Crystal Palace Local

But this train of thought got me thinking.  What other areas of my life do I get ahead of myself in?  And once I asked myself this question, the answers came flooding in!  I’ve been like that with my business several times over the years, particularly when I was starting out.  In fact, in the early days, one of my biggest problems was my frustration that things were taking so long.  Instead of just taking action and moving forward, I kept on beating myself up about my supposed lack of progress.  Without realising that most coaches take an awful long time to get into the position of having their business as their full-time source of income.

I also have a habit of getting one area of my life into shape but then niggling at myself for not having it 100% perfect.  I’ve changed around my social life quite a bit in the last couple of years and enjoy a much wider range of activities.  But instead of giving myself a pat on the back for this, and recognising a positive achievement, I tended to look at what I still wanted to do with my social life and take for granted what I had done.  I’m not saying you should break out a bottle of champagne for every little achievement, but sometimes you can lose sight of how far you have come by constantly looking at what you feel is missing.  So again, accept where you are currently, give yourself some credit for what you have done so far, and then move forward to where you want to go.

I’ve started reading several books in the last year or so about living in the Now.  Rather than going back to a Past that has already gone, or constantly worrying over a Future that only exists in your mind, just live in the Now.  And I guess finally the penny is dropping.  It’s so easy to mull over things from your past that have upset you, or fear about what dangers the future might bring.  But the more I accept the present and deal with it, the less I’ll have this tornado of negative thoughts blowing around in my brain.  Once I accepted the shape I was in last night and just got on with the run, the easier it actually got.  And the more fun!

I can easily see this approach reaping dividends in people who are changing career.  If you are making the move from one field to another which is completely different, then the change is likely to take some time.  You need to prove that you can achieve certain results and are adept at that work.  But if you refrain from beating yourself up at any perceived lack of progress and just take the action to move yourself forward, then the journey to your new career will be that bit more enjoyable and probably seem an awful lot quicker.  Here’s to 2012, where I’m actually present in 2012, rather than living in a different era!