Which way are you going?

Welcome to Spring! (In Australia!)

Today is the first day of September. Today is the first day of Spring. Today I realised there are only 4 months left in 2018!

Where did this year go? What have I done with it? What have I been doing to move forward? I had so many grand plans, so many goals and resolutions! And now it's September and I have not done or completed what I was hoping to do!

Sound familiar?

Yep...this is what happens in our life! Often we use the new year for new beginnings and we make resolutions and set goals for what we want to happen during the year but then...well you know how life is? It gets busy with work, kids, school, family, living, other stuff!

The result of this being, our year and our life start to head in a direction we don't necessarily want to be heading or it ends up standing still and you finish the year not too far from where you actually started!

Personally, I think I have achieved a lot more this year than last year. Have I achieved as much as I had set out to do? Nowhere near it! I know my reason for that was my resistance to stepping out of my comfort zone. It was so cosy and warm where I was! But it was not helping me grow or pushing me through.

As I spend my time overthinking what I should do or trying to figure out how to do it right before I start or trying to put all the pieces together - which ultimately stops me from doing anything - my beautiful husband constantly reminds me:

You can not steer a parked car! 

What does that even mean? I ask him. This is what I learned...

When a car is parked, you can turn the steering wheel but nothing actually happens. You are not moving in ANY direction. It is in park. Going nowhere.

Once the wheels are moving, you can use the steering wheel to turn in any direction. You can go as fast or as slow as you want but at whatever speed you are travelling, you can choose the direction, you can change direction, you can slow down or go faster. The control of steering is completely up to you - the driver. This car is your life.

So here are a few things I learned that might resonate with and support you:

 The best intentions are just intentions without action.

At the beginning of the year and throughout the year we are constantly thinking of what we want to be doing or what we think we should be doing. I have no doubt that, like me, most people have very good intentions of following through and achieving their goal. But what happens?

Either:

1. We worry and overthink - and we don't take action or

2. We have some sort of fear around the steps to get to where we want to be  - and we don't take action or

3. We procrastinate (because of the above) and think we don't know where to start - and we don't take action.

The Lesson:

Just start. Start where you are. Start small. Start with your fear of the unknown. You do not have to have all the answers to start. Thinking will not overcome fear but action will!

 If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading

Here's the cool part: You choose the direction and you choose your destination. Decide how you want to finish this year. Decide who you need to be for this next chapter of your life. Decide what you want to achieve - big or small, in the next few months or year or 5 years.

If you are unhappy about where this year is heading or the direction your life is going - then change it. If you feel like you need to be doing more - then do more. But whatever direction you are going, be mindful that it will lead you to a destination of your choosing - whether you like the destination or not! All of your action will take you there.

Now that the car is moving and you are steering and in control - you can change directions at any moment.

The Lesson: 

Nothing is set in stone. Anything can be changed. You are allowed to change your mind, change your decisions. You can even make a wrong turn and still change directions! But you need to know where you are heading.

 Progress = Happiness

When we don't take the action we want to take or do something to make us grow and improve, we end up feeling frustrated. Our power and strength comes from our ability to take the action we know is required. 

When we make progress towards a meaningful goal is when we feel happiness. Whether that is: losing a couple of kilos, deciding not to hit the snooze button in the morning, getting yourself to the gym, making a phone call we need to make, speaking to someone we need to speak to, getting through your to-do list for the day. Whatever it is - there is a sense of accomplishment and happiness that comes with it. Our journey is made up of little steps of progress day by day. 

The Lesson: 

Baby steps. Progress is a combination of moving forward and taking action. Focus on what you can do right now. Embrace the parts you don't always enjoy, take pleasure in the small wins, remember how far you have come already.

I know I am not alone on not taking as much action on things in life as I would like. So I would like to encourage you today to grab a pencil and piece of paper and write down two to four things you would like to start working on or make progress on between now and the end of the year.

They don't have to be massive goals to achieve! You have to make them achievable.

Do the same with your little humans as well!

A few tips to help big and little humans alike:

 Stop thinking about what you 'could' have achieved by now. You can not change the start but you can certainly determine and change how this year ends. Just start where you are.

 Stop deciding where to start. Trying to decide where to start results in no start at all! Just start where you are.

 The most effective way to start and to do it...is to just do it. 

 You can know all you need to know and be really willing to want to do it. It is not enough! For progress, growth and happiness, we must be willing to apply what we know and just go for it.

 Any action is better than no action! Doing something is considerably better than doing nothing! Your action is allowed to be imperfect and filled with mistakes! That far surpasses you trying to perfect the plan and getting nothing done! 

 Our job is to go confidently in the direction of the life we all talk about wanting. How are our little humans going to know how to do that if they don't see us taking any action at all? How do we teach them to live their best life if we are not taking the steps to live the life we have always wanted? Your steps do not have to be giant steps. The small steps are the greatest ones of all. 

 You don't have to be great to start but you have to start to be great. (Zig Ziglar) I can not say it enough. I have spent the whole year thinking about what I want to do, knowing what I want to do, planning what I want to do....and not doing it. You can not steer a parked car.

You just have to start moving -  in any direction, my friends.

Until next week...take action, be brave and have a magnificent week!

Clarissa xo