The Tribune

By MICHELLE MILLER

Success, it is said, is not a destination but a journey. If we agree with this sentiment then it is seems fitting that such a journey ought to be a matter of progress as opposed to just running in place.

Moving but going nowhere is a position that many find themselves in. I’ve always maintained that getting stuck is not the issue – everyone gets stuck – but it’s staying stuck that leads to no progress.

The truth is, the stuck state is a position that most do all they can to avoid. Yet despite their best efforts they still find themselves there time and time again. The reasons for this are many, but the one that stands out most is people get stuck because they have no specific motivating goal.

They are not moving towards anything in particular, and without a goal or purpose, they just drift.

Time starts to pass, and before you know it your life becomes frozen. You become comfortable doing the very thing that you promised to stop doing aeons ago.

We’ve all been on this page at some point in our lives. It’s not the most motivating place to be, yet if you believe that you have something worth chasing after you can muster the courage to take your life back.

I believe that life is an adventure. The challenge is most people are not adventurers and never get to experience what amounts to adventurous living.

Instead, they settle for the path of least resistance. They buy into the habit of playing it safe. But despite its popularity, life offers no safe spaces. Everything has its risks, its pros and cons. And the best that we can do is to take the risk to live a life that’s full; to live a life that is fulfilling.

This fullness, as it were, comes from self-confidence and sense of purpose. It comes from having passion and being committed to something that’s bigger than you. It’s the art of living fully engaged. But how many of us are really on this page?

The late author and radio personality Earl Nightingale defined success as the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal. It is an inspiring definition. The best way to determine if you are progressing is to ask yourself the question, “What are you progressively moving towards?”

Progress by definition is to increase, improve in some way. Life offers no middle ground. You are either progressing or regressing. The good thing here is that you have the power to determine what you do with your life.

Running in place is often driven by the fear, whereas progress requires a heavy dose of fearlessness. Courage as they say is not the absence of fear, but the realisation that something is more important than fear.

You must determine that progressing towards your worthy goal is more important than fear. In so doing, you muster the courage to face your fears. You learn to feel the fear but you do it anyway.

Perhaps a more salient point is, with the lightening speed of change, the habit of just running in place is no longer good enough; it’s no longer an option. You must set some direction for your life and commit to following through.

Leader to leader, remember that being progressive is the human way. It is within your power to get better; to do better and to become better at owning your life.

Make today the day that you stop running in place and progressively move towards living an empowered life.

• What do you think?

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Michelle M Miller is a certified life coach and leadership expert. Visit www.michellemmiller.com or send mail to PO Box CB-13060