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!