Spring is here and as we wrap the first quarter of the year I’m taking stock.

Q1 has been challenging and amazing all in the same breath. Life is often like that.

On the personal side of things, the year started with my son catching viral pneumonia, Merlin my big furry guy having some serious tummy troubles and my shoulder deciding it’s painfully done.

Professionally, the year kicked off with the DDA Academy in full swing and the program, the people and the results have been beyond what I could have imagined.

During the first part of the year, I ask my clients to identify their Off The Charts Goal … that game changing thing that would rock their world and write it down in their 2018 Road Map. Three people have already knocked their Off The Charts Goal out of the park. 

And one of the members recently shared that she got more done in the first six weeks of this year than she did in the last six months of 2017. Pretty cool stuff.

Sometimes it’s about the big leaps and often it’s the power of taking consistent, aligned, small steps. 

Looking at the successes, listening to the feedback and observing my own choices in how to navigate the personal bumps, one particular simple, powerful practice stands out above them all. 

It’s called TAKING ACTION “AS IF.”

You’ve probably heard that saying “fake it until you make it”. Well, there’s actually something to it. My interpretation has a twist. That it is not to act as or to fake it but to take action AS IF your life and your business already reflect back to you what you want.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but I started taking action AS IF when I was in my teens.

At the time I was deeply uncomfortable in my body and I struggled with my self esteem. I spent my summers in big baggy sweatshirts and my days counting calories.

One day I happened to catch a triathlon on television. As I watched this incredibly powerful woman I thought about how amazing she must feel when she wakes up in the morning.

It was in that moment, that I realized that if I wanted to feel the way she did, then I must start doing what she does – day in and day out. So, I spent the next six months focused on taking actions as if I was that incredible athlete.

I stopped counting calories and started to fuel my body instead. I researched nutrition, focused on getting stronger and held that vision of who I was becoming. I even dumped that sweatshirt and put on a tank top. And to this day, I don’t “workout” I  “train”  as if I’m an athlete.

So, if your Off The Charts Goal is to get really fit this year and you want to experience your body like an athlete (or fitter human) then the key is to show up and take the actions that you would as if you were an athlete.

Find the answers to questions like:

• What does an athlete do each day?
• How does an athlete fuel their body?
• What kinds of things do they think about?
• What is important to them?

Or maybe that big leap would be to double your revenue and create a six-figure income. Then your mission would be to shift the position from which you’re navigating from and start showing up, managing and decision making as if your business already generated that amount of revenue.

If you ran a business that doubled in revenue then:

• What would you be doing differently right now?
• What decisions would you make?
• What boundaries would you need to set?
• How would you value your time?
• What habits would you need to change?
• Who would you hire?
• What would you STOP DOING?

If you were to imagine your Off The Charts Goal for the year… what would it be?

Now take that goal, that thing, that vision and ask yourself, who do you need to be and how do you need to TAKE ACTION AS IF TODAY to bring it to fruition? 

You may just be surprised at just how quickly your world starts to reflect back to you what you most want!