What If.....

                                                                 What If……..

Ahhh, the awesome power of those two little words.  They can quickly raise a heart beat, freeze us in our tracks, squash our hopes and dreams and torment our sleep.

These two little words can project us deep into the unknown and wreck havoc upon our present day lives. “What if”, I take this job and I fail? “What if”, it’s not perfect? What if”, I go to the party and say the wrong thing? “What if”, I ask him/her out and they reject me? “What if”, I don’t know the right answer? What if “, I try and fail? And the ever popular What if “, they don’t like me? Once we hop on the What If train our journey is destined to be bumpy and fraught with perils and disappointment.

I say What If, is useful only when it moves us towards planning, preparation and forward action, which unfortunately it frequently does not.

I offer What Is as the preferential choice. What Is, eliminates the fear and dread of What If.  It gives you real time information that affords you an opportunity to objectively review your goal and the path leading to it.   Paying attention to what you know will engender confidence and inspire action much more frequently than sitting in your worry and apprehension about something that has yet to happen and may in fact never happen.   

The next time you think about an action you want to move towards and you find yourself anticipating the What If disasters destined to befall you, stop, take a time out and think about the information you have, “just the facts mam”. Take an inventory of similar situations you have managed successfully. Replicate steps and behaviors that have led to positive outcomes.  

Create an action plan ahead of time to help you manage the what ifs, should one or more materialize.

Knowing what you will do in any worrisome situation, will free you from the free fall of dread and fear.

Take control of the moment, silence the “What If” beast before it awakens and take a walk on the wild side.     

Be sure to check in each Wednesday as I explore opportunities to turn “What If” into a source of energizing momentum.