Bill Nelson

Over the past week or so, I have had a couple of conversations with various people about where they are at in their lives. Some personal, some professional.

As we get further involved into the conversations, you begin to realise that these are smart, aware, insightful, intelligent people.

They are individuals that are searching for the best way forward. They are happy to some degree, but by no means content with where they are at or with what is going on around them.

Hence the conversations we had.

But the great thing with each of them was that although they were not content with where they were, they were not resentful either. They were just hungry.

Not hungry because they hadn't eaten. Not hungry because they hadn't experienced success as per their definition. But hungry because they know there is more success or opportunity available to them.

Now, as I said these people came from a variety of backgrounds, each of them going after a different outcome. Each of them having different ideas about how to get there. But at the same time they all had one thing in common.

They were all looking for a magical external force to help take them to the next level.

In nearly every case that magical force was another human being that in their mind was going to make all the difference.

And when I say another human, I am not talking about someone who possesses a specific skill set or experience they didn't have.

I am talking about their perception that through someone else coming along and giving them reason why, they should do whatever they needed to do to get to that next level.

They were looking for an external presence to give them reason why they should do what they needed to do.

Now this wasn't done through laziness. It wasn't done through naivety. It wasn't done through frustration.

But it was done through oversight.

The oversight being that in real terms, and in my opinion, the person they need the most wasn't someone else, it was them.

See this isn't about help. It isn't about external influence. It isn't about calling on other peoples experience. All of those and a whole lot more are vitally important in our quest for better.

But what it is about, is that the drive and determination needed to get you to where you want to go really has to come from within.

You have to be your own taskmaster. You have to be your own Drill Sergeant. You have to be the one that kicks your own backside at times. You have to develop the reasons why doing certain things are important to you.

Once again it isn't that help isn't important. But don't use others to do what you should be doing for yourself.

You set the standard. You set the agenda. You make the sacrifice. You do the hard yards.

You do the analysis of improvement. You have the honest and real conversations with yourself about where things are at and what needs to be done.

Don't march to the beat of someone else's drum.

You set the beat, the rhythm and the tempo.

The accomplishments and reward you seek will mean a whole lot more if the drive to achieve comes from within.

And because you did.......

The Journey Continues!