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Super Highway

3 Mar

When we’re on a road trip and want to get to our destination quickly, we may choose a super highway to get there.  They are generally wide with several lanes, often in good condition and well paved.  Although there may be many cars traveling along with us, there are no stoplights to slow us down as we go.  Highways are popular, well-traveled and often busy.  In our lives when we’re deciding what we want to do and where we want to go, we can choose the path most people travel.  We can take the popular road and walk forward along with others doing what is expected.  There is nothing wrong with going with the flow but if we want to, we can turn off the main road and take an exit.  We can choose a path that isn’t well traveled, where the terrain is rocky because it hasn’t been worn down, and opt for a destination that is different from the norm.  Sometimes the most beautiful places are hidden away, and the most desirable outcomes are those that are hard to reach.  Super highways are great and we can always travel them.  But if we want our lives to be different, and prefer to travel someplace higher, we can take a turn off the highway.  We may design our own road forward, and choose a destination that is off the beaten path.

Some people prefer everyone to be the same, look the same, make similar choices and have common goals.   It’s often easier to relate to others who are like us.  We understand them because their choices are similar to ours and we may feel comfortable around them because they feel familiar.  But we aren’t clones of one another and we have the power to design our lives any way we want.  Even if we’ve been going along with the ideas of others for a time, if we decide we want to change course, we can.

As we travel on busy highways sometimes the scenery doesn’t change for hours.  Highways tend to be somewhat generic and it doesn’t matter where we are, they look about the same.  After some time we may not even notice what we’re passing as we move forward.  But every mile we travel is time we’re spending and once gone, can never be replaced.  We can look up and really see what’s around us and decide if we want to continue or make a change.  If we see something interesting off the road, we can choose to move toward it and leave the busy lanes behind.  There may be brambles in our way because nobody has cleared them, there may be things we must climb over to go forward, and we may need to turn a few times to continue forward.  But if the destination ahead is where we want to go we have everything we need to overcome anything to get there.  We can chart our own courses, and create our own paths.  We have everything we need to succeed and once we decide on a destination there is nothing strong enough to keep us from it.

Today if you’ve been traveling the same road with others and have decided you want something different, look around and decide where you really want to go.  Chart your own course forward and begin.  Every destination is there for you.  Choose what you want most and head toward it.  You will succeed and arrive exactly where you want to be.

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Try After Try

26 Jan

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison

When we’re trying to find our way through something complicated, sometimes the first road we choose doesn’t take us to resolution. If the situation is very complex and there are others involved, we may try several options before we find our way through. Day after day if what we thought would take us to the answer doesn’t work, we must try again. Try after try can wear on our patience when nothing changes and we may begin to believe we are stuck forever someplace we don’t want to be. It’s like having our tires stuck in the mud, spinning and spinning trying to break free but going nowhere. Our patience may be tested, our reasoning may be challenged and we may become exhausted trying to find our way. If we’ve tried and tried and haven’t found success, sometimes we may need to step back for a moment to regain our perspective. Being in the middle of a problem may influence our vision and make it hard to see all the options available. Stepping back from the issue, clearing our minds and looking at it objectively may open new ideas and help us see a way forward we hadn’t considered. Problems come and go and we can find our way through anything. Stopping and stepping away from the fray for a moment may open doors we didn’t see before and help us solve whatever has held us captive.

Feeling overwhelmed won’t help us find answers. If we believe the problem is too big to solve and doubt we will ever find answers we may get stuck. If we don’t think we can solve the issue, or lack the confidence to continue when things go wrong, we will fail. We can give up at any time and refuse to continue but if we do, we will never find success. The willingness to try one more time, no matter how many times we’ve tried before, will open the way forward. Although it may take time, there are no answers too difficult for us to find. We can solve any problem if we keep trying until we find our way. There is nothing too difficult or too complex for us to figure out. We have what we need to succeed as long as we keep trying.

There may be others around us who may encourage us to give up. They may tell us it’s too hard or it’s not worth the trouble. We may certainly take their advice and quit but if we do we guarantee the goal we are seeking will not be met. If we decide we no longer want to proceed, we may stop. But if what we’ve been trying to accomplish is important to us and we really want to achieve it, we may continue forward. Success is always possible and we can have it. We can try one more time, and we will find our way.

Today if you’ve tried and tried to make something work and you’re still struggling, decide if the goal is still important to you. If it is, step back to see things objectively, and then try again. You are worth every success you are seeking. Try one more time. The doors will open and you will find your way.

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Plan B

24 Jan

As we’re working out problems and getting things done, sometimes the first scenario we devise doesn’t work. Even when we’re absolutely sure there is no way it can fail, sometimes things don’t go the way we hope they will. If it’s something we prepared for and are confident our plan forward is the only way to get to the goal, it may be hard to regroup and come up with something else. When we’re confident and sure and still nothing works, it may be hard to figure out what to do next. Of course, there is never only one solution to any problem or one answer to any question. There is always another option possible and if we consider everything openly, those options will become apparent. If plan A didn’t work, we can come up with plan B. And if that doesn’t work, we can come up with something else. We are capable of imagining many scenarios and creating different processes to move forward. It may take time and it may not be easy, but if we are determined we will find the right answers. We have a lot of resources available to us all the time. There are others around us who may help, there are countless ways to research any situation, and we can start anew when we’re ready. If we don’t accomplish our goal the first time, we can try again. We can try as many times as it takes and if we keep trying we will find success.

When we’re excited about something new and eager to get started, we may plunge in head first ready to take on the challenge and conquer it. Motivation is a great tool that pushes us forward but plunging in head first may take our eyes off our direction forward. If we want to get things done quickly and only focus on speed, we may miss an important turn and run into a blockade. If we get caught up in our enthusiasm, we may neglect to do what is needed to prevent unnecessary complications. Speed may be important in some arenas but all the speed in the world won’t help us if we’re on the wrong road. Taming our enthusiasm enough to allow us to navigate efficiently will get us to the goal quickly and effectively. We don’t have to jump in head first to show our commitment. We can swim steadily and strongly forward with our eyes on the goal and arrive at our destination.

There may be times when others in our lives create detours for us along the way. Perhaps they don’t like our plans and do things that create complications, or they don’t think we’re going the right way and stand in front of us to block our path. We don’t need the agreement of others to accomplish our personal goals. If there are barriers in our way, we can navigate around them. If there are detours, we can reroute our way forward. We can accomplish any goal we desire even if it means we must change our course to get there. We are intelligent and flexible enough to find our way through anything. If we keep our sights set on the way forward we will be successful.

Today if the road you’ve been on has ended in a detour, re-chart your course. You know where you want to go and you have everything you need to get there. Keep moving ahead. The goal is attainable and you will reach it. Be confident. You have everything you need to succeed.

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Overnight Sensation

21 Nov

Overnight Sensation

“Picture an egg. Day after day, it sits there. No one pays attention to it. No one notices it. Certainly no one takes a picture of it or puts it on the cover of a celebrity-focused business magazine. Then one day, the shell cracks and out jumps a chicken.” Good to Great, Jim Collins

When we see famous people who suddenly arrive on the scene they may seem like overnight sensations. One day we never heard of them and the next they’re on the cover of every popular magazine. It’s easy to think of them zooming to the top rung of the ladder all at once but that probably isn’t the truth. Often “overnight sensations” have spent many years pushing forward and working hard to get where they are. Nobody saw them when they were working three jobs to get ahead, or paying their dues for years on end trying to move forward. It’s like an egg. Nobody really pays much attention to them until the day they start to crack and a baby chick presses its way out. Then the egg gets our attention. It seems like a momentous event but in actuality the chicken has been working hard all along. It grows and develops and moves forward each moment until the day comes to break free. Although we may see the hatching as a big deal, it’s just the next step in the process for the chicken. The same is true for success in our lives. It doesn’t usually come overnight and without effort. We must plan and work and prepare for it and once we’ve done what is needed to make it happen, it arrives.

We all have dreams of things we want to accomplish. Some of them are easily attainable and we make plans and get them done. Others are loftier and take more work and time. If we are determined to accomplish a big goal, we must do what is needed to achieve it. We can push through day by day, overcome whatever obstacles stand in our way, and continue forward until we reach success. Once we achieve success it may look to others like it happened overnight. But that isn’t the truth. Nobody will know everything we had to do to get there, or see all the sacrifices we had to make or the problems we had to solve, and there is no way for others to understand all the difficulties we had to face. All they really see is our success.

There are few instances of true overnight successes. While it’s possible that something great could happen to us without any effort that won’t generally happen. We are like the egg working behind the scenes doing what is required to succeed. We have everything we need to accomplish almost anything we desire. It may not happen overnight, but if we work at it and do what we must to move forward, we will achieve success. We can fulfill our dreams step by step and day by day. There really isn’t anything we can’t do and we will succeed.

Today if you’ve been working hard and still haven’t reached your goal, keep moving forward. It may not happen overnight but you have everything you need to win. You will achieve your goal. Success is just around the next turn and you will reach it. Take another step forward. You’re almost there.

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Tough Up

8 Nov

There are lot of things to learn in life. Some of them come easily and we enjoy the journey as we progress along. Others are more difficult and we struggle as we try to move forward. It’s true that often anything worth learning will get more difficult before it gets easier. There may be more details than we anticipated, and sometimes we may get stumped trying to figure out the way forward. But if we want to learn and are motivated to accomplish any task we can find our way. It may take longer than we thought when we started, it may be more complicated than we anticipated, and at some point, it might even feel like it’s impossible. But there really isn’t anything we can’t do if we want to badly enough. We can figure out what needs to be done, we can work any problems that arise until we solve them, and we can succeed. The question will be how much we really want the goal. When things go awry and we get lost we’ll have to decide if going forward is worth the cost. If it is, nothing can stop us but if we’re unsure we may give up. It’s impossible to learn anything by giving up. If we want to grow and develop new skills, we must press forward.

Everyone has a different level of tolerance when it comes to complications. Some people are tenacious and never let go until they reach their goals. Others persevere until things get very difficult or confusing and will then decide to opt out. And there are some who will choose a goal and the very first complication will change their minds. There are complications in everything. If we quit the first time they arise we will never learn anything new or accomplish much. We will stay as we are until we tough up enough to be willing to face difficulty and find our way through it. We have enough courage to face whatever comes to us and we can dedicate as much effort as we choose to any goal we want. We can learn anything, do anything, and gain all the experiences we want if we are determined to get them.

We all have more determination and courage than we think we do. When our lives get suddenly complicated or difficult they rise and we draw on them to navigate our way through. We may forget how much we are capable of if we only go through the motions in our lives. There is so much we can learn and do that is outside our regular scope. We can have lives filled with new experiences and if we are determined to achieve them we will be enriched and strengthened. Everything we overcome and conquer gives us more confidence making the next challenge easier. Our lives belong to us and we can design them any way we wish. They can be filled with new experiences, challenges and opportunities for growth. We can do anything. We are capable of being tough enough to face any situation that comes and we can succeed.

Today if you want to try something new or stretch your life in a new direction but are concerned about the challenge, be strong. There isn’t anything you can’t overcome. You have all the wisdom and courage you need to conquer anything. Press forward. Live your dreams. Everything is waiting for you.

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