Summary: Now that it’s spring and winter has begun to loosen its grip all around us, there's no better time for nurturing the seeds of dreams we planted a few months back. Remember in January when I lobbied like mad for The Revolution? Well, in doing so I consequently plunged myself into a deep sea of change by deciding to get even more serious about my goals. By this time it shouldn't surprise anybody to learn I’m an expert at knowing how I work—and at knowing how I get tempted to shirk my work once I'm seeing results—so, this time around, I made sure to put some supports in place that keep me honest when the lure of bad habits started to tug at my growth. And you? Have you enlisted this kind of help for yourself? Have you surrounded yourself with folks who keep you focused on your stuff? Do you check in with them to answer for your actions—and your inaction if that's the case? Better yet, who are you supporting in their personal season of revival? Bearing in mind the very real truth of reciprocity, in that what goes around comes around, you'll find that sincerely encouraging someone else to break new ground will work wonders to scoot you along in the progress. There's a caveat here too: you've got to make sure your your intentions are genuine when you lend a hand. Otherwise, if you start attaching strings and conditions to your support, they'll choke off the flow of your growth like the worst kind of weed, and before you know it, you'll start focusing on the thorns and mud wondering why you bothered at all. If you don't yet know who your key people are, then let me suggest 4 questions to help you identify them. Don't be discouraged if no one comes quickly to mind; it's just a matter of discovering them. Bigger still is the fact that as you become the answer to each of these questions, finding others who fit the bill will get that much easier: 1. Who's the first person you call when something great—or terrible—happens? 2. Whom can you trust to tell you the truth in a way that doesn't wreck your relationship or jeopardize your confidence in yourself? 3. Who gets excited when you excel and win? 4. Who comes around to love you up when you're down, broke, and depressed? Like I said, I put a few friends and fellow changelings on notice and, personally, while I think they might have a little too much fun kicking me in my crap and pointing out the less than amazing aspects to my plans, never once do they enable my excuses and blustery explanations as to why I'm not doing my work. Besides, I said I gave up excuses for Lent, remember? As I continue to experience the rush and boom of my revolutions, I'm reminded time and again that the magic to any achievement is sustained hard work. No amount of affirming, energy and imagination are going to do the actual work for you. Granted, intention, faith, attitude, and all the other unquantifiables are important. Equally important, though, is the amount of effort you put into your labor of love. To resolve to achieve something means we’re determined; it means we’re setting down a firm decision to do things differently. And putting action behind it—and all around it—demands responsibility, accountability, a fair amount of creative challenge, and surrender to the known and unknown unknowns. Even if you’ve convinced yourself you just can’t do the thing you said you would, or somehow you've worked it out all by yourself that your ideas once striding and brilliant have now fallen lame, I urge you to take a second, third, hundredth look, and be honest. Brutally so. Then figure out what still matters and get back in the game. Don’t bother bringing your C-level work, either; that just won’t do. Imagine if a C-level spring rolled in and instead of our usual billion birds chirping and the sun blazing its brightest, what if all we got was a handful of bloated, broken-winged birds and a dreary sun that barely peaked past the horizon line each day?
