“You can’t cross a sea by merely staring into the water.”
~Rabindranath Tagore

We recently offered a program called Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone to a conference audience. We challenged them to get out of their own way and set their Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (Author Jim Collins coined this term in his book, Good to Great) so that they could truly accomplish the things that mattered to them most.

At the end of the session, a woman came up to me. “Thank you,” she shared. “I’ve been trying to get myself to do this for so long now, and you helped push me forward.” I quickly pointed out that she pushed herself forward, and then challenged her further to set up a structure, a system, and support so that she had to continue to move forward on her goal. So that she could not fail.

She thanked me again. As she walked away I thought of how often we clearly know exactly what we want, and specifically what we need to do to achieve it, but still we don’t take the action. We merely stare into the water and either wonder why we’re not getting anywhere, or lament the fact that we’re not crossing the sea or that the sea is just too expansive. We have to plunge in, get wet, and swim for the other side (or at least actually climb into the boat and set sail) if we truly want to cross over.

Swim. Boat. Windsurf even. Just get your eyes off the water and onto the far horizon and get moving.

Where are you merely staring into the water? What will help you dive into the water and swim?
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If you want support diving in, contact Lisa at lkohn@chatsworthconsulting.com.

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