Have you ever spent time where you second-guessed what you were doing? This week, while on the road, I have most of this journey mapped out. I planned each step on the way out, but I’m still putting details together for the trip back.
Over the past year I have made many trips, planning my journeys each step of the way. If we booked a flight, it was also done with a flight back. If I was taking the bike, the return trip was planned, as well as the outbound route.
Today when I started my journey it was still in the 30s and it was well into the afternoon before it warmed up. It has been many years since I second-guessed myself. Today was the first time in a while I sat and thought why did I choose to take this cold journey?
It is almost 10 years since I broke that pattern of second-guessing myself. I remember listening to an old Travis Tritt song “No More Looking Over Your Shoulder” and made it my motto.
So often, when faced with a struggle or a hardship, many entrepreneurs will start to second-guess the choices they have made. They will start to look over their shoulders at what life could have been, where they would be if they just stayed at that secure job.
I am reminded of the old saying I once heard from a preacher: “The grass is always greener on the side you water most.” You see, life or business will always throw in a curve or two. You have to face them by devoting time and effort to planning around the unexpected and keep moving forward.
Yes, I could have very easily just turned around and headed back home. I could have changed my mind about going to this seminar I am going to attend. I could have just taken the easy way and taken a flight, rented a car. But something inside me said I needed to take this journey on my bike. Just like my business, there was a reason I needed to take the journey, needed to make it happen.
I finished yesterday by talking about setting yourself up for success. It’s a wonderful principle I learned in my years of working for Starbucks. Before I started this journey I planned it out. I knew what towns I was going to be in, where I would be staying and why I was staying there before I left home.
You see to be successful at reaching my goal in Los Angeles on the motorcycle in the month of March when the weather is unpredictable, I had to hit smaller goals each day. Then I had to set up places to stop for fuel, for food. If I had not planned those stops out before I left, then as I hit the hours of riding in the cold, I would not have had a goal to reach for. And, when you don’t have a goal to work toward, that makes it too easy to just give up and turn back.
If you want to succeed in your journey, your business or your life, then, just like a road trip, you have to set yourself up to make it past those things that would cause you to want to turn back when it’s too cold, too hot, or the roads are rough. You must set yourself up for success, because all those things are going to come at you when you’re on the journey.
You business is just like my RockStar Road Trippin’: you need to set yourself up for success. So how will you do this on your journey?
I’m Tim Gillette, the Rocker Life Coach. It’s time to live your dream, find what you love to do and become highly profitable doing it. Are you ready to make changes to rock your 2013?
