You'll Never Get There, if you don't Start

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You miss 100% of the shots you never take. You can't win if you don't play. Famous Hockey Star Wayne Gretsky o­nce said, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take."   Famous Southern mother (mine) frequently said,  "You can't win if you don't play".  Those words often still ring in my ears today. Am I willing to AGREE to losing by not at least trying, I ask myself. When you don't try something, when you never start towards your goal, when you put-off and wait-out your dreams, you are AGREEING to lose, to not have it. (yes, I'm talking to you, hiding over there in the corner!) This is what I consider to be the most important part of achieving your best life.  START.  It doesn't matter where you start…it matters that you start.  It doesn't have to be a big thing.  Just Start.  Begin.  Consider where your life is at this moment in reference to your goal, and if need be, start very small.  Put $1 into an envelope each week as a savings plan.  Clean out a closet.  Delegate a job. If you can, take a much larger step, like putting $100 each week into a savings account.  We all get too hung up o­n what we do, or how much we do.  It doesn't matter WHAT you do….just DO!  Move forward. Are you sitting at home waiting o­n Mr. or Ms. Right?  Mr/Ms. Right could be down at the corner bowling alley, or in the local church, or in the neighborhood restaurant RIGHT NOW.  *gulp*   Are you waiting o­n your next raise, or the kids to grow up, or the economy to get better before you decide to work o­n your goals?   As difficult and painful as it is to hear, you must understand that by waiting o­n things to happen you have chosen to give your life over to circumstance. Don't agree to lose by not playing!   Choose NOT to let circumstances and other people dictate your life.  START - the whole key to living a great life, your BEST life, is doing something.  Pick o­ne of the '7 secrets' we've discussed these past few weeks, and start to put it to work in your life.  Simplify a task. Eliminate a distraction.  Schedule your priority.  Protect your time.  Return something you borrowed.  CHOOSE to do what's important to you. Get up off your knowledge and START. Keep trying. If o­ne thing doesn't work, try something else.  You WILL find what works for you.  Consider how many different shampoos you have had in your life.  What worked for you at o­ne time, doesn't work any more, but that doesn't mean you stop using shampoo!!  How many movies do you watch before you find o­ne you love?   Isn't the quality of your life worth putting at least as much energy into finding what works as the amount of energy you put into choosing shampoo or movies?   Life Rewards Action.  Those of you who know me personally, know that I am a baseball fan.  It never ceases to amaze me that when o­ne team starts to run, starts to bunt, starts to steal - in baseball terminology  "play small ball" -  they create a set of circumstances in which the other team will more than likely mess up...and *ahem* give them the advantage.   They force them to react to what THEY are doing.  They choose to play offense instead of defense.  They choose to be pro-active, instead of re-active.  I would much rather see a guy thrown out at home plate, than standing up there doing NOTHING and getting called out o­n strikes.  You can do this too.  Start to play some small-ball in your own life.  Play to WIN.  Put in your best "pitcher", steal second base, call for a "hit-and-run", slide into home plate.  (OK, OK, enough baseball analogy!)  You get the idea….move out of the familiar, and give the other people in your life something different to react to.  Are you standing at the plate getting called strikes?  Or are you ready to calculate the risk, and run towards home plate, even if it means you might get thrown out. (oops, did it again)?  In the long run, YOU will be the winner.  Don't AGREE to lose out o­n what's important to you.   Take o­ne step RIGHT NOW towards your goal.  Make a phone call, clean out a drawer, schedule in some gym time, take $1 and put it into an envelope in your underwear drawer   Imagine if you repeated that very same small step each day for the next 365 days.   Where would you be 1 year from now?  Imagine if you don't do anything…where will you be 1 year from now?  1 year from now is still going to come…where will you be when it does?  Seek it out.  Decide you want something different and START looking for it.  START trying new things.  START eliminating the old, START bringing in the new. Note: By Kathy Gates, Professional Life Coach Please Click if you like this on google plus.