Create the Future You Want

To create the future you want, start by writing down your goals. Next, create practical action steps to help you attain them.  Most people set goals at the beginning of the year. How are you progressing with the goals you set in January?  A University of Scranton research study suggests that just 8%  of people achieve their New Year’s goals. Why? Although goals and action steps show you the way, a faulty attitude can sabotage your best plans. If you want to generate the proper attitude for goal achievement, then memorize and obey this phrase, “Never make an excuse.”

Let me illustrate with an example from athletics. When I was a college football coach, the night before the game, I would give my players an “alert sheet,” which gave specific instructions and important items to remember for that game. At the bottom of the sheet, I added this phrase:

Are you creating the future you want?  What are you waiting for?

There’s nothing more satisfying than pursuing your passion and your dream. and it has nothing to do with money. It’s all about mission. Calling. Purpose. Is there something you have a burning desire to do? That makes your heart beat faster? You need to chase that dream.

In the last week, several people have told me they always wanted to be a professional speaker, or coach, or trainer. How many of us experience that dream burning inside us, and for whatever reason, we choose not to pursue it? We may be traveling down that road, but then something shoves us off track. It happens to people all the time.

Most men die with the dream still inside them because they fail to create the future they want.

Excuses

We fail to create the future we want because it’s easier to make an excuse. If you’ll give yourself an excuse, you’ll give an excuse to someone else. You cannot achieve success and make excuses. At some point, you have to make a decision and close the door to excuses. For tips on how to stop making excuses go to http://www.wikihow.com/Stop-Making-Excuses

You can make excuses or you can create the future you want, but you’ll never do both.

Apologies

When we make excuses, we often find it necessary to apologize for not doing what we were supposed to do. “I’m sorry I was late for the meeting.”  “I’m sorry I didn’t prepare to give a great presentation.”

I offered a graduate from our speaker’s boot camp an opportunity to speak at one of our conferences.  We do an incredible job of teaching people how to prepare, how to eat right the day of the event in case it affects your blood sugar… we teach everything! He was a diabetic, and that morning he chose not to take care of himself. Not only did he give a poor presentation, but his language crossed a line.

So when it was all over, he called me and said, “Coach, how did I do?” I replied, “We need to meet for coffee.” When I shared with him what had happened, he said, “I’m sorry. I should have… I should have…” And I said, “I’m sorry too because I can never hire you again.”

He was a classic example of how we give ourselves excuses, then need to apologize. Do you find yourself apologizing a lot?

Apologies don’t pay the rent.

Regrets

Individuals who create the future they want live with few regrets. Our friend Laval was an IT guy for a timeshare, but he dreamed of becoming a professional speaker. After attending our speaker’s boot camp, he decided to put on his own training event.  Despite his fears and busy work schedule, he planned and executed his own seminar successfully. That night he called me all excited: “Coach, I did it! I’m pursuing my dream!”  Just a few months later he died at the age of 40. But he got to taste his dream. There were no “what if’s” for him.

You and I are not guaranteed tomorrow. What are you doing today to create the future you want?

We must suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.” Jim Rohn

“Credo”

Kenny Stabler was possibly the greatest lefty quarterback ever. He played for the Oakland Raiders back in the day, and they called him “The Snake” because he was known for throwing long last-minute touchdown passes to win games. Once he attended a banquet at which renowned author Jack London recited his own poem “Credo:”

• I would rather be ashes than dust!
• I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
• I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
• The function of man is to live, not to exist.
• I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
• I shall use my time.

Kenny was scheduled to speak right after Jack London read that amazing poem, and the emcee didn’t like him and tried to embarrass him. The emcee knew that Kenny went to college at Louisiana Tech and was not known for his academic prowess.  So the emcee said, “Kenny, what does that poem mean to you?”

Kenny’s absolutely brilliant reply?

“Throw deep.”

Now think about that. You can throw shallow. You can throw behind the line of scrimmage. You can throw a screen pass. Or you can go for the win and throw deep. Those who create the future they want throw deep.

Throw DEEP

Here’s the key to success in business: never make an excuse, and surround yourself with people who have a dream and who live a life of devoid of excuses and apologies. But before you can find that type of person, you must become that type of person.

I choose to work with people who are in the solution world. These people never make an excuse. It is their mission in life to find a way to create the future they want. Individuals like this are driven by their dreams,  and they want it so badly they find a way to achieve it.

My challenge for you…

Do you realize we have five months until 2018? Some people make excuses and apologies for what they haven’t done so far this year. All that’s left are the regrets. I challenge you to close the door on excuses. Treat every day like your last. Play hard. Create the future you want.