Mrs. Smith and I at London Bridge 2014
There’s an old saying “Time waits for no one.” Sages and zen masters have used this for centuries to move their nations forward.
We all try and convince ourselves that we have plenty of time to do something on our goal list, or worse to start doing something on our big dream list.
But nothing happens unless we act. The goals can’t be goals and the dreams can’t be more than something we wish for unless we actually do something to move forward towards them becoming a reality.
This year my wife and I celebrate our 10th anniversary. Since we first got together, all she talked about was London. She spent a semester there in college and when she returned, wanted to be right back there.
For the first few years of our marriage, she dreamed of returning and we both talked about how “one day” we’ll go there. One day was a long ways off, because every time we’d talk about how it was a “goal” we had to do it, neither of us were doing anything to make that happen.
One day we both stopped each other and asked, when are we going to London? Are we ever going to go or are we just going to talk about it?
The truth is, we didn’t have the money to make an international trip. Finances had been the main reason we’d just talked about London and not been proactive about making it happen. However, just because you can’t pay for something big right now doesn’t mean you lack the resources to make it happen at a future date.
So from that day forward, we saved money every month and put it in our London Fund. Note, we weren’t making a ton of money at the time. Both of us worked full time jobs with a few part time projects on the side and were fresh out of college. We cut expenses where we could and did what was necessary to be able to save up.
Last September that dream came true. We spent 10 days in London and the surrounding area, got to experience the gorgeous English country side, some of the best pub beer on earth, and I even bought a few comic books at this killer antique shop.
What made the dream into a reality was more than money, which was what we originally thought was all that was needed. In truth, what it took was deliberate planning, discipline, and an end date. Years ago when we started this process, we set an end date for 2014, roughly ten years after her original trip overseas. Without an end date, it’s easy to keep kicking the can down the road, and then nothing come from your goal setting.
You have goals and plans and hopes and dreams. Do you have an end date set for when you want those to come into fruition? Is that end date realistic?
Sometimes obstacles that lie in the path of our goals and dreams can seem too big to overcome, or too much to try and deal with right now, so we say to ourselves, “Someday I’ll have that.”
Let someday be today, because you’re choosing to take action and figure out what the next steps are.
Let me know what your goals are, and what challenges are in the way. We can put together an action-item plan to help you get ahead and reach your dreams.
Time isn’t waiting on you. You are.
You must be logged in to post a comment.