“What changes our whole life is action. Why don’t we take action? Fear.”
-Tony Robbins
At the end of each year, I have found myself saying, “Wow! That was the best year of my life!” and 2015 is no exception. The first thing I think about when a year ends and a new one begins is what are the things I remember the most. Those are the things that had the biggest impacts, but it’s not just the big things. There are a lot of little decisions that happen daily; the small stories that make the big stories happen. It may sound elementary, but in order to make big things in your life happen, you have to start with a very basic place: Deciding to take action.
As I was writing this post, I had to change the verbiage “try” to “take action.” Initially, I wrote “deciding to try” but realized that it wasn’t a strong enough conviction. If you say, “I’ll try” you are kind of letting yourself off the hook. If you say “I will” or “I am doing,” your brain connects more with the commitment of the action. Of course, deciding to take action isn’t as easy as it sounds. There are a number of factors that influence your decision- those dreaded fears and “What-Ifs.” The biggest “What-If” is “What If I fail?” or “What if I’m no good?” My definition of failure is that if you ONLY fail if you don’t get started.
But how do you overcome fear?
Make a decision with conviction, only focus on the factors and that you can control, and move forward.
Another reason we don’t get started and take action is because maybe we are waiting for the right time and the right conditions. There pretty much will never be the perfect time. You have to get started today.
The most notable events of 2015 all started with the decision to take action. My entire career started that way. Every year is a summation of the years leading up to it. In 2015, I traveled to 13 states, 7 countries, 19 race starting lines, spoke at 9 events, wrote 3 print feature stories and a number of online stories. Every month had a lot of great nuggets, but I will pick the stand-out things that happened.
Breaking my arm and then 3 months later winning the World Championship (WEMBO).
I still can’t believe that I’m the World Champion and that’s something I’ll have forever!
Taking my speaking career to the next level.
It all started with my ON Dirt series, but this year, I was the keynote speaker at a tech conference, a leadership and business conference, and entrepreneur conference and more with speeches ranging from 20 minutes to one hour and more! I did these in addition to my ON Dirt talks. It all culminated with my TED TALK in November. I think I’m the first cyclist to ever do one which is pretty cool!
Watch it here: