A Journey of a Thousand Miles

"Create a definite plan for carrying out your desire and begin at once, whether you ready or not, to put this plan into action." Napolean Hill

I watch and read movie reviews, but never go to the movies and rarely rent one to watch at home. This seemingly paradoxical behavior results from two conflicting desires. The first is a desire to keep up with popular culture and the second is to protect my time for more productive pursuits. The reviews give me the scoop on movies without my having to spend two or three hours in a theater. I prefer to stay home and read (or write) a book.

We all have these little inconsistencies and idiosyncracies and most of them are harmless. My friend Kathy collects cookbooks, but she doesn’t cook. Many people subscribe to publications that they never get around to reading. And thousands of us plan to pay off all our bills, buy a new car and start a charitable foundation as soon as we hit the lottery, but we never buy a lottery ticket. Humorist and curmudgeon, Fran Lebowitz, insists that "I've done the calculation and your chances of winning the lottery are identical whether you play or not." It’s true that you are extraordinarily unlikely to win millions of dollars, but you definitely will not win if you don’t buy a ticket. You have to get in the game.

Sometimes, though, our contradictory behavior can get us in trouble. I once had a friend who said she longed to have her own business and frequently asked how she could get started. I gave her books to read, exercises to do and tests to take that would get her started on the road to entrepreneurship. I told her about classes she could take and people to talk to in her field and she never followed up on a single thing. Maybe she just liked to hear herself whine, or maybe she was so paralyzed by fear that she just couldn’t take a step toward her dream. Yet, like the lottery, you can’t possibly win if you don’t join the game.

If you have a dream, think of one baby step you can take TODAY—make a phone call, read an article, check a website. Then do it.

©2006 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved