrate the thermostat…take an inventory. When I am where I am not supposed to be, I am vulnerable to bad choices and quick fix solutions…the lotto is never the answer to “bad” money management habits, just as the vending machine is not a good answer to a missed meal.

Many contemplate freedom as some incredible destination. But beyond freedom, what then? The journey is about enjoying the trip to freedom, about the changes we make along the way, and about “what then”. What happens when we get there and what comes next?

“It’s about change!”

In a culture that gets microseconds faster daily, many times we can, so we do, bypass the wait. We drive-up, drive through, and instant message. Cutting and copying our way through life, we fast forward through commercials to find that all our time saving devices still leave us short at the end of the day. For although old-fashioned oatmeal only takes 3 minutes in the microwave and will maintain blood sugar levels for hours, we go for the short lived instant version.

Always wanting what’s in front of us, we race through life. Running, then waiting, then running again. Then one day when we wake up, we realize that a good portion of life has passed, and what we waited so long for never actually arrived. We discover that what we wanted was really somewhere along the roadside “back there”. In our “direct route” we missed a turn. No GPS recalculated our life telling us to make a u-turn at the next available intersection.

Old people remembering what it was to be young, married couples forever trying to recapture the thrill and romance of the courtship and parents replaying bittersweet memories of baby drool and cries in the night as they all remember how often they were too busy.

A winner is not made at the end of the race. It is days and weeks and even years of daily routines. The end of the race only reflects the winning. The secret of the winner lies in his daily routine and so does the secret of all success. Crossing the line first does not guarantee a victory.

Life is in the Living! Live it with Intent!

Imagine you went on vacation…where would you go and what would you see…in your own backyard?