To celebrate this year of blogging I reflected back on some of the obstacles I faced in writing it and hope that sharing these lessons will help you navigate to success (toward your dreams).
Daunting
This is the best word to describe how I felt as I looked at my new site with zero blog posts in June 2009. As I created my site, I had fun looking at different blog sites to clarify what I liked but I was very intimidated by their years of blog entries. The seeds of doubt crept in: what if my posts embarrass me or people do not find any value in what I write? It was a daunting task to get started. Can you imagine how it must have felt starting the Great Wall of China?
Lesson: Time keeps going whether you start or not. If I let my intimidation and fear stop me then I would be here at my keyboard in June 2010, a year later with no blog posts. Do not let the years of work ahead intimidate you from starting to navigate toward your dreams.
Committed
Writing these posts has been fun most of the time. Sometimes it was difficult to stay committed when no one was pushing me to do it and my business did not depend on it. My little voice would start bargaining for skipping it this week due to all the other priorities or some other distraction.
Lesson: Your commitments to yourself are more important than anyone else. No one else is going to be the best judge of what is important to you or your long term success. Even if you have a boss; you know better than they do what you have promised yourself and whether you are following through. Keep your promises to navigate toward your dreams.
Gratitude
When I started this blog I was grateful for being in the position to follow my big dreams. My gratefulness out-weighs my fear most of the time but it is something I have to continually work on. One of my most memorable experiences over the past year was my project in China. The young women there taught me a lot about gratitude through their generosity of spirit in the midst of their very real struggles.
Lesson: Shifting your thoughts to gratitude is amazingly powerful. When the doubts start to surface, I think of the motivating comments from several of you and my incredible learning experiences. As you navigate toward your dreams, take time to stop and realize the abundance of things to be grateful for right now.
Think back over the past year: what obstacle have you navigated and lessons have you learned? Please share in a comment
Almost two years ago, jobless, the economy spiraling downward, gas at $4 a gallon, and no end in sight, I struck out cross country, with a truck, trailer, and a couple hundred dollars. I was going to go do cleanup work after Hurricane Ike hit Galveston, TX. After being there two weeks, living in my truck, saving money by eating once a day, and learning all I could, I told everyone I was going home to round up more equipment and bring it all back so I could do some real work. No one was making any money under their current pay structure, and instead of falling into line with them, I had figured out how to work above them and get my own contracts directly with the Government. They thought I was completely stupid they spent the next ten minutes laughing and making fun of me. When they calmed down, I made one simple statement. “I will come back with the equipment I need, and long after you all are gone, I will be making money for years to come.”
Here I am, almost two years later and my company has completed numerous government contracts, and is currently working on a project that will last for years to come. I have contracts for future storm cleanups, and will make money supervising contractors like the ones who laughed at me. I know I will make money for my work.
I just read the most touching statement I’ve in a long time, “Time keeps going whether you start or not. If I let my intimidation and fear stop me then I would still be here …….. doing what?”
I knew I had to make a change. I decided what needed to be done and then went out and did it. Period.
Walt – Your story is inspirational and I look forward to the book one day so the world can benefit from all your lessons too! Paula