Have you ever had such a big idea that it scared you?
Did you visualise actually making this idea happen? How did it feel when you achieved your goal? Or were you too frightened of success that you just placed the idea in the bottom drawer never again to see the light of day? Or did making the idea real just get too difficult?
I have had several big ideas, some have actually occurred, others are still in the pipeline and some have died. I have vivid memories of how it feels when the idea becomes a reality and I'll give you three examples. One example happened decades ago, while the other two occurred more recently.
The very first fundraising event I ever did was a softball game with a famous New York City radio station, WNEW-FM against the volunteers of Covenant House, a crisis centre in Times Square for homeless and runaway youth. My idea was to have music and food and beer and celebrities and television coverage and raise lots of money, oh, and play softball too. And we did. It was a big idea for many reasons. I had never organised an event before, but I knew what I wanted and I saw it and felt it, then made it happen with persistence, creativity, using amazing relationships, having heaps of fun and tenacity.
The more recent examples are when Rob and I completed the New York Marathon in November 2015. We had been working towards this very big goal for months and trained by doing yoga, hills, strength training, injury prevention, 10k races and more. We visualised the race by researching the course and understanding that the only hills we would face are bridges with 50,000 other runners also facing the same challenges on the day and double that number of people cheering you along the way. It felt so good receiving our medal once we crossed the finish line and I still smile today knowing we did it under my goal time!
And, my last example is about when Rob and I made the decision to move from Auckland and although we discussed living in a large city in Australia, when the opportunity arose to live and work in Whanganui, we jumped at the chance.
We visualised our house, neighbourhood, the ability to walk to town and to the river and the chance to cycle to the beach as well as being surrounded by an interesting group of people.
