Escaping Mediocrity Isn't for the Faint-of-Heart

This post will be short. With the 15 month old mini-turk running all over the place, my time to focus on writing is pretty limited.

But I did not want to miss checking in with my tribe because you all rock SO much.

This is thing I most want to say: Escaping Mediocrity isn’t for the faint-of-heart. And once you open the escape hatch in one area of your life, you’ve opened the hatch on all areas of your life.

With the hatch open and the course for your heart’s desire, your way may be clear but there are no promises that the way will be easy, fast or simple.

My life at this moment is a perfect example.

I need to do work on my live event, Creating Irresistible Presence. September will be here before I turn around. I also have a Preview Call to prep for and this blog post to write. And a fair number of emails to reply to. My business is growing – which is great! And yet the timing isn’t exactly ideal.

See, back in early summer when I announced my event, I had no idea when our adoption would actually take place. Russian adoption is a very last minute “hop on the plane now” kind of thing. So I had a choice.

1) I could out my life and my business on hold while I waited for an invitation from the Russian government

2) I could move ahead with the things I felt called to do, especially in my business, knowing that if and when we got “the call” I would find a way.

Obviously I chose Door No. 2.

And today Door No. 2 feels hard. But what I know is that this feeling will pass and I will get the things done that I need to get done. Maybe not perfectly and maybe not in the time I would like, but they WILL get done.

So, I screw up my courage and my faith (again!) and put one foot in front of the other.

My question for you today is this: Is there an Escape Hatch you are afraid to open because you don’t know HOW it will work out? What exactly are your choices? Write them down in black and white so you know what your are choosing between. Then make the very best choice you can – for today and for the rest of your life.

Digg Digg

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 1:29 pm and is filed under Uncommon Business, Uncommon Living. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

http://www.accessabundance.com/ Teresa Romain
This is a great post for me to read today… because today I had to make a bold, never-done-it-before choice to NOT do something in order to continue to follow my “Escape Plan”. And all the feelings and thoughts I’ve listened to in the past came up big time. “What if people think I’m selfish?” “What if people don’t understand or agree with me?” “What if they don’t like me?” “What if “this” happens and I regret that I didn’t do it?” and on and on and on.
Bottom line, the choice for me today was a variation of yours. In addition to “do I not do what I know to do because I don’t know how or if it will work? – I also had to ask myself “do I want to keep putting my life and my dreams and my goals on hold in order to do what I think others expect me to do or to pretend to be who I think I should be?”
The other choice was this “Am I willing to have them not understand or like me and do what I know I need to do to create the biz and life I wanted for myself – and to take care of myself physically, mentally and emotionally in the process? Am I willing to make this choice even if I don’t know if it’s the RIGHT one or even if it will turn out the way I want it to?”
Screwing up lots of courage and faith, I boldly chose the latter. And – 5 hours later – the nausea from making that choice is finally starting to subside and I’m feeling a sense of lightness and clarity and power fill its place. Now, I’m left to follow through on your other words… “to put one foot in front of the other” and keep following my Escape Plan… even when it’s hard.

http://www.sundaynightsuccess.com Jeremie
Congratulations on “popping the hatch” on a big decision Teresa!
Keep putting one foot in front of the other, because if you don’t, I might step on the heels of your shoes as I am busy putting one foot in front of the other right behind you.
Jeremie

http://www.accessabundance.com/ Teresa Romain
This is a great post for me to read today… because today I had to make a bold, never-done-it-before choice to NOT do something in order to continue to follow my “Escape Plan”. And all the feelings and thoughts I've listened to in the past came up big time. “What if people think I'm selfish?” “What if people don't understand or agree with me?” “What if they don't like me?” “What if “this” happens and I regret that I didn't do it?” and on and on and on.
Bottom line, the choice for me today was a variation of yours. In addition to “do I not do what I know to do because I don't know how or if it will work? – I also had to ask myself “do I want to keep putting my life and my dreams and my goals on hold in order to do what I think others expect me to do or to pretend to be who I think I should be?”
The other choice was this “Am I willing to have them not understand or like me and do what I know I need to do to create the biz and life I wanted for myself – and to take care of myself physically, mentally and emotionally in the process? Am I willing to make this choice even if I don't know if it's the RIGHT one or even if it will turn out the way I want it to?”
Screwing up lots of courage and faith, I boldly chose the latter. And – 5 hours later – the nausea from making that choice is finally starting to subside and I'm feeling a sense of lightness and clarity and power fill its place. Now, I'm left to follow through on your other words… “to put one foot in front of the other” and keep following my Escape Plan… even when it's hard.
http://www.sundaynightsuccess.com Jeremie
Well, I just made a big escape hatch decision today. I had a choice to move forward with my business while still trying to teach next year, or to move forward with my business and tell the school board I was taking a one year leave of absence (not because I don’t think my business will work out, but that is how the system works).
Today I signed a contract with a government organization here in Canada that will provide me with business support money for up to 52 weeks (yeah!). It isn’t enough to completely live on, but it helps. By signing this contract I now have to take the year off from the school board.
So, escape hatch opened: full time businessman and no time teacher for a whole year.
Of course as one escape hatch is opened there is another waiting to be opened, and this one is very close to your situation Sarah. My wife and I are trying to decide if and when to have a second child. With escape hatch number one opened, and the fact we have been just getting by the last few years, it is really hard for me to think of having a second kidlet running around the house.
We are in no rush, so the hatch doesn’t have to be popped tomorrow, but this is definitely a big one for me. Especially, because I am not even sure I could run my business with two wonderful kids to have fun with. Focusing on my work is hard with just my super cool son running around.
Decisions, decisions,
Jeremie
http://www.sundaynightsuccess.com Jeremie
Well, I just made a big escape hatch decision today. I had a choice to move forward with my business while still trying to teach next year, or to move forward with my business and tell the school board I was taking a one year leave of absence (not because I don't think my business will work out, but that is how the system works).
Today I signed a contract with a government organization here in Canada that will provide me with business support money for up to 52 weeks (yeah!). It isn't enough to completely live on, but it helps. By signing this contract I now have to take the year off from the school board.
So, escape hatch opened: full time businessman and no time teacher for a whole year.
Of course as one escape hatch is opened there is another waiting to be opened, and this one is very close to your situation Sarah. My wife and I are trying to decide if and when to have a second child. With escape hatch number one opened, and the fact we have been just getting by the last few years, it is really hard for me to think of having a second kidlet running around the house.
We are in no rush, so the hatch doesn't have to be popped tomorrow, but this is definitely a big one for me. Especially, because I am not even sure I could run my business with two wonderful kids to have fun with. Focusing on my work is hard with just my super cool son running around.
Decisions, decisions,
Jeremie
http://www.sundaynightsuccess.com Jeremie
Congratulations on “popping the hatch” on a big decision Teresa!
Keep putting one foot in front of the other, because if you don't, I might step on the heels of your shoes as I am busy putting one foot in front of the other right behind you.
Jeremie