Monday, April 20, 2015

Making Another Dream A Reality - Hot Damn!


A couple months ago I decided to re-name my blog ‘2015 – Time To Level Up.’   The name encompasses a lot more than just what I decided to name my coaching business.  I’ve been working to ‘level up’ in every facet of my life  - my career, my relationships, my health, my ways of thinking – and it’s been an amazing (and yes, challenging) process.  I signed up for a personal development course back in early January that has significantly impacted how I set goals, how I think, and how I move forward in my life.  One thing he taught me is to question myself whenever I say I can’t do something, or I wish I could do something. 

Just this past Saturday I got a message from a friend that lives with her husband and daughter in northern Italy.  She told me that the exchange rate is the best it’s been in a decade, so it’s a great time for European travel, and that I should come out there. As great as that sounded, my first thought was ‘I wish I could do that, but I can’t go out there.’  Thanks to my work with Jesse Elder I noticed my comment, and then thought – Why can’t I go?   I already had a block of time off work scheduled for July which I was intending to use as a Colorado vacation.  I hadn’t booked any reservations yet or registered for any races, so there was no penalty there.  I then went through the pricing for my Colorado trip, and when you include the extra miles I’d need to add on to my car lease, Europe is actually looking cheaper.  Cheaper!  So with that, I decided that I CAN travel to Europe this summer.  Yay! 

Now chunks of my days are dedicated to daydreaming of European train rides, walks, bed and breakfasts in Athens, sipping coffee while looking at Lake Geneva in Switzerland, and strolling through the streets of Rome while buying lunch from a street vendor.  All because I challenged my initial belief that I couldn’t go!    

This ties in perfectly with a conversation I had with an old college friend over lunch yesterday.  We were talking about vision, and having faith – I tied that into goal setting.  I have a pretty solid vision for the kind of life I want to lead, the kind of relationships I want to have, and the kind of work I want to do.  I like to dream big and aim high, which can be hard – especially when you’re a planner!  I know that I want the kind of life and financial comfort that if I want to take a vacation somewhere exotic, I can do it.  So that’s what I picture – I don’t know exactly how I’ll get there, but knowing that’s what I ultimately want is half the battle!  I decided on that vision about two years ago. I knew I wanted to experience different cultures and other parts of the world – I wasn’t clear on exactly how I wanted to accomplish that, but I knew that’s what I wanted.

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." - Martin Luther King, Jr.  I decided that my first step would be to work on eliminating as many monthly bills as I could, so if a fun travel opportunity presented itself, I could more easily pull the trigger.  Just last month I had looked at my spreadsheet I use to track my bills and looked back to a year ago, and then two years ago- and I had done it! I had less than half of the number of bills to pay each month – so there was my wiggle room!  It’s amazing what can happen when you set your sights high, and then take action.  And in this circumstance, the action each month was small – tackling things with the smallest balances first, getting rid of some accounts and subscriptions but the cumulative effect is significant.  So much so that I’m going on my dream vacation to Europe in only 2 months, one week and five days! 

If I can leave you with just a few nuggets from this wonderful change of events for me it would be these:

-          Question yourself every single time you say you can’t do something, or wish you could do something.  Those are probably your self-imposed limitations talking.

-          Get clear on what you want.  Think big, and think about why you want the life you’re picturing.  You are entitled to want whatever you want, no matter what it is.  If it’s humanly possible to have what you’re envisioning, then go with it. 

-          Take action, no matter how small.  People often get caught up in planning, thinking, asking other people for advice, studying, thinking some more…. And what do you have after all that?  You may have amassed some knowledge, but you don’t have any progress.  So just do something to move you even an inch closer to what you want. As my story shows, over time it accumulates to something significant!