Have you ever..?

Have you ever hung out with friends for a weekend talking about your hopes and dreams and then it turns into the things you should have done? Topics like: “We should have bought that old beach house” or “I should have taken that opportunity and gone to live in SPAIN for the year.” or “I can’t believe they made that into a business.  It was my idea.”  The list goes on and on; a house isn’t purchased, a trip is dismissed and a business idea goes on the shelf.  Why weren’t these things acted on?  Sure, it is easy to blame limited funds, a bad economy, children, college, saving for retirement, but even in the best of times, there are no guarantees, right?

Risk.

We sometimes have to take risks.  I am not saying to be reckless, like jumping through a fiery hoop, but there is something to be said for “measured risk.”  With some visualization, a plan of action and a strategy for a  potential project or goal, who says you can’t be successful? Many times the answer to that question is,  “you.”  We question our own ability, our commitment and our choices all the time.  We can tell the rest of the world to “go for it,” but when it comes to us, we shut the opportunity down.  In effect, it isn’t the environment that tells us that we can’t be successful, it is what we tell ourselves that can sometimes kill an idea or deter a plan from happening.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to sit around with my friends and talk about our dreams and wishes. It is really inspiring and a lot of fun to speculate, but maybe next time I do this, I will invite them to collaborate on a plan to make some of these ideas really happen.

NOW.

If not now, when?  That house by the water may not be that far off base. It might just not take a “straight line” to get there.