This month I’m attending the Ultimate Success Summit in Sydney where Richard Branson and Tony Robbins will be speaking. I can’t wait! I love going to courses and seminars to learn from the masters. I love reading books about the incredible lives of extraordinary people. I love the feeling of being so motivated and inspired that I believe that I can do anything. Nothing can stop me! I’ve written my goals and I know the steps to success. I’m on my way up. The world is at my feet and my amazing life is about to begin…
Does this sound familiar to you? Have you come away from a course or seminar feeling like this before? The presenter was amazing, you’ve learnt so much and you’re completely pumped to get started on your goals. This time you JUST KNOW that it’s all going to fall into place for you!
Why? Because the speaker was awesome and left you feeling totally inspired and motivated. Everything they said felt like it was specifically meant for you and you got so much out of it. Not only that, but you realigned your values to make them more relevant and set new, more realistic goals. You’ve identified the obstacles and removed the psychological barriers that have been holding you back from your dreams. You’ve learnt new skills to communicate more effectively, manage your emotions and establish better relationships. Having experienced such insightful lessons, how can your life not be transformed into something fantastic? You’re on your way to your brilliant future, right?
Wrong! Sorry to burst your bubble but if these are the reasons that you believe your life is about to change, then I might as well save you the disappointment and tell you now that it won’t. Ask yourself this question: “What has changed?” Well (I hear you reply), everything has changed. I’m inspired, I’ve set new goals and I’ve learnt how to be successful in every area of my life.
But WHAT has changed for you? Specifically, what are YOU now doing differently? Have you actually learnt anything or have you just gathered lots of information and knowledge about what is possible and what you might be capable of?
And now I’m guessing you might be feeling a little confused. And that’s okay because confusion means you’re about to learn something. So listen carefully, here’s the key…..only when we take action do we truly learn to change our lives. We can huddle up in our comfort zone with all our wonderful lessons that we’ve learned from our courses and workshops and books and stay safe within the confines of everything we know OR we can step outside the circle of certainty and take action to experience the lessons for ourselves in the unfamiliar and exciting world of what we don’t know.
Sounds a bit risky and we probably shouldn’t do that until we’ve learnt everything there is to know so that we’re absolutely sure we can do it and don’t make a mistake, right? Wrong again! Making mistakes is how we learn not to do things. Mistakes are a gift because they teach us how to do things differently and as long as we learn from them, every mistake moves us one step further towards success. In the words of Thomas Edison (the inventor of the light bulb): “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
And so when I return from Sydney later this month, feeling inspired and motivated by the lessons I’ve just learned from the power gurus, I will remind myself that unless I take action to apply what I have learnt, I’ve just been “showing up” and accumulating knowledge. I must “step up” and take action if I expect my life to change. And if I don’t know what to do first, then I’ll just do something. And if I’m scared, I’ll embrace my fear and do it anyway. And if I make a mistake, then I will discover how not to do it, as many times as it takes. And if that doesn’t work, I will explore other ways until I find one that does. And if it’s hard, I will choose to rise to the challenge. And if I choose not to take action, I won’t complain when my life stays EXACTLY the same. So what about you? Are you staying safe by just showing up or are you stepping up and taking action?
