Did you notice that the subject line was not the usual “Ready, Aim, Fire”? Do you know what the problem is with the expression “Ready, Aim, Fire”? Most of us spend far too much time at either ‘Ready’ or ‘Aim’ before we actually ‘Fire’ and get into the actions that will move us closer to our goals.
Why? We think we have more research to do or we have to get it perfect or we don’t think we’re ready or we’re afraid that we have forgotten something or we’re not sure that we know what we’re doing or what if someone doesn’t like it or what if we make a mistake or what if we look stupid or what if we’re wrong or …
What’s your “what if …”?
Well, I made a promise to push myself to move beyond Ready and Aim because I know them oh so well. Actually I have been known to do Ready, Aim, Ready Aim, Aim, Aim, Fire, Ready, Aim, Ready, Aim, Ready, Ready, Fire, Ready, Aim, Ready, Aim … You get my drift. Sometimes just not getting into action often enough. Can you relate?
“Ready, FIRE, Aim” means taking action, looking at the outcomes of your actions and learning from them, then making whatever changes you want to make because of what you learned. Continue to take action and use what you have learned to correct your course.
Did you know that the space shuttles were off-course as much as 90 percent of the time? They made constant, ongoing changes to their course to get to their final destination.
There are no straight lines to success.
I’m moving into firing more often without any guarantee that things will work out exactly as I had planned. When I don’t get the result I want, I try to avoid judging myself and instead, find the learning and fire again based on what I discovered.
Would you like an example? After I sent out last week’s newsletter (I fired), a friend suggested that some of you might not know what tapping is (effects of my actions). Of course. Then a few days later, I received a note from a reader that said simply, “What’s tapping?” (more effects) so I corrected my course (I aimed again) and I have included a brief explanation this week for anyone not familiar with tapping (I fired again).
I have also fine-tuned the tapping sequence on overwhelm.
This week’s newsletter is therefore a tribute to imperfect action, to learning from our actions and to changing our course as a result and then more imperfect action. Because truly, until you get into action, it’s all theory.
Would you be willing to make a resolution that 2012 will be your year to “FIRE” even if you don’t believe that you are ready or that your aim is perfect? Would you be willing to learn from your outcomes? It’s really all just information helping you correct your course so you can reach your goals. And getting into action is a critical piece of clarifying what to do next.
As Martin Luther King, Jr. so eloquently said: “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” In other words, FIRE!
As an added bonus for you, I interviewed Monique MacDonald on how the Sacred Gifts have a powerful impact at the holidays. Monique was one of the most popular speakers in my teleseminar series last year and her work about your Sacred Gifts is wonderful. She will show you how you can use your unique gifts to make your holidays shine.
Monique suggests that you read the introduction to Sacred Gifts (below) before listening to our interview to learn what the Sacred Gifts are.
Here is the Introduction to Sacred Gifts: click here for MSWord or click here for PDF
Here is my interview with Monique: click here to listen to the interview.
If you’re interested in learning more about how you can discover your Sacred Gifts with Monique, click here.
For those of you who are new to the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), also called Tapping, here’s a brief explanation:
Our energy runs through meridians in our bodies. When the flow of energy in these meridians is blocked, illness and emotional problems can result. Acupuncture uses needles in specific points to free up the energy in the meridians which, in turn, allows the body to heal and negative emotions to be released.
EFT uses tapping, instead of needles, on certain of the energy meridian points to release negative emotions and increase positive feelings, health and energy. By focusing on a problem and then tapping on particular points on the face and body while repeating a phrase that is specific to the problem, negative feelings associated with the issue can be released.
Here is the expanded Tapping sequence on overwhelm:
Anne Pustil, MEd, CCC,
President, Coaching In A Nutshell
Certified Therapist and Relationship Coach
http://www.CoachingInANutshell.com
[email protected]