In previous articles I discussed Potential, Purpose, Presence, and Preparation. Your purpose defines your basic motivation in life and your potential is the capabilities that you have and can further develop in support of achieving your aspirations. I have also spoken about Presence, which relates to the state of being in which you are fully aware and knowledgeable about your self, others, and the world around you and that allows you to be fully aware of your purpose and potential. Knowing who you are, your place in the world, what motivates you, and your capabilities, however, are not sufficient to ensure that you are on the path to achieving your aspirations. You need to have a plan that builds upon this knowledge and that helps you define and clarify the vision that you have for your life. Preparation is the work that you do to ensure that you have a vision as well as the plan for achieving that vision. In the fifth "P" of achieving your aspirations, Practice, you use the fruits of your all your Preparation to move you along the road to achievement.

People often stall their progress after they have come up with a plan. Often times they become fearful of both the work that is going to be required in achieving their plan and the potential changes that they will make in their lives; or they mistakenly believe that just by having a plan they are on their way and the plan is what will get them there or they put their plan aside and forget about it. In any event, Practice and awareness of these challenges will help enusre that you are well on your way to achieving your aspirations.

The first challenge is in understanding that it is not enough to just say what you are going to do, you also need to do it! Athletes, musicians, and other high performing individuals do not just say they are going to be great, they practice being great. They know that the only way of achieving their goals is to work each and every day on improving their capabilities and engaging in the activities that will move them further along the road to achievement. After you have laid out your plan, it is essential that you do not forget it and that you follow it. Do what you say you are going to do. Figure out what's working and what's not. Change your plan if required in order to continue your progress. Use your sense of presence to review where you have been and where you are going and understand where the challenges might be. Do not waste your precious time and energy chastising yourself for not meeting a planned target, modify your plan to reflect the new reality and resume your journey. Most of all, congratulate yourself for each and every accomplishment, no matter how small.

The second challenge is fear. What if I am not able to achieve my aspirations? What if I don't have time to work on the things that I need to work on? What if I do not have the financial resources to do what I need to do? What if my family, friends, and co-workers, do not appreciate the changes that I am making in my life? What if, what if, what if? Fear is not inherently bad. In fact, fear is an emotion that helps us to survive. Without fear, we would always be taking unnecessary risks, regardless of what the outcome might be. Fear becomes a problem when we do not take the time to assess it properly and allow the resulting anxiety to overcome us. Too often we feel fear and react without thinking in order to alleviate that fear. We need to use fear to help us along our journey. We need to examine the fear to determine where it is coming from and how that is affecting our progress. Once we understand the fear, we can properly assess how we should respond. In many cases the fear will dissipate once we understand it. In other cases, we can reduce the fear by making adjustments to our plan. In any case, we need to choose to allow the fear, understand the fear and work with the fear in order to move us along the path to achieving our aspirations.

The old adage that "practice makes perfect" is one that we should take seriously. Without actively working our plan we will be limited in what we can achieve. By using our potential and our presence and keeping a good eye on our purpose, we can most effectively achieve our aspirations. Some times it will be easy and some times it will be hard. Our fears may overwhelm us and we will meet resistence. However, we will also make serious gains and that is what will help keep us on the road to achieving our great aspirations!