I remember when side-view mirrors came out with that statement: “Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear”. That messed me up. Did they want me to have a wreck? I would, you know. I couldn’t figure out how those mirrors worked. I didn’t want to have to worry about wondering whether or not that car was closer than it looked. Actually, I survived by over-compensating and double-checking to make sure that no cars were in my blind-spot.
That’s why they started putting those on the side-view mirrors. There were too many people who were having wrecks because they weren’t checking their blind spots. With the new car designs there wasn’t as much glass to review whether or not you were clear to change lanes. This design kept you from pulling over without seeing that car in the other lane, coming up on you.
Can we use this statement about our goals? Our goals appear so far off. We can’t see the end of the tunnel. We know that there’s a white light somewhere at the end but we don’t see it. But in retrospect we don’t have to second-guess our field of vision. We were there. We were right there.
I think that’s the way I am with the success of my business. For so long I have felt that it was right there. I could touch it. I just needed to reach a little bit further. My fingertips are right about to brush it. Success is mine. I just have to be able to touch it, and then wrap my hands around it and pull it into me.
But what if it’s closer than it appears? What if it is distorted so that I can’t see the entire picture? What if it has been for my taking for awhile now? What if I’m going to miss it for the trees, or the blind spot, or whatever? What if?
Life is full of “what if’s”, isn’t it? But we don’t ask those very often. We don’t say “what if my husband is having an affair and leaves me?” We don’t want to know “if we will develop some awful, rare disease that will incapacitate us”. “What if” today really was your last day on earth.
I will just tell you that if you live your life with “what if’s” then you’re really not living your life, are you? You’re waiting for your life to pass you by, just like you’re waiting for that car coming up alongside you to pass you by. Sometimes a car will come up alongside you but won’t pass you. They might be making a turn. They might have seen a police car up ahead and don’t want to get a ticket. They might . . .
“What if” and “might” sure are holding us back, aren’t they? I mean it “might” storm tomorrow and all of the power will go out and will ruin years of writing. Yeah, that’s happened once. What’s the liklihood of it happening again? Not very likely. If we are waiting for a safe voyage, we will never make the voyage. And if we aren’t going to make the voyage what are we doing in the car watching that side mirror to begin with? Why aren’t we at home, in the safety of our fortress.
It’s time to act. It’s time to change lanes. It’s time to reach out, to reach further. There is no time like the present. We don’t have time to wait. We don’t have time to second-guess what’s coming up alongside us. We need to put our blinker on and let the world know that we are making the change necessary to accomplish what we have set out to accomplish. Because it is right there, so close that we can touch it. That’s all we have to do. Reach out!