Powerful Arm“If only…” may be the two cruelest words in the English language. Many of us (especially myself) will throw out “if only” as the reason why we don’t get to do everything we’d like. But the truth is that, if you’re reading this, you’ve probably got a wide array of options and opportunities available to you on some level. At some point is becomes important to realize that it’s not the five extra minutes we’re missing that is holding us back.

We have a lifetime available to us. How can we not accomplish our dreams?

In other words, what could you do if you truly freed yourself from doubts, from limitations, and from negativity. What could you do?

Accept that you have options. To start living the life you really want, the first step is to accept that you have power. Your power may be limited, but you have choices. They’re not the same choices Warren Buffett or Oprah has, but they’re there. To deny them is to throw sand into the sky and expect a rainbow. Own up to the responsibility that goes along with them and make the best of it.

Figure out what you want. Unless you’re extremely lucky—and some folks are—you won’t get to your dream life if you don’t even know what it is. Or worse yet, you may be living your ideal life and not even realize it. Figure out what you want. You may be wrong, you may change your mind later, but you’ll never get there if you don’t know where “there” is.

Scare the hell out of yourself. You don’t have to quit your job and sing for pennies. You don’t have to leave your family to sail across a faraway ocean. But you do need to push your boundaries. You’ll find your limits, trust me. But before you do, you’ll have found new depths of inner strength and greater skills and capabilities than you knew you had. You don’t have to lay everything on the line to scare the hell out of yourself, you just have to be willing to put your ego on the line.

Shake failure’s hand. Get over your past failures; they’re done. They don’t define your limitations anymore. You may be smarter, or stronger, or simply more charming than you were then. The bottom line is that your old failures simply aren’t applicable anymore. Stop hanging on them. Go find new failures that are applicable, and learn from them.

Learn to distinguish between thought and action. Both thought and action are vital, but you can’t focus on one and ignore the other. Each action deserves analysis, and every analysis deserves a follow-up action. Break that chain and that’s when the problems start. Thought and action: separate them in your head, and plug away at both equally.

So let’s hear it–what would you accomplish if you were freed from all restraints? What are some of the ways you break through the barriers in your life? Leap into the comments and share your story!

Creative Commons License photo credit: bandita

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