Overcomer's Do These 3 Things

After all of the hard work, your moment of victory is just within reach.  You can grab it!  It’s up to you.  The closer you get, the more you can tangibly feel what it will be like.  When you grab it, there is a personal joy and sense of satisfaction that cannot be explained—you have to experience it.  This moment is what Breaking Natures is all about!  Victory!  Success!  Overcoming!  Whatever word describes your personal goal is what you insert here.

Reaching the goal is not the end though.  Sure, a celebration, a pause, and taking time to reflect on your accomplishment are all in order.  But the journey does not end.  You extend the vision, set the next goal, and keep climbing. 

Celebration

People celebrate victory in different ways.  My suggestion is to make it personal and have people close by that mean a lot to you and have supported your goal.  When I graduated from High School, it didn’t mean much to me because I did not apply myself.  It was just another day like the rest.  Thirteen years later, I will graduate with a Bachelor’s degree, and it is a totally different experience.  I look forward to commencement much more this time around.  I have put in a lot of prayer, late nights, and hard work to get where I am.  I often think about what it will be like.  Who will come and share this moment with me?  It actually helps drive me to the finish line.  Emotion begins to swirl in my chest and well up to my cheeks as I think about what God has allowed me to accomplish.  This journey has been a character issue for me.

Extend the Vision

This is a time of refocusing and looking ahead.  You may have been doing this already and that’s great.  In reality though, great visions are usually pretty big and it will possibly take you a life time to achieve.  You should be revisiting your vision daily and at least weekly, but taking the time to revisit your vision now will definitely allow you to see if adjustments are necessary.  Once you have the right vision it will probably not change very often.

Next Goal

You have to keep climbing the mountain of life!  If you camp out on this ledge, you are likely to climb back down.  Life is an endless mountain in one sense and the journey is tough, but when you reach the summit of your climb you will be able to look back with satisfaction and thankfulness to God.  So you have to set your next goal that is going to take you closer to your vision.  Crazy successful people usually do not come up on a point when they realize they have reached their last goal—they are thinking way ahead. 

The bottom line is that after you have embraced change, keep reaching!  Keep climbing!  Stop to enjoy the scenery, but move on.  Break your Nature and be an Overcomer.

Nick Massey is a Life Coach, Speaker, and Writer.  To read more from Nick Massey, or to schedule him for a Life Coaching session, or book him to speak to your church, business, or group, visit our website at http://www.coachmassey.com. © 2014 Nick Massey

Riddle: What Does RISK Have in Common With Change?

RISK is a board game where the players set out to conquer the world, and the successful players carefully calculate their moves.  Change is a process that is much the same.  Successful people who adopt change make plans in advance.  Both require strategy.

Dictionary.com defines strategy as “a plan, method, or series of maneuvers or stratagems for obtaining a specific goal or result.”  You may have heard the phrase before, “plan of attack.”  Both the definition and the military phrase sum up in broad terms what we have been talking about over that past two months: vision, assessment, prioritizing, overcoming obstacles, etc.  So let’s tie it all up.

What usually happens to most people who dream, is that they get this idea in their head and just as they get ready to pull it down out of the clouds and give it feet, they freeze.  “I can’t actually do this!  What I am thinking?”  Then they just pop the bubble and forget about it.  The most commonly used analogy to express this phenomenon is that of an elephant in the room.  Someone takes you into a room with an elephant and then tells you to eat.  How do you start eating an elephant?  One bite at a time.

That’s what a strategy is.  If you are anything like me though, you are asking yourself,

“How am I going to get that elephant to let me eat it,” and “Man that’s some tough skin!”  Answering these questions is all part of building a strategy to eat your elephant vision one bite at a time. 

I must say though, all the strategizing in the world with no action is pointless.  Napolean said it well when he stated to “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.”  

One of my clients suffered from what he called “analysis paralysis.”  He would make crazy to do lists, research something to death, talk about it to others, and then go back and think some more.  Eventually, he would talk himself out of the task or keep on thinking about it.  One and a half Life Coaching sessions set him up for success.  He learned to stop analyzing too much and take small bites.  He was so amazed with my Wheel of Life Balance, and how I showed him to self-evaluate and move forward, that he went around sharing it with others!  

One last tip and this one is inspired.  Seek out more than one person to bounce ideas off of.  “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety” (Proverbs 11:14, ESV).  Break out a strategy.  Break out of inaction.  And by all means, Break your Nature!

Nick Massey is a Life Coach, Speaker, and Writer.  To read more from Nick Massey, or to schedule him for a Life Coaching session, or book him to speak to your church, business, or group, visit our website at http://www.coachmassey.com.  © 2014 Nick Massey

  

What do Bear Hunting and Breaking Natures Have in Common?

I am not sure if you have kids or not, but chances are that you may have at least heard this song when you were growing up.  I first heard my wife sing it to our son.  It is kind of fun.  If you want to listen to it, just click the hyperlink below.  It goes something like this. 

Going on a bear hunt… Coming to a river.  Can’t go under it.  Can’t fly over it.  Let’s get in the boat!

Now if you were singing along and went through the hands motions, don’t worry, no one was looking.  Actually, I can’t promise that no one was looking, but I can promise that when you start making progress to meet your bear in life, you will encounter obstacles.  There are a couple of ways to handle these obstacles.

Turn Back

This option rarely solves anything.  In real terms, you have a goal and are making progress.  You come to an obstacle and instead of overcoming or finding alternatives, you turn around and go back where you came from…unsuccessful, bored, unmotivated, and purposeless.  This is no way to live.  Don’t turn back! 

Camp Out

Some people camp out.  I find this kind of humorous.  I have done it so I am laughing at myself.  Picture this.  You are walking towards your bear of a goal, you come to this obstacle river, and pitch camp to decide what to do.  You way over-analyze the problem, and start drawing plans to engineer a bridge.  Soon, you realize you have to build a house here and you begin to decorate the place.  Before you know it, you have decided that this obstacle isn’t all that bad.  Instead of pursuing your God-given dream, you decide to settle.

Get Wet

This can actually be fun!  Just jump in and swim across the river.  This is not always the best option though.  Some people just aren’t good swimmers.  Also, the river could be raging and it would not be wise for anyone to jump in and swim across.

Look for Alternatives

Sometimes, a second pair of eyes can help you to find alternatives.  What tools do you have?  Is there something close by that might help you get across?  Was this in your plan?  Did you bring a map?  Life Coaches are like cell phone guides when a person is stuck.  They can’t see everything you have, but they can ask questions to get you thinking.  Lots of times we focus on the problem and lose the vision for possibilities.

Go the Long Way Around

This is not always a bad idea, but it requires persistence and accountability.  In reality you can’t always overcome your obstacles or you do not have the right resources, so you have to go around the long way.  This can be a fun journey and provide excellent experience that will help you when you meet your bear of a goal.

I would like to suggest that of all the options we just discussed, there are only three options that we should consider in life.  First, we should look for alternatives.  Second, we should get wet and swim through if you can swim and the conditions are right.  Third, we can go the long way around.  I hope the next time you get stuck because of an obstacle, and we all do, that you will remember the bear hunt song, and visit my website to set up an appointment through my contact page.

Nick Massey is a Life Coach, Speaker, and Writer.  To read more from Nick Massey, or to schedule him for a Life Coaching session, or book him to speak to your church, business, or group, visit our website at http://www.coachmassey.com. © 2014 Nick Massey

Execution: What Makes One Successful?

Depending on how you read my title, you may think I am talking about the death penalty.  In a somewhat twisted sense I am.  How and if you execute your plan plays a major role in if you will be successful in adopting lasting lifestyle change.  So what can make you successful?  Execution.

Let me explain what I mean.  It is one thing to have a plan, and another thing altogether to do it.  Think about New Year’s resolutions (by the way, how are you doing on yours?).  How many people set out to lose weight?  They talk about eating better and exercising more.  Some people will even go as far as buying a gym membership.  Here is the kicker though; if you don’t do it, then you will not succeed.  It is that simple.

This idea of execution is directly related to what Daryl Daughtry calls, “Embracing the change.”  The way he described this to me was that the person has fully made room for this in their life.  They have set apart the behavior and completely adopted the change they sought after.  I am sure you see this as some nice and fluffy statement, so let me give it some teeth.

Execution is built on motivation and momentum.  This refers directly back to my previous blog on how to build unstoppable momentum.  First things first though; when your plan is issued and backed by God, you have everything you need.  Secondly, many people, even Christians lose sight of the vision because they do not keep it before them.  Thirdly, you have to be intense.  Pursue your goal and vision with your whole heart.  I am not talking about some burst of emotion though.  This quote from Adlai Stevenson sums up how I feel about the concepts of motivation and momentum.

"Patriotism is not a short and frenzied outburst of emotion but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime."

You must keep the vision before you!  How can you do this?  Make a computer desktop background that reminds you every time you use your computer.  Use Post-it notes on your bathroom mirror.  Commit a sentence to memory that sums up your vision and recite it daily.  Review a goal sheet with a mentor once a month.  Use an alarm that allow you to record your voice saying the dream; that way you can hear it every morning when you wake up.  Make it real!

So here is the bottom line.  A successful execution is built on motivation and momentum.  The result is change that lasts.  Whatever your goal is, just do it.  Start moving right now, or else you will end up the same as you were before.  Break your Nature, not your neck.

Nick Massey is a Life Coach, Speaker, and Writer.  To read more from Nick Massey, or to schedule him for a Life Coaching session, or book him to speak to your church, business, or group, visit our website at http://www.coachmassey.com. © 2014 Nick Massey