Why Oh Why

The driving force in any accomplishment resides dead center in the “why.” Why do you choose to do any particular business or activity? What driving force creates the passion for you?

When the burning desire within your heart and soul contains more intensity than the fear of doing something new, you will take action. Assess the cost of staying where you are at the moment.

Where do you see your life a year from now if you stay exactly where you are now and continue doing exactly what you are doing now? If you keep your life on exactly its current track, where do you see yourself five years from now? Will that make you happy? Will that result make your family proud of you?

If your answer to those questions leaves you a bit disappointed or even depressed, then the time has come for action. Nothing improves unless you take action.

Consider for a moment if anything is possible, truly anything is possible. Where would you imagine your life to be a year from now? Nothing is impossible in your dreams and imagination. Go ahead and allow yourself to dream for a moment. Your heartfelt desires constitute a powerful force. Not only are your desires powerful, but the reason fueling those desires also constitutes a powerful motivation. Your driving force, your passionate reason for striving, is your “why.” Why risk? Why step out of your comfort zone and reach for potential goals?
When the why is powerful, the how becomes easy. With a strong why, no obstacle looms too large. A weak and wimpy why allows you to quit at the first little bump in the road.

As a single mother with zero family or child support, my why was monumental. I looked deeply into the hopeful and trusting eyes of my one and three year old sons and knew success was the only option. I had no idea how I would do what needed to be done to take care of them. We were barely scraping by from check to check. We were so broke that we could not afford to drive to the grocery store; we walked and took the little red wagon and pretended it was a fun choice. Our treat every pay day was to buy an ice cream cone and share it.

Doug and Dan constituted an extremely powerful “why” for me. Nothing would have stood in my way as too large an obstacle. I would go over it, under it, through it, or around it but I would reach my goal. My goal was a better life for those two little guys. With such a powerful “why,” success was guaranteed.

When your reason for striving and achieving, your “why,” looms large enough on your priority list, challenges are only minor inconveniences. With an absolute commitment to success no matter what appears in your path, you will succeed. With an “I’ll give it a try” mindset, every minor bump in the road presents an excuse to quit. You can either make excuses or achieve success. This really is an either / or choice. You can not have both excuses and success.

Look deep into your heart and determine your “why.” What is the most powerful driving force in your life? The problem with most folks is that they stop dreaming and striving and just settle. When it comes to your final days, do you want to face your life and say you just settled? Do you want to say you played the game of life flat out and achieved? Whether your settle or play flat out depends on the strength and passion in your “why.”

If you need help in determining your true driving force, lets talk. Join me at www.Elaine4Success.com. Together we will discover your “why” and take action to make your goals come true.

Inspire Your Burning Desire

Ask a small child what they want to be when they grow up and you will hear grand and glorious dreams. In fact, look around you at Halloween and see the imagination of a child as they become super heroes or princesses or even rock stars. Watch a child play dress up or lets pretend. I think back to my own childhood when my playmates and I spent hours designing our dream homes and describing them in glorious detail to each other.

What happened to all of those grand dreams? Life threw its dark cloak of “settle down and be realistic” over our dreams and smothered them. I invite you to lift that cover and peak underneath. Sometimes there is still a flicker of light burning in that dream.

If you were taught as I was that I had to be responsible and practical. I had to go to school, study hard, get a good job and work hard until retirement. Yawn! That mindset drowns the spark rather than fanning the flame. Dispel that myth right now.

First, the days of going to work for a company as a youth and retiring from that same company with a big fat pension after 20 years is non-existent. Less than half of one percent of the population start and retire from exactly the same company. The ones who do are probably working for a family owned company.

Second, the idea of retiring after 20 years with a big fat pension is also a pipe dream. In the 1950’s there actually were companies who provided a retirement pension to their employees. Now the employees have to at least match the company contribution. In many airline cases, the retirement fund disappeared. In other cases, the company closed and the retirement plan vanished with it. Even if the retirement plan did still exist, it was probably about 40% of what was not enough to live on when it was 100%.

I am a part of the baby boomer generation. So many of us are now reaching retirement age and facing the fact that the body and mind may be ready but the bank account is shaking its head emphatically NO. No way there is enough to retire. In fact, many of the bank accounts are laughing hysterically, “You want to do WHAT? Retire? Not a chance.”

This may be a good thing. “How you ask?” Remember those dreams of starting your own business or developing a career out of your favorite hobby or totally reinventing yourself.

True, I have reinvented myself so many times and absolutely loved the experience. Each time I learned new skills, met new inspiring people and achieved new goals. Dust off your dreams. Ignite your burning desire. Inspire your burning desire.

That burning desire is still within you. It is truly not too late. If your mind is active, your heart beating and you have a burning desire in your soul, you can still achieve your dreams.

You have the experience; put it to use. Stop living on the sidelines. Get in to the game of life. Reinvent yourself and ignite your burning desire. Be your own inspiration. If you need someone to believe in you until you can believe in yourself, contact me. Inspire your burning desire to live the life you desire and deserve. You have heard it said that “today is the first day of the rest of your life.” Put a smile on your face and know it can and will be true for you. I am taking a stand for you and your future.