Instead of trying to do a daily blog that goes along with the daily podcast I thought I'd do a "week in review" and do a "re-cap" of the past weeks podcast topics. For one, my job at the time makes it very hard for me to do this on a daily basis and, secondly, I hope this will also help you to decide to take the time to listen to the podcasts if you haven't done so already.
Remember, you can access the podcasts via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/mike-spillmans-future-you/id423660739
So, here we go...
Monday, January 9th: "Year Passed: One Day at a Time" ... A lot of people look at the past year (2011 in this case) scratching their head in bewilderment wondering where the time went and how it passed by seemingly so quickly.
NEWS FLASH: it didn't pass by any quicker or any differently than any other time period that you have experienced. The whole past year passed by just like any other year - one month at a time, one week at a time, one day at a time, one minute at a time and even one second at a time.
Now, let me say this: I have definitely experienced the thought that the older you get the faster time SEEMS to go by. The key word there is "seems" because, in all reality, time passes by for me at age 52 the same way it did at age 5.
The main focus of this podcast message is for us to realize that we MUST STOP looking BACK on time gone by in large groups of time and start looking DAILY at the time that we have before us - RIGHT NOW.
Today.
"Today is the tomorrow that you talked about yesterday." I have no idea who said that first but I heard it quite a few years back and I think it makes a very good point.
Here's the way I like to put it...
"The 24-hour period that we call tomorrow will be called what when it arrives? TODAY! So, in reality, there is no such thing as 'tomorrow' because all we have is TODAY!"
Give that some thought and be sure to listen (if you haven't done so) to this podcast as well as the others for the week passed.
Tuesday, January 10th: "This Year Passing: One Day at a Time" ... Just like 2011 we find that 2012 is passing by in exactly the same way - ONE DAY AT A TIME!
You know, it's very interesting to think of how many of you had some thought like "No Duh!" or "I'm not stupid, y'know?" in response to my last observation. However, it's even more interesting to me to think about how many of us KNOW that and yet we still continue to live as if we DIDN'T know that!
As you look at the date of this podcast you will see that the first month of 2012 is almost half-way passed and, yet, many are still planning to get started on their "New Year's Resolution" TOMORROW.
May I be blunt here? (Of course I can, it's my blog, right?) For those of you that are still saying, "TOMORROW" on getting started on some new thing....you won't.
*Ouch!*
Hey, sometimes the truth hurts, doesn't it? But, sometimes we need to HEAR and FACE the truth (why does the phrase, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" pop up in my head?) no matter how much it hurts.
Procrastination is the killer of dreams! Yes, just like me you have probably heard the following saying most all of your life: "Never put off until tomorrow that which you can do today" (or some variation of that saying). And yet, as much as we may want to "roll our eyes" at such sayings, THIS ONE IS TRUE! Why? Because all we have is TODAY!
Look at the definition of "procrastinate" - to defer action; delay: to procrastinate until an opportunity is lost.... to put off till another day or time; defer; delay.
Now look at the word "procrastination" - the act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off or delaying, especially something requiring immediate attention.
Hey, YOU are the only one that can answer this question: How important are your goals and dreams? Your action or LACK of action shows more than what you say as far as your answer to this question.
One day at a time, time is passing you and all of us by.
Wednesday, January 11th: "What Happened Last Year?" ... You know, it is easy to look BACK over the 12-month period that was deemed 2011 and wonder, “WHAT HAPPENED?”
“What happened to all of the goals and dreams I had set for myself? What happened to all of the wonderful things I had planned to accomplish? It’s already mid-January 2012 – WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TIME?”
Again, remember that each year passes by exactly the same way – ONE DAY AT A TIME! Also, remember that the fact that the first month of this block of time deemed 2012 is already half over SCREAMS that fact loud and clear trying to get your attention.
So, along with “WHAT HAPPENED?” we also now need to be asking ourselves, “WHAT NOW?” If we don’t take a look at the PAST then we can’t impact our FUTURE in a way that would go along with our goals and dreams, right?
Bottom line: if you are still saying you plan to start TOMORROW on your “New Year’s Resolution” then, let’s get honest and face this fact – YOU’RE NOT GOING TO DO IT!
*OUCH!*
Sometimes the truth hurts, doesn’t it and sometimes we don’t want to hear the harsh truth (“YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH!” – sorry, that just popped into my head) but we MUST be willing to be honest with our PAST if we plan to be honest about our FUTURE!
Thursday, January 12th: "Getting Back on Track" ... Here’s a thought mentioned in the last podcast that I want us to consider at the start of today’s review: “Where will YOU be when you get where YOU’RE going?” Again, we can’t get back ON track until we can discover where we got OFF track in the past, right?
Remember this: PROCRASTINATION IS THE KILLER OF DREAMS!
Are you determined to get back on track? Is it important for you to do so? Do you still have the belief that you can do what it is that you have set out to do? Have you lost your passion for your goals and dreams? If so, why? Take some time and HONESTLY answer these questions before you move on.
**Be sure to listen to my “7 Life-Changing, Powerful, Daily Affirmations” that I put together back in August of 2008… THIS CAN BE A REAL HELP TO “KICK-START” YOUR DAY!
Now, this may sound a little odd at first, but think about this: “SUCCESSFULLY MOVING TOWARD YOUR GOALS and DREAMS IS LIKE BEING IN A RELATIONSHIP!” (By the way, this is a “Blog Bonus” that is not discussed in the podcast!)
Think of any relationship that is important to you that involves any type of romance and compare the following to your “relationship” with your goals and dreams…
- Do you remember how excited you were at the beginning of that “romance”? Do you remember how you felt when you were around that person, heard that person’s voice or even just THOUGHT of that person?
- How hard did you try to keep that romance alive? How hard did you work to make SURE that they KNEW your commitment to them was real and that you would do whatever it took to “keep it alive”?
- Now, if that relationship has weakened and perhaps even died – WHAT HAPPENED?
- Did you start losing your focus and start paying more attention to something or someone else?
- Did your efforts to make sure they knew of your commitment to them start being shown less and less often?
Now, connect all of that to your goals and dreams and think about how you felt when you FIRST came up with these ideas. Perhaps you came up with them and made this commitment as a “New Year’s Resolution” sometime in the past. Do you remember how eager you were to tell anyone that would listen? Do you remember how committed you were to making those goals and dreams a reality? You would do ANYTHING and work however hard was necessary to make these become a REALITY in your life and to keep this dream alive!
What happened? Did you start losing your focus and start paying more attention to something else? Did your “passion” and commitment become weak because of the continued passage of time or a lack of belief in yourself?
WAKE UP AND DECIDE NOW IF YOU STILL WANT THIS IN YOUR LIFE! If so, “fall in love” once again with these hopes, dreams and ideas and realize that you CAN if you really want to do so.
Friday, January 13th: "Keeping Our Focus Toward Success!" ... Life is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. The same is true as you move toward your goals and dreams – rarely are these things achieved “over night” and, that being true, it takes determination and perseverance in order to “STAY FOCUSED” to see them through.
You may question your ability to stay focused enough to see these through and it may be so especially if you have seen several years pass by along this journey. DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF YOUR DESTINATION and DO NOT become deterred in this journey.
If the goal is BIG ENOUGH and WORTH ACHIEVING then you can keep moving forward REGARDLESS of what may happen to slow you down along the way.
Only YOU can decide how important this is to you – if it’s not important, you WILL NOT continue and if it IS important to you, you WILL continue on NO MATTER WHAT!
One day at a time, one step at a time.
Hey, remember this – my daily affirmations that I shared with you were penned back in August of 2008. That’s almost 3.5 years ago! And,yes, I have to admit, there have been times that I have lost my focus along the way.
This is one of the reasons I am getting “re-focused” on my daily podcast and my blog – I CAN! I WILL! I MUST! (the last of my “7 Life-Changing, Powerful, Daily Affirmations”).
There are all kinds of reasons that I could still come up with to tell myself that I need to just give up on my goals and dreams in this area. There is no need for me to list them here and share them with you – I KNOW THEM WELL ENOUGH AS IT IS!
But, I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED and I WILL SUCCEED in this journey!
What about you? If it’s important enough, you will.
**Just a little side note on this blog. After doing one series of “Week in Review” I have decided to push myself and do all I can to do a separate blog entry for each daily podcast. Honestly, I think reading a blog article this long is a bit much and, for me, it’s easier for me to stay focused on the “message at hand” when I do the blog daily along with the podcast. So, look for a DAILY BLOG ENTRY to go along with the DAILY PODCAST starting on Monday, January 16th.
Stay focused – stay on track. And, as you do so be sure to …
“Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)”
Mike
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