Often we think the circumstances in our lives are preventing us from moving forward.  Not enough time. Not enough money. Too old. Too young. Don’t have the skills or education.  Any of those sound familiar?  What beliefs are keeping you stuck?

The words we use when we think about ourselves are very powerful. Catch yourself. Question. Be curious. Is what you are saying the TRUTH or just a belief that you’ve decided to adopt?

There was a young guy who hears about this great fishing stream. He goes to the fishing stream and he throws in his line and then he waits. Meanwhile, he happens to notice that a little ways down the bank is an elderly fisherman. He’s throwing in his line and this guy is just pulling in one fish after another. Once he catches each fish, he lays it down on the edge of the riverbank and measures it against a broken-off ruler. If the fish is bigger than the broken-off ruler, he unhooks it and tosses it back in the stream. If instead the fish is smaller than the broken-off ruler, he unhooks it and puts it in his bucket. So the young guy is thinking, why is he doing that? Why is he unhooking the big fish and throwing them back and only keeping the small ones. 

The young man finally just can’t stand it, so he goes down to the old man and asks him, “Excuse me, but why are you throwing the big fish back and keeping the little ones?  Do they get bony if they get too big, or is there a regulation about taking big fish out of the stream?”  The old guy looks at him and says, “Sonny, look at this. I measure every fish by this broken off ruler here. You see, that broken-off ruler is broken off at exactly the size of the frying pan I use.”

We laugh at the old man limiting the size of the fish he keeps, because he has a small frying pan. Couldn’t he buy a larger pan?  Of course, he could. Is that any different from being tossed a big idea and throwing it back, because of our self-imposed limits? We think, “I don’t have the money”, “I don’t have the education”, I don’t have the time”, etc.  We believe our current conditions don’t support us in making use of that big idea. 

Have you ever thrown back a big idea because of your current circumstances?  Is it possible that you may just be afraid?  And, if so, how can you silence that voice of fear?

The first step is to DECIDE for that big idea. The second step is to do something that moves you in the direction of that dream, in spite of the fear. The third step is to begin living the life you are imagining. 

I know I’m making it sound easy. So, full disclosure …. it is NOT easy. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it! The ones that really want to succeed realize that they need help to navigate the gap between the life they have been living and the life they WANT to be living. 

Are you one of those people who lives 90 years, or one of those people that lives one year 90 times? 

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