You’ve Placed Your Order and Paid, Now Pull Up and …

Are you waiting for your breakthrough? Wondering when your time will come?

Been working long and hard to get to a better place and, uh, still just working long and hard?

Well, maybe your future is ready for you and you just don't know it.

Maybe it's there for you and you just don't trust that it is.

Maybe it's there and all you need to do is pull up and accept it.

This concept was presented to me maybe 10 years ago by Jim Stovall, the legally blind entrepreneur who has achieved considerable success (Narrative Television Network), author and public speaker. I was at lunch with him, inquiring about his ideas about success, the struggle for success, barriers thereto, etc.

So many of us try so hard and few make meaningful breakthroughs. You know?

Why do some seem to make it easily, even repeatedly, while the rest seem to perennially struggle?

Jim said, "You know, I think that, for many people, it's mental." He went on to explain that he thinks many people just never trust that it's there for them. That what they've been dreaming about for so long, and working toward, and telling everyone they want, is actually there and ready for them - they just need to step into that new life and accept it.

Just Pull up and Accept Your Big Mac
In an effort to simplify his point, he said, "Just pull up and accept your Big Mac."

Upon further questioning, he said, "You've placed your order and paid at the first window. Now pull up to the second window and pick up your order."

I did not really understand what he meant at the time, but in the years that have passed I've occasionally pondered what he said. The meaning has become clear, and you know, I think it may be true for many of us.

Step 1. Decide What You Want

What we're talking about is getting to someplace new. To someplace better. Reinventing yourself, your company, your situation.

You can get somewhere new only if you first envision it. Decide it.

You know, people who do not or cannot envision themselves being happy will never be happy. People who cannot really see themselves as "smart" or "a college graduate" or "a business owner" certainly never will be.

I suspect that many business owners' mental barriers or hang-ups prevent them from getting beyond what they have today. Maybe I do, too?

How about the business owner who can envision only "hanging onto" what he has? What a shame. If you can see only "hanging onto" or "maintaining," such will be your future, your limit.

Is this you? If so, snap out of it. Get to thinking big. Start dreaming.

So much is possible! Change happens every day. New creations happen every day. They began in the minds of ordinary human beings like you and me.

Step 2. Place Your Order

After you've decided what you want, write it down. Make it clear. Tell your spouse, friends, partners and employees. Most important, tell yourself each day and lay out a plan for how you will get there. A logical, workable plan.

Step 3. Do What It Takes to Get It

Once you've established your vision and developed your strategy for getting there, get to work. Do what it takes to get there. If you do, well, then you'll get there, right?

This might include investing money. Raising money. Buying something. Hiring new talent. Developing a new product line. Going back to school.

All of these things involve risk. Risk of failure. Risk someone might laugh at you. Risk that someone will say you're a dreamer. When you hear these thoughts or comments, say "Yes" to all of them.

"Yes, I'm taking a risk."

"Yes, I'm a dreamer."

"Yes, I might fail."

And feel the excitement. You're beginning to put on the clothes of your new life.

Step Into Your New Future
Most things in life are much simpler than we make them out to be. So is success. So is redesigning your future. Your life.

Envision for a minute that creating a new future has the same basic steps as picking up lunch at the McDonald's drive-through. You would not order, pay, then just sit there, would you? Of course not. You move up because you've learned how it works and you trust that your order will be there - hot and waiting.

Ditto for those plans you made and have been working toward. Have you forgotten to drive forward?

Trust that your order is there and waiting for you. Go on. There's a line behind you.