I remember the story of the elephant that was raised from infancy in the circus.  The baby elephant would be taken away from its mother and chained to a steel stake.  The more it struggled to try to get to its mother, the chain would limit its movement.  Eventually it would stop because it realized that it was being held back.  It had the motivation initially and that soon ended.  As the elephant grew bigger, the circus people had it held by only a wooden stake and rope.  One that could easily be pulled out of the ground by the massive grown animal.  The people knew that the elephant was already programmed to stop any action when it felt the pull of the rope.

You see, each of us has experienced similar chains and ropes that hold us back from accomplishing our dreams.  Many others have even lost the motivation to go after their dreams.  The way we may have been raised probably contributed to this.  We may have witnessed our parents talk about how hard life is to get ahead and it will never happen.  The same parents may have told us that it is futile to even think about reaching a dream, much less getting it.  We may have heard that only certain people can get ahead in life and it’s our place in the world to do what we’ve always done.

In time, we may come to believe what our well-meaning family, friends, schools, and other parts of society say to us.

The thing is, it’s not true!

You have the ability to go after your dreams.  You can change your behavior and actions by changing your beliefs about yourself.  It’s high time to take away the bridle that has stifled your dreams and go for it.  While I may it seem easy to do, it’s not.  Nothing in life that is worth doing will ever be easy.  Challenges is how we learn.  They are not stopping you, only helping you to grow.  Accept them and figure out how to go through them.

You will need to get some people in your corner that can help and keep you motivated.  Doing it alone is too hard and the most successful people always have other in their corner.  Find them.  Even a coach can help you by holding you accountable.

When you go after your dreams, make sure they are in line with your values.  That will make it a easier.  Values are part of what drives our motivation to do something.

When you look at your dreams, figure out a way of turning it into a goal.  Make sure it’s a worthy one too.  Next, develop a plan for reaching it.  Set milestones along the way, okay?  These will show you that you are making progress.  Each day create a plan of action for that day.  Then take action on the most important step for the day.  When you break it down like this, it helps to accomplish reaching the overall goal faster.  As you do this and find the resources you’ll need, one day you’ll realize that it was never the goal, but all the actions you took, day in and day out, that was important.  Those actions will help you in future goals.

You will no longer have that chain holding you back.  And this also happens to some elephants too.   When an elephant accidentally breaks free of the rope, then realize that they can continue to do this.  Nothing can hold them back.  Hence, we hear of rogue elephants.  Elephants that have learned to be free once again.  Go rogue!!!

-Bob Choat