This week Ellen Van den Branden explains why taking action yourself is at the root of your future happiness. This column is part of her Time2Reconnect project to help people find their new motivation to build a stronger and better future for themselves.
There are people who spend their entire life on the same spot, afraid to get lost. Because their familiar comfort zone feels “right”. Stepping out of your comfort zone means having the courage to work on yourself and being willing to take a risk. Many think they can do this, but few will ultimately succeed. And why is that? Because it requires constant action.
The name of the game is action
But beware, don’t get caught in the trap. There are people who are busy day in and day out, going all out, walking around stressed, letting life pass them by, without any end result. But they are constantly busy, they are always taking action. Make sure you don’t become that person!
Make sure you follow a focused roadmap so you can check off each step taken. To put some pressure on yourself, you could also share your step-by-step plan with those around you, who can help you to make sure that you actually complete your steps within the timeframe you have set for yourself. Nothing is as disappointing as having to admit to those around you that you did not finish your plan within the predefined time.
A goal without a foolproof roadmap remains a vague desire
Taking steps that give you goosebumps are the best steps! They will energize you, make your adrenaline level rise and will make you want to move quickly to your next step. You can only take these steps when you overcome all your fears that keep you safe from all kinds of roadblocks and obstacles.
To achieve your goals, you must also be able to let go. Letting go means that you are fully prepared to overcome obstacles and are confident that you are on the right track. Beware – don’t fall over your own feet! Letting go doesn’t mean not taking action anymore. Letting go has everything to do with freeing yourself from all worries and fears. Unfortunately, we spend far too much time worrying about things we cannot change or control. It is important to understand and know what you can control and put your energy into that. Let go of what is beyond your control.
So what can you control?
You can take control of your future and make your dreams come true. But this control is limited to your own life and not the lives of those around you. You cannot control what other people around you do, only how you perceive and react to those things. But as long as you focus more on what you can control and less on what you cannot control, you will generally worry less. Never lose sight of the big picture, your dream life!
And, if another feeling of uncontrollability or worry overpowers you, consider this for a moment: We are just a tiny meaningless dot on this globe and the earth is just a tiny dot in the whole universe. So what are you worrying about!!! By the way, do you know how many hundreds of millions of trillions of stars there are? Then we as humans are nothing in this whole universe, right? So, how big are your worries then in the totality of the cosmos….
Fear…
Taking action scares you. It’s not so much the action itself that scares you, but rather the change that action will bring about that you fear. Or am I wrong? Unfortunately, as human beings we are creatures of habit and we resist change because we do not know what the unknown will bring us. We rather like to resign ourselves to our situations. That is ingrained in our DNA, unfortunately! Not that we always like the situation we find ourselves in, that’s a totally different discourse by the way, but we know what we have in the situation and how we can behave in it. So that’s what they call, “the comfort zone!”
Yet we all dream of a dream life, be it in our career, in our relationship, in our leisure time, … But achieving that dream life requires change. And although change is often positive and makes us happy, it gives us a sense of insecurity. We are afraid of the unknown, of what is coming our way. And then those famous inhibitions reappear: fear and negative emotions. But remember this:
Fear takes place only in your head!
From now on, get up every day with the following mindset: It’s safe to take a step further. It’s safe because it will take me to my dream life. By the way, why would you want to stay within your comfort zone when there is so much more out there!
I trust that starting today, you will dare to take action to bring you to your ultimate dream. Want to know more about our Time2Reconnect roadmap that will change your life forever? Then take a look at this page.
Good luck!
Cheers, Ellen
