According to Your Desire

“We are only limited by our desire to improve.” Gordon Beals

According to Your Desire

Time was beginning to feels like cool molasses settling throughout the room.

“This whole study is just pie in the sky!”  One Commissioner said.

It was the type of statement I’ve heard hundreds of people make when they dig their heels in and I was quite certain I could see the ruts from “dug-in-heels” stretching the entire ten-foot table length.  I was beginning to lose hope for our community’s future right about then.

We had spent a full six months and more than ten public meetings getting to the point of a completed master plan.  The plan was forward thinking and reflected the desires of the population in general.  After all, people had come to participate, in discovery sessions, in numbers never seen before.  Now, at the very end, we were hitting a stumbling block thrown up by people who had decided not to participate in the process.

Then, such person leaned over to me and quietly said, “I guess those of us that didn’t participate just need to trust those of you who did.”

He also followed up with a most illuminating statement.  “We are only limited by our desire to improve!”

The words passed my ears and caused me to begin to absorb this public process as a personal revelation.  Have I been limiting my ability to improve through lack of personal desire?  What can I do to begin to see my own potential?  Here’s how I’ve learned to use the public planning process in my own life:

The first step is to recognize what isn’t working well.  Most of us get real comfortable during periods of our lives.  When that happens it’s a sure sign that I’m not making as much progress as I’m capable of.  So, I begin to look and see where I’m coasting along.

Coasting isn’t a good thing.  I believe it leads to decay, because I’m not exercising my body, mind or spirit.  Knowing this allows one to recognize that a person doesn’t need to be in crisis to identify areas needing improvement.  Look where you’re most comfortable and begin to make plans to create change through challenge.

Obtaining an outside view will allow you to challenge yourself more because it will provide you with greater insight.  Since we’re all separate individuals we don’t have the luxury of seeing through the eyes of another person without asking for feedback.  Each set of eyes sees the world, and you, in a unique way.  I’ve always been amazed at the insight others have given me.  Another’s input has always revealed things I never would have seen on my own.

My friend Steve Crump says, “You’ll never go deep enough on your own, because we all have a built-in protection mechanism.”

Allow others to work with you so you get “deep tissue” therapy.  Your results will be spectacular if you will.  It’s hard, but worth the time and effort to create a visionary master plan!

Once you have a strong master plan, to act as your vision and guide to the future, the real hard work begins.  You can start to write an action plan that will outline stepping-stones to reach the vision you’ve created. 

Don’t skimp on this step!  Your vision is simply a wish if you don’t begin to move forward.  Wishful thinking is a disease.  It can eat you from the inside out if you allow it to make your life a wasteland.

The only way I’ve been able to avoid “wasteland syndrome” is to have accountability.  The best thing I’ve done in this respect is to have a single person to hold-my-feet-to-the-fire in each area I’m addressing.  So, I have a “health coach,” a “business coach” and a “recreation coach” right now.  They help keep me on track. I report to them every two weeks and we walk through my progress in detail.  Without their help I’d be coasting a great deal.  With their help I make regular progress.

You don’t need to pay someone to act as your coach.  Just make sure they’re willing to keep you honest and tell you the truth.  Invite people who care about you and your success to help.  They’ll do it and it will deepen your relationship with them.  Good coaches understand your desires, enhance your ability reach your dreams and show empathy.

Reaching dreams is all about desire.  Take the time to discover what you’d like to improve, Get feedback from interested parties so you can see what you’re missing on your own, and avoid wasteland syndrome by choosing accountability partners to keep you moving forward.  Gordon is right!  We are only limited by our desire to improve!