“Destiny is not a matter of chance, but of choice. Not something to wish for, but to attain.” – William Jennings Bryan
“When you’re born, the possibilities are infinite. You start aging and the boundaries begin to constrict.” – Dan Schoepf, author of Green Golf Balls
My wife giving birth to our fourth child this past week naturally made the two quotes above particularly meaningful to me. We have a beautiful little boy who has absolutely no self-limiting thoughts right now, and we must do our best to keep any future self-limiting thoughts to an absolute minimum!
My friend Dan Schoepf is an expert at leading teams and companies, and has helped thousands of individuals set and achieve personal and professional goals. Dan specializes in reminding people that there are no limits to personal and professional fulfillment, it just takes some thought and work.
In his book Green Golf Balls, he makes the point that being a Green Golf Ball, or getting “lost in the rough” and blending in with your surroundings should be avoided. It happens to many of us at some point and the key is to resist it and turn it around.
Here are a few helpful tips from Dan if you find yourself turning green:
- Seek inspiration from the strength of others.
- Change your routine and attach reasons/reminders for your change.
- Understand the value of time – we all have the same 86,400 seconds each day – it’s how we use them.
- Do the opposite of safe and average – get uncomfortably outside your comfort zone.
Change is hard, but he also lays out the stages of change so you can prepare and overcome:
- “This will be easy.”
- “This is harder than I thought.”
- Danger gap! – This is where you need your “reasons and why’s” for change
- “It looks like I’m doing this.”
- “I am doing this.”
- “I did it, and can maintain it!”
Clearly anything but green, Dan is a frequent keynote speaker at educational conferences and local and national sales meetings throughout the United States, and is also the founder and president of Lungs Up, Legs Down Leadership.
This leadership program combines personal and leadership development with mountain climbing. Dan takes clients to Colorado for 4 days of intense learning, laughing, thinking and hiking. At the end, they have the chance to summit one of Colorado’s famous 14ers.
Sounds like a good way to keep from turning green.
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