Wanna, Shoulda, Coulda, Gonna

Procrastination is a disability many of us create for ourselves. Putting off the inevitable too often creates more problems for us than we ever might have imagined. We need to make a plan set goals and hold ourselves accountable to get what has to be done finished.
Instead and unfortunately many of us suffer from the “wannas, shouldas, couldas and I’m gonnas” in life. We who are “gonna” or “wanna” achieve something, however, usually don’t have a plan, an image or a vision of what we really want or need to do to achieve the goal or accomplish the task. We have no standard, no blueprint to measure our actions against.
Analogies and metaphors can create exciting visual vehicles for you to promote the formation of new mental associations. A wonderful example of this is how the invention of Velco came about. The sandburs that we find so unpleasantly stuck to our trousers after a walk in the woods created the vision for the inventor who eventually developed the fastener. Velcro has revolutionized the fastener business for shoes, clothing and even the space industry.
In creating a vision for ourselves and our careers, we can define and redefine our plans for the future. Visioning, in effect, is the process of creating new linkages or bonds with the future. The vision we imagine is like an umbilical cord, a feeding and nurturing mechanism that gives us strength and sustenance for, and against, the adversity and blockages to our professional goals, hopes, dreams and aspirations.
Our vision then calls forth those beliefs, attitudes and values that drive us toward our goals and the ultimate achievement and accomplishment. At the heart of our personal and professional vision are a number of skills many of us put away as we become adults. It may sound a bit weird or curious to you, but perhaps the best way to come in touch with the articulation of our vision is to reintroduce ourselves to the child within each of us.
If you reflect on your own childhood, or you simply observe children up to the age of 10, you will reacquaint yourself with curious, uninhibited risk-takers, hero-worshippers and speakers of truth. They are ready and fully capable of unabashedly seeking out the truth by letting you know what they think and value, and by sharing their hopes, dreams and aspirations. At that point, although perhaps naively, they apparently are willing to lay it on the line and live out their vision of being a firefighter, ballplayer or whatever it is they want to be. The fact is they are almost all consumed with that vision and they live it out in act, word and deed to the best of their ability.
When was the last time you risked, took a stand, laid it on the line, talked your talk and walked your walk? When was the last time you asked yourself, “What is my personal and professional vision for the future?” Are you willing and able to unabashedly articulate it for others to understand?
Remember for the most part in life nobody does it for us and in the nothing gets done until you or I do it once and for all.