“Stop worrying about the ROI and worry about the COI—the cost of your inaction,” Loren Ridinger.  This quote floored me—I will share some personal experiences related to this tomorrow but today I want to discuss the content of it at a high level.  Our society tends to focus on things that have little in the way of producing desired results—or producing any results at all.  Times have changed and we know the quality of products, foods, and other goods has gone down so we have become hyper focused on what we get from our money.  I completely understand and I’m in that boat as well.  But instead of getting mad about it, we can make better decisions.  What if instead of focusing on what we get out of something, we look at what we can DO about it. There comes a point where we may not get a return and we will find ourselves wanting of reason for what happened and why we didn’t get anything out of it.  We have the ability to shift that focus and break the habit by looking at what we intend to get out of it and what our purpose is BEFORE taking action.  If the action won’t drive the result we are looking for or get us closer, then that is a loss.  But sitting there constantly planning and not acting takes away any hope of finding out what the result could be.

We have a limited time on this beautiful Earth and when we start looking at how we spend it honestly, most people feel a little disheartened.  I know I was devastated to start looking at the consequences of repeating the same story for so many years.  I went through a deep depression fearing and regretting all the time I had lost, unsure of how to move forward to do something new, something that would get me where I wanted to go.  We have to reconcile where our actions will take us and sometimes we have to admit what we aren’t doing or when we can do more.  I’m not saying that we need to push ourselves to the brink to validate our existence, but I am saying that we need to be selective in what we choose to partake in.  We need to be particular in how we spend our time.  When we let time slip away, that is a non-refundable transaction.  Time is the only resource when spent, is gone forever.  Instead of worrying about how we spend time, look at how we can create time.  We do that my making choices in what we do.  We say no to things that are unfulfilling and say yes to the things that call to us—even if they scare us.  Don’t allow our lives to become a series of “when it happens” or “I can’t do that now” when it comes to our dreams.  Make it a question of “How do we do this?”  and “what actions can I take that will get me closer to where I want to be?”  What actions move us forward. 

The good news in this is we are able to shift focus at any time.  We can move from worrying about what we get from something and shift it to what happens when we do nothing.  Instead of thinking about the perfect action to take and becoming paralyzed with indecision, we can simply begin moving.  I know brilliant people who have wasted their lives hoping someone would see them and give them an opportunity.  I know people who struggled in other areas but they believed so fiercely in themselves they took shots that changed their lives.  We’ve talked about it many times here: once we start moving, we start seeing other options.  All it takes is choosing to start and then starting.  The implications of doing nothing are far scarier than taking action and maybe not making it.  At least if we take the shot, we have a chance of achieving what we set out to, and even if we don’t get there, we will be closer to where we want to be.  There is no downside to going for it because we learn and we find other opportunity.  When we sit there, nothing happens.  I don’t want to make the mistake of waiting for the moment to fall in my lap, I want to create moments.  I want to create joy and success and I want to make that possible for others as well. So, quite simply, MAKE THE MOVE.