Are You That Bug in the Window?

During a business trip, I stopped at a gas station to get gas in my rental car before returning to the airport. I left the driver door open as I began to pump the gas. I would have never guessed how squeamish I could be until the biggest and ugliest black grass hopper I have ever seen jumped in the car. It sounded as if it popped as it jumped around the back and front of the car and soon it reached the dash board. As I waited with this anxious stare, I noticed the grass hopper just kept hopping at the window continually. As I tried to figure out how to get this bug out of the car without screaming like a little girl, my mind drifted to an analogy that I must share with you.

How many of us are that grass hopper in our own lives? We have the visual in our sights, we are shown that it’s in our reach and we keep jumping just to hit this unknown thing that prevents us from getting to our goal. The glass window is not the real issue because it’s there for protections…let’s call the window laws, regulations, and processes. The process is clear as the door was open wide and yet, the grass hopper continued to jump at the same glass window over and over. This grass hopper did not have the experience or understanding to know to jump in a different direction. He simply kept hopping in the same way. If this grass hopper could feel frustrated, if he could think, I bet it would have thought, “Come-on! I see the outside, I been there before, why can’t I get there…it’s not fair, it’s right in my reach, I see other grass hoppers out there...how did they get there? I never seem to be able to get there.” Sound familiar? 

All of us find discontentment simply because we have seen it and it’s been sold to us in a package. Buy my book, six easy steps, do this, to look like that! We can find just about anything on Google so what’s the excuse? I think it's because there is so much information, that we can't focus and know which direction to take. Without clear step-by-step directions, we will always be hitting the glass window vs. understanding where the opening is (The door). 

Here are a few things to consider: 

Make a plan and consider the plan in the plan as part of the plan. – To start a business or anything for that matter, you need to take a systematic approach to starting it. Choose one direction, philosophy, and commit to it. The concept will motivate you but the tangible daily actions will get you there. A daily routine and then a routine within the routine is key. I can show you this technique for the low price of…just kidding. 

Surround yourself with people who know the way in every way possible. You may know a good Accountant but you also need to know a good marketing person and possibly a life coach like me to keep you on track. Shameless plug – www.thejusongroup.com . Coaching is a packaged deal because you have to have humility to be coached... You are naturally wired to lean toward the thing you perceive to be the closest to comfort and furthest from pain. Most of us have the wrong perception and the right intentions. Know this and fight against it to create new habits and the love of learning and growing. 

Small steps is not a failure, it’s a method - Will Smith once told a story about when he was a kid and his dad told he and his brother to go out and build a brick wall for his business His dad said to him when he was done after the few summers that it took to complete the task…”Don’t you ever say there is something you can’t do! Because you placed one brick at a time as perfect as it can be laid, over time, you have a nice brick wall.” That’s the way to build anything. Focus on each moment and overtime, you are there. 

Be happy – This is hard when you keep thinking about what you don’t have. The trick is to always remind yourself of what you do have and consider that happiness is relative. If your car broke down on a rainy and cold night and you ripped your shirt off passing a tree, lost your shoes hiking to the road, having to walk for miles, you would be happy if someone finally stopped, and picked you up. Remember, there is no sadness if you don’t want sadness. You are the only creature on the planet that lives by choice so make it today. 

Relinquish the fear – Fear is disguised as practical comforts but in all honesty to yourself, your comforts are just a close relative to the fear that you have not addressed. Be uncomfortable in your comfort if you are not where you want to be.

As you let your own light shine, you unconsciously give other people the power to do the same. 

The Movie

Coach Carter

Have a great day!