THE ONLY WAY TO OVERCOME PARALYSIS IS TO DECIDE
I’m work with a number of courageous women who want a new or at least refreshed working life.
It’s an exciting journey but about a quarter of the way through the program, it gets scary. That’s when we move from the theory of moving forward to actually doing so.
And that’s when a decision needs to be made. The word ‘decide’ comes from the old French and Latin words for slaying/cutting off/away from. In essence, by deciding on one option we are killing off other options (cf genocide, insecticide, homicide).
Contrary to popular opinion, adopting the new is not as scary as leaving behind the familiar.
But decision and commitment are 100% necessary to make progress. You can’t stay where you are and also move forward. If you’re going for a bush walk and there are several paths from the car park, you have to pick one, even if it brings you back to the car park after 5 minutes.
By following these steps you can keep the bigger picture in mind.
An important step is identifying why you’re doing this. This may be any number of motivations or small:
- to honour the life you’ve been given rather than to half-live it.
- to find out who you are,
- to experience the highs of experience,
- to give your most to the world, to set an example for your kids,
- or just to step out of stagnation because you’re bored!
Will that path take you where you want to go? Will there be snakes or beautiful flowering shrubs? You don’t know. You can’t know. You can prepare but you can’t know.
People are often confused as to how to move forward, but the real problem is a lack of commitment to a particular path.
To make big changes you can’t hedge your bets. You have to be all-in.
Are you?
3 TOP TIPS FOR DECIDING AND COMMITTING
1) Know the enormity of what you have As far as we know the universe is infinite and Earth is the only place where any life exists. The chances of life forming in the first place were infinitesimally small. It is a miracle there is any life and an even bigger miracle that that life includes you. Given this gift, what will you do with it? Don’t hold back.
2) Follow the 7 steps in the panel above but don’t let yourself waste time consulting the whole world – get on with it!
3) Plan your journey and relish every step. Don’t be afraid of falling over – you undoubtedly will but that doesn’t mean you’ve chosen the wrong path, only that you haven’t been here before.
Let me know how you get on!
