Don’t Procrastinate! Take a Shot!

Don’t Procrastinate! Take the Shot!

Life is all about living (in it, not beside it). It doesn’t mean to sit on the sidelines watching it go by, wondering and wishing but rarely fulfilling. It doesn’t mean to quietly resent those who appear to succeed, unable to understand why we can’t move forward or why we keep going round in circles. No, it means to live in it, to take however many shots it takes to love, to learn, to laugh… To find the true meaning in our individual roles. To learn to see each situation in its own merit. What’s the worst that could happen? I take a shot and miss. So what! At least I will know – I can laugh and I can learn and I can move on – all the richer for the experience. It doesn’t matter how many shots we miss, as long as we are willing to take them. It’s the shots we don’t take that will proof to be a heavy weight around our shoulders – a heavy burden to carry through life. And when we ‘carry our own cross’ we have no energy, strength or confidence to change the situation, but will disperse many judgements. Allowing the opinions or expectations from others to stop us from having a go, we say we don’t want to conform yet that’s what we do. We conform to our own self-defeating thought patterns that elevate the opinions of others above our own wellbeing and thus, let it affect us. It rarely has anything to do with anyone else though it is easier to point the finger of blame away from ourselves, so we can ‘justifiably’ remain a victim …

As the waste-paper-basket fills with untaken shots, lined with unfulfilled dreams, irrational fears and destructive emotional habits. We sit and wonder, why? It’s the shots we don’t take – that keep us up at night. It’s the shots we don’t take that keeps our own often distorted understanding and perception of failure, alive.  Denying or ignoring that they our choices and decisions of our own making, we procrastinate. So lets keep it simple – failure has nothing to do with missing the shot. It lies in not taking the shot! We miss out 100% of the shots that we don’t take in life. Those untaken shots we have to live with – those missed opportunities that so easily become our own restrictive yardstick by which we measure ourselves – a barrier that we rarely know how to or dare to transcend. So lets not get stuck in the ‘I would have……’; ‘I could have……’;  I should have…..’ realm.  Reality is, we didn’t!  So get rid of the inner critic. From today, wipe the slate clean and start afresh. Allow yourself to take a step back and just observe the ebb and flow of life. We can learn a lot by simply observing – no comments, no judgements, no complaints, no excuses.  Let 2016 bring a new outlook on life whereby it allows you to simply take a shot (at anything in any direction) and not be concerned with whether or not you will succeed.

Simply taking a shot just because you can, releases any disempowering habits and ritualistic procrastination. Procrastination is a rather committed vice – it will follow us to the ends of the earth, if given permission. But don’t fall for this elusive and deceptive ‘ally’, we’re not in control of it, we’re only in control of how we respond to it. It’s a trap for those who take their eyes off the ball. Not paying attention (for even a second) leaves room for doubt or insecurity to creep in and your ‘friend’ procrastination, will be there in full support. However, this kind of support doesn’t uplift us, instead it lulls us into believing that our ‘reason’ for doing or not doing something, is justified.

Though chronic pain has slowed me down (I’m just recovering from a 3-day flare), I don’t give it permission to stop me. Whenever I feel my motivation wane, I amp up my imagination and cultivate my courage by simply taking another shot – no matter how trivial or outrageous it appears to others. Sometimes the decision between saying yes or no is taking a shot – sometimes it pays, sometimes it doesn’t – but I take the shot. Procrastination sabotages hard work so don’t give it the slightest chance to sneak back in, or risk staying stuck in negative patterns. The key is to make experimenting fun rather than fearful (values-based rather than failure-based). When it stops being fun, we stop seeing the value and stop wanting to play – life becomes fearful and complicated… When we stop taking shots – shots that are rightfully ours to take – we slowly die inside! To keep taking shots at life means I need to stay creative in my mind and flexible in my actions. Letting go of any expected outcome is to remain flexible in my actions. Keeping it fun creates an inner desire to rise up and meet a challenge, not run from it. This attitude of ‘anything is possible’ as opposed to ‘what if…..’  keeps life fun and enables us to keep having a go.

Many successful athletes will tell you about the many times they ‘missed the winning shot’ but they just kept going. And as Michael Jordan puts it “I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” 

So never stop taking shots – even if there’s only the slimmest chance of succeeding – at least you can rest in knowing you’ve given it a go. Or else you’ll always be wondering. If we take the shot and it doesn’t work we can chalk it up as life experience and move on. But if we take the shot and succeed… Imagine the possibilities 🙂

Question: Do I regularly take a shot at something? Or do I rationalise procrastination?

Consideration:   What stops me from taking a shot? Or 10 shots? Or 100 shots? Or 1000 shots?

Action to take:   Each time there’s an opportunity to take a shot (at anything)… Breathe… Steady your self… Then take it with courage. This doesn’t mean to become irresponsible or dangerous in our actions – on the contrary. It means I take the shot where it’s save and beneficial for everyone concerned because the more shots I take, in time, the more self aware I become…

Stay well, Love Annemarie

ps… The facelift for our ‘Reclaiming Power’ program is almost complete. If you’re ready to make some positive change in 2016 and struggle to stay on track, this program can help you with that. And it won’t break the bank! If you’re interested in doing this program, please let me know and I’ll send you the link once it’s finished 🙂