I have been on hundreds of commercial flights in my lifetime. At the top of every flight, the attendant during the safety briefing always states that "In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will automatically drop from the ceiling”. They will then follow up that sentence by adding: “Be sure to secure your own mask before assisting others”. It’s interesting just how important that is. As a good person who loves the individual they are sitting next to, your first reaction would probably be to help them get their mask on… especially if you are a parent of a younger child. However, if you don’t secure your own mask first, you might not even have enough oxygen to assist others, so not only would you be putting yourself in harm’s way, but you’re also risking the lives of others, just by one seemingly selfless act. This example comes up almost daily for me, because it is relevant in all aspects of life. You must always secure your own safety… your own finances… your own health… your own happiness… your own business…. BEFORE helping others. Each year, my non-profit theatre company, Spring Theatre, does a series of youth productions, and when I am lucky enough to have the time to work directly with the kids, I ask them to point to the person they should be most worried about during the show. They all soon learn to turn their finger around and point right to themselves. I explain to the kids that if everyone took care of what they were supposed to do during the show carefully and put all of their effort into being the best they could be on and off the stage, the show would most likely go smoothly. The mistakes come when performers or crew members get distracted worrying about someone else which sometimes causes mistakes with their responsibilities, and inadvertently starts a chain reaction to messing other performers up. As an entrepreneur, I have found that it’s so easy to say yes and so difficult to say no. Countless times, I would make a bad business decision because I knew it would make a board member happy, or an employee happy, or one client happy even though it was directly hurting me personally. It made me happy to make others happy, and I knew I’d always work it out somehow, but every single time that happened, the business suffered. It took me over 8 years until I was finally so uncomfortable, I got over the need to please others and put myself first…. and when I did, something miraculous happened. Not only was I comfortable- but so was everyone else! As good as my intentions were, it was impossible to squeeze water from a rock, and I had no more time, money or energy to give. My dreams and goals are now growing at a rapid rate, and I finally have more resources to help more people and make other people achieve their dreams as well.
So, is your oxygen mask on? If not, I highly encourage you to focus all your effort into securing your mask… and once it’s on tight, you can focus on truly changing the world. xoxoxox
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I will bet that you already know what you need to do to achieve all of your goals, dreams and desires. So why haven’t you achieved all of them? Let’s say for example one of your dreams is to get into shape. Besides some serious medical conditions, to do this, all you have to do is eat healthy and exercise. Educate yourself on health with the amazing resources available to you- most of them at no charge. But chances are, you already knew that. So why haven’t you achieved that dream? Excuses could include “it was somebody’s birthday and there was cake”, or “I just don’t have the time to work out” or “I needed to spend time with my kids” or “I don’t have the money for a gym membership”. But you’re stronger and smarter than that. For each and every “excuse” you have, find a solution. Don’t eat the cake. Make the time to work out by getting up earlier. Exercise with your kids and get them on a healthy lifestyle too. Do a free online exercise video instead of the gym membership. Let’s say one of your dreams is to start your own business. Possible excuses could be “I don’t have the capital”, “I just don’t have time”, “My friends don’t think I have the knowledge” or “I don’t want to lose my security”…. To those excuses: find the ways to raise the capital, make time if it’s truly what you want, stop listening to the “naysayers” and realize that you have more security being self-employed as when you are employed you have the daily risk of being fired at any time. For each and every one of your goals or dreams that haven’t yet come true, I’m sure you could sit down and make a list of excuses as to why they have not. But I’m here to promise you today that an excuse is nothing more than a waste of your breath and brain cells. People will disappoint you. It’s OK. Just don’t disappoint yourself. Don’t let others not doing what they say they are going to do demotivate you or hinder you from reaching the highest potential you can achieve. So today, I challenge you to find a way to become stronger than your excuses. Pick one of your goals/dreams/desires and RIGHT NOW do something towards making that happen. Instead of explaining to yourself or a friend why you don’t have what you want, take that same amount of time and (as Nike puts it) JUST DO IT. You are the only thing getting in your own way. And you’re worth it.
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