Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

Where are you along the road of life?

I believe that every person will come to a crossroads in their life. A point of realization, be it ever so

brief, where they take account of where they have been and where they are going. We do it both in our personal and professional lives. Have you hit that crossroads yet? If so, which way did you decide to go?

Think about all of the occasions where you wish you could have gone backwards in time to a particular situation. You think about all of the things you would have done had the situation been different or if you had the opportunity to do things again. Hindsight is 20/20. I often wonder how many people would actually take advantage of the situation if it actually presented itself. If you were actually able to use a DVR on your life and you were able to do a quick rewind, what would we acutally change?

Do you "wish" things were different?

Are you really happy with who you are and what you have become in this life? That is a question only you can answer and I hope you have something to say about it. From a career standpoint, have you achieved what you hoped you would have achieved by this point in your life, or have you missed your mark. I had a High School Business Education teacher that used to say that if I aimed for the stars that one day I might hit the moon but that was better than not aiming at all. I agree. What did you aim for? Did you hit it? What are you aiming for now?
In my adult life I have had many jobs with many co-workers, bosses and direct reports. One thing has always struck me as odd. Everyone complains. Everyone wishes that things were different. Everyone says "Man, if we could only _______ (fill in the blank). " But most people don't do something different in order to get different results. They don't realize that they are hitting exactly where they are aiming. They have zero goals and have an equal number of successes in their life. One thing I do know is that life is short and we pass this way but once. I don't want any instances of "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda"

A dream is just a dream until you couple action with aspiration

(I just made that up but I KNOW that it is true. :-)) If you are not happy where you work and there is something that you would rather go do, you should make a plan to go do it. I have a very close friend of mine who taught me that lesson. He asked me what I would do for work if I could do anything I wanted, and didn't have to worry about money. I told him that I would be a bass guitar player in a Chicago blues band. He responded, "Do you know how to play bass guitar?" "A little" I said. He said, "Do you own a bass guitar?" "No" I responded. He said ok, and then started talking about something else. A few months later he asked me how my bass guitar lessons were going and if I had actually bought a bass guitar. My answer was hard to say. I hadn't done anything to move me towards the goal I had told him I wanted to do so passionately. It suddenly hit me that my dream was just a dream and would always stay a dream, as long as I did nothing to work towards it. Additionally, if it was really something that I wanted to do, I would figure out a way to make it happen. This also caused me to reevaluate what I really really wanted to do. I had to figure out what I was really passionate about and to make that my focus.

Some final thoughts

As we come into the season of New Years resolutions and self-commitents to make a better you, we should take a moment to look at ourselves. We should evaluate where we are on the road of life. Are we on the right road, heading in the right direction? Have we veered off course? Did we miss the an onramp? Decide now what you want and go for it. Do not let your days end with any Woulda, Coulda Shoulda's.

I am interested in hearing what you would do if all of your bills were paid and you could just pick the thing that pleased you the most. What would you be doing?

Friday, December 10, 2010