As I was driving home in a rainstorm from a speaking engagement, at which a few times the rain was pretty heavy, I noticed a single bird flying in the rain. I had never seen a bird fly in a rainstorm before. I was shocked. I began wondering where his flying mates might be. I never saw any, but the bird kept flying. I surmised the other birds realized the peril of flying in the rain and sought shelter. Not this bird; he had some place to be and nothing was stopping him.

I went through some pretty blinding downpours of rain on my 1.5 hour drive back home. Some folks pulled over to wait out the heavy downpour. I had an appointment so instead of pulling over, I just slowed down, turned my windshield wipers up high and I kept going. I had some place to be and didn’t want to allow the heavy downpour to stop me.

Later in the drive, I saw a guy riding a motorcycle, in a pretty good rain storm. He did not seemed bother by the many cars passing him. He wasn’t flinching because of all the rain pouring down on him. He had no helmet on to protect neither his head nor his glasses from getting all wet. He didn’t have a coat on to keep his clothes from getting wet. He was going somewhere and he kept going. I thought it was foolish for him to be on the motorcycle, in the rain without a helmet. But who am I to judge? I don’t know his situation. All I know is that he had some place to be and he wasn’t letting the rain, or his mode of transportation, stop him.

We all had some place to be and we were not going to let the heavy rain or the fact that it may be dangerous or foolish to stop us from reaching our goal.

How many times have you decided, “since the situation is not perfect, I am not going to move forward with my plan?” Or “I am not even going to start until…”

I am not going to apply for this or that because I don’t have this…

I am not going to start public speaking because I don’t have good study skills…

I am not going to start a business because a few people I’ve talked to are not interested in the product or service I want to sell…

Let me encourage you to do it anyway. You don’t need to have all the pieces of the puzzle to begin putting it together!

We get courage, clarity and conviction as we move towards our goal.

Courage because you are moving beyond your fears and seeing that it is not as bad as you thought.

Clarity because as you are moving you begin seeing the achievement of your goal is possible. The fears that you thought would be an issue are not there. True, you will see obstacles and roadblocks you probably didn’t foresee, but because you are moving toward them, you can see how to overcome them.

Conviction because as you are moving you begin to see the bigger picture, the fruit that you are beginning to bear, and the lives that are changing because you are moving. It is hard to say yes to distracting things when you are moving in your purpose. Your conviction drives you and changes your perspective.

I don’t know where the bird and motorcycle man went, but I went to see my financial advisor. My husband and I have financial goals that we are moving towards. We set those goals almost 20 years ago and we are moving towards them with courage, clarity and conviction.

Whatever goals you have set, keep moving toward them. Don’t let the vicissitudes of life stop you from moving forward!

Spicing Up Your Soul…