Lean into It and See
If It Feels Right to You
AFFIRMATIONS
for
Meditation and Reflection
I am leaning into what I want to do and seeing any roadblocks as opportunities to develop new skills, greater confidence, and perseverance.
As I lean into new activities, I am letting God know that I am willing to use my talents to make the world around me a better place.
I am willing to start without seeing the whole path because I believe it will take me where I want to go—or even someplace better.
A journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step.
—ANCIENT CHINESE PROVERB
When someone says something important that will help you, or when someone makes you an offer related to something you want to do, your job is to “lean into it.” Dip your toe in the water and see what that opportunity feels like.
Many of the world’s most successful people got that way because they paid attention to a door opening in front of them. They had the courage and wisdom to walk through that door and “lean into” the opportunity on the other side. They worked several months on a start-up company. They did a free speaking engagement for a global organization. They spent a few hundred dollars flying across the country to meet a new contact. They checked out the opportunity, learned something new, and determined whether that new path was the one that would lead them to their goal.
Oftentimes, ultimate success finds you when you’re leaning into something. That’s when you find yourself open to opportunities and willing to do whatever it takes to succeed—without any expectation whatsoever. The time for thinking is over and the time to take action has begun.
I am leaning into what I want to do and seeing any roadblocks as opportunities to develop new skills, greater confidence, and perseverance.
Momentum is one of the wonderful outcomes of leaning into it. Momentum begins to build the minute you take your first step toward making your dreams a reality. It’s a magnetic force—an energy that attracts people, resources, and opportunities into your life. Just when you need them—at the perfect time when you can most benefit—they will become available to you and doors will open in ways you may not expect. Oftentimes, that’s how great things happen—but you have to first prepare the soil in which they can take root, thrive, and grow.
Martin Luther King Jr., the great civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, said, “Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.”
He realized that sometimes the exact thing you need to propel you further, to help you achieve a breakthrough goal, is just ahead beyond where you can see it. Unless you take that first step forward, you’ll never know just how close it is. Have faith. Be willing to take the step and lean into it.
As I lean into new activities, I am letting God know that I am willing to use my talents to make the world around me a better place.
First you jump off the cliff and you build wings on the way down. Science fiction author Ray Bradbury said that, and it has become one of my favorite quotes. There is no perfect time or situation for you to begin creating and achieving your goals. Don’t keep putting things off waiting for a special sign, a double rainbow, or for 12 doves to fly overhead in the sign of a cross.
When Mark Victor Hansen and I first released Chicken Soup for the Soul, I thought it would be a good idea to sell the book in bulk to large network marketing companies. I knew those books could motivate their sales force to believe in their dreams, take more risks, and achieve greater success. So, I started cold-calling these companies—something I had never done before. Sometimes I was told they weren’t interested, sometimes I got hung up on, but eventually, not only did I make some significant sales, a few of the companies liked the book so much they hired me to speak at their national conventions.
Most of life is on-the-job training and some of the most important things can only be learned in the process of doing them. You have to just start—from wherever you are—in order to get where you want to be.
I am willing to start without seeing the whole path because I believe it will take me where I want to go—or even someplace better.