Written Oct 24 2008
Since I started my journey in consciousness coaching I have rekindle a desire to live a big life! This has led to the creation of a number of seriously large and scary goals….and I guess a rather natural reaction of me going itno hiding through sheer terror. So I started to ask myself, what is it about BHAG’s that makes them almost impossible to attain ? It is not like I have not made a seriously large BHAG (the woman’s world record) a reality already, so what is different this time ?
In my world record journey I can clearly remember two defining moments. The first was a rather grim New Year’s where I suddenly realized that 5 years had gone by and I was no nearer to getting any deeper (never mind the record). In a fit of disgust I realized I had to do something different! So I made the decision to do three things that scared me! A small thing (belly dancing with my new baby niece), a medium thing (writing funnily enough) and a large thing (going deeper). To be honest the first two were really just there to lull myself into a false sense of security and distract from the one thing I really, realy wanted…to get deeper! But, I changed my commitment! I made my goal not reaching a world record depth…but rather, I would deem myself successful if I did everything in my power, no matter what it took, no matter how scary….to get one meter deeper in that year (the year was 2001). I knew inside what it felt like to come up with excuses to not do something….all I had to do was what it took! Nothing more! I was not focusing on the end goal, just on the next step!
And it came to me! Have I fallen back into that old identity trap ? Where you created a spectacular and inspiring vision that is soo damn huge you have no idea how to make it a reality, creating a tsunami of fear and self doubt and at least for me, cave hibernation. Had I forgotten that BHAG’s are conquered one easy, do’able step at a time ? I started to question my focus on the end result ? Yes, I needed to keep tha tin mind, but no amount of visualization was going to magic it into existence… I had to be in action of my commitment! I had to start creating completion. It was as if I had forgotten that there are no brownie points for doing it the hard way because the easy way gets me to exactly the same place.So my question for the week (to myself) is this – what happens if I stop focusing on the end and start focusing on what I can do today ? What happens when I commit to completing one thing every day that keeps me moving toward my big goals ? What happens if I consciously choose to NOT take on a large step forward (that scares me silly), but instead focus on the things I can do that I enjoy and maybe only slightly terrify me ? What happens if I disinvest from the outcome and make the most of everyday ? What would happen in your life if you choose smaller steps and complete them every day ?