Did you start 2016 off with a bang? Did you dream big and create huge goals? Did you narrow your focus, clear the clutter and get your eye on the prize? Yeah, me too.
Then you know what happened? Life happened, action happened, calendar happened and ultimately nothing happened.
I started 2016 with more force, focus and determination than any other year before. I created three Wildly Important Goals that demanded my focus for 2016 and nearing the halfway point of the year, I’ve essentially done nothing to pursue my most important goals.
It’s not like I went on a 5 month laziness bender. I didn’t check out and sit on the couch. I didn’t build a house, roam the beach and I didn’t go somewhere to find myself.
I did work. Lots of it. Good work in fact. Looking back, the past 6 months have generated more revenue, served more clients and accomplished more overall than any 6 month period in the past 15 years. Yet, I did nothing to achieve my Wildly Important Goals.
I don’t know about you but for me, it’s not bad things that get in the way of my focus, it’s good things. Really important things. And really urgent things.
The good news is, it’s never too late for a mid-course correction.
I knew by the end of January that I was going to have to put my head down, set my Wildly Important to the side and look up again on April 5th. My calendar was completely full and the projects ahead demanded 100% of my energy. April 5th was the date the calendar cleared and my energy could be re-focused. Well, April 5th has come and gone and I may have taken a few more days to “catch my breath” than was needed. I have exhausted all of my excuses and good reasons why I can’t pursue my dreams. The time has come to own up to my own lack of focus and to begin holding myself accountable.
What do you do when all the excuses you used to not chase your dream are gone? What do you do then?
– Jon Acuff
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I love this quote by Jon Acuff. Really, what are we to do once we have used up all of our excuses? What do we do when we can no longer blame the good, the important or the urgent for our lack of achieving our dreams?
We own it. We acknowledge our need to re-focus, then we do it. As Jon Acuff says,
“Action always beats intention.”
If you find yourself a bit off course, there is no time like today to put yourself back in line of site of your goals. Today is better than tomorrow and if you’ve run out of excuses, you’re at a dead end road.
- Re-evaluate your goals and adjust your plan for the remainder of the year
- Commit to the ONE THING you need to do this week to get back on track
- Evaluate what you must stop doing in order to achieve the most important
- Let yourself off the hook. You can’t change the past. Your future starts today
- Hold yourself accountable and share your new focus with others that can as well
You owe it to yourself and more importantly, you owe it to the people you desire to serve with your goals.
People are mistaken when they think chasing your dream is a selfish thing to do. As if perhaps being average is an act of humility. As if perhaps wasting the talents you were given is proof that you’re a considerate individual. It’s not.
– Jon Acuff
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