Another year is winding down. A time to reflect on accomplishments, joys and disappointments. January 1 is just another day, but we can make it a starting point for new goals and dreams. I am hearing from a lot of new clients that they are depressed because they seem to be at the same point now as they were at the beginning of last year. It is wonderful that they have made the first step in changing that pattern by taking action to get unstuck.
What is holding you back? Are you “busy” but not getting any results? Are you feeling exhausted, unmotivated, discouraged? Are you unclear about what you REALLY want? Why don’t you have what you say you want?
What is the difference between someone who dreams and someone who envisions and accomplishes that vision? ACTION. The action I am talking about is not just going through the motions. It is PRECISE DEFINED DETERMINED DRIVE (PDDD). There is a saying that says “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and thinking you will get a different result.”
The best example of PDDD, and one that inspires me, is of my son, Travis. When he was 14 he had a fascination with Japanese anime (cartoons). He loved the comic books and wanted to be able to read them, so he begged me to take him to the library to find books on Japanese. He started teaching himself to read Japanese by slowly comparing the symbols to the comic books. Since his progress was slower than he was willing to settle on, he begged me to find a tutor to teach him. Since I was newly divorced and going through financial problems, I made a deal with him. If he would continue to learn with tapes and books for the next six months, I would find a tutor in our area. I totally thought this was a phase and that within a few weeks he would give up. But Travis was determined to learn Japanese so he practiced with the tapes from the library every night after school. At the end of the six months, he reminded me of my promise to find a tutor. Where was I going to find a Japanese tutor in Southern New Jersey? I called Rowan University and asked if they knew of anyone. They gave me the name of a local woman. She was so impressed with how much Travis already had taught himself, that she agreed to teach him for a fee that I could afford. After a few weeks of lessons, she told me that she had never seen anyone so determined to learn and how quickly he was picking up the language. “You must take him to Friend’s School in Philadelphia on Saturday mornings for classes”, she said. So every Saturday morning, we would drive 40 minutes to the school so he could take the three hour class. I would wait in the car and read or do work while he was learning. His face would beam every time he ran out of class towards the car. We found a Japanese restaurant near the school and would go for lunch where he would tell me his dream that someday he would get to live in Japan. Again, I thought he was just dreaming.
Soon his teacher told him about a student exchange program where three students from New Jersey can earn a scholarship through Princeton University to live in Japan during their junior year of high school. He told me that this was his ticket to Japan! For the next several months, he wrote essays, delivered speeches and memorized facts to pass the entry tests. Did I want my 15 year old son to leave and live in Japan for a year? No way. But I wasn’t concerned because I didn’t think there was any chance of him actually winning the scholarship. It was keeping him busy and I tried to prepare him for the inevitable disappointment. However, he was one of the seven finalists.
As we drove to Princeton for his final interview that would determine his fate, I told him that he had a whole lifetime to achieve the goal of living in Japan. He calmly looked at me and said, “Mom, if they think that I’m not the right person to go, it will be okay. But I WILL get to Japan if I have to hitch-hike to California, build a row boat and row to Japan!” Now I could see that this was not just a whim or an idol dream. He had a drive that was unstoppable. Nothing was going to get in his way no matter how long it look, how much he had to do or what disappointments might come along. I told him that he should tell the judges what he just told me.
When the phone rang and the voice on the other end said, “Congratulations, your son has been accepted as an exchange student in Japan”, I thought I would drop the phone! My baby was going to fly half way around the world for a whole year at 15! Some of my friends said, “How can you let him go?”. I said, “How can I not?” His PRECISE DEFINED DETERMINED DRIVE turned his dream into a reality, and I was SO very proud of him.
So in 2013, what is it that you want so badly that nothing will stand in your way? Become clear, commit to whatever it takes to get it, prepare for the challenges that may come up, set a precise defined step by step path and soon you will be celebrating your accomplishment! Need help in getting that clear? Let me be your tutor by teaching you The 5 C Solution! Pick up that phone and take the first step to ACTION! 1-888-806-9678
