What are you waiting for? What are you reaching for in life? This is the time for you to step out on nothing but a wing and a prayer and go forward and not look back. This is your place in history, this is your opportunity to discover your hidden country and cross into your promised land. So what is holding you back? You have got to make up in your mind today that you are going to spring forward with your ideas and creativity or risk going back to what you were yesterday. It has been said that you can’t drive forward looking back, but I want to add that you can drive forward looking backwards, however, you will end up in a ditch or a wreck. You do not want your life to be one of regret or filled with wrecks so the only option that you have is to spring forward and spring into action. Springing forward requires movement and momentum. It requires you to change what you were doing. change what you have been, change the direction you were going in and chose to count it all a loss. When you are willing to count everything as loss then you can receive the true riches that await you. In order to Spring Forward, you have to learn to Forget. Some people let their past stagnate them and keep them from moving. But you have to change your focus. Your past does not disqualify you from starting over and moving forward. Start today! If your past could not disqualify you from starting, what makes you think that it can disqualify you from finishing your race. Each of us has a race that we have to complete and you cannot let our past stop you. Now don’t get wrong, we don’t rejoice in failure or make light of it but also we are not to be paralyzed by it. You have to learn how to forget somethings; no rather Forget All, so that you can move on with your life. You have to forget yesterdays mistakes and yesterdays victories because they don’t matter in today’s ballgame. You have to live a life on the run! Run so that you may obtain your prize. It may be beyond your grasp unless you reach for it or stretch for it. What you are reaching for is only beyond your grasp if you don’t reach or spring forward. If you can’t forget your past, can you press forward anyhow? If the answer is yes, if you can press forward then you can forget because both of those actions require movement. You only reach for something when you are close to it., but to get close you have to chase after it. The thing that you want in life may not even be close but you have to reach for it and sometimes to get a good reach you have to stretch or spring forward. Stretching may produce pressure but it can be the thing that puts you over the finish line before others. If you have ever seen a track race in your life, you will notice that the runners do not cross the finish line standing straight up. In order to win the prize, in order to reach their goal, in order to cross over the barrier that signals your arrival; you have to reach forward. You can play it safe if you want to but playing it safe won’t always get you the prize. You can cross the finish line and still lose. It is important that you race to win not to just finish. Your message has to be heard, your voice has to be heard. You have got to learn to lean in and look up! Lean into what you want and look up to give thanks for making it. Sometimes life wont let you cross the line with your feet so you have to cross with your head. Whether you lead or nurture, you have to take action and lean forward. whether you guide or encourage, spring forward. Whether you direct or open up opportunities, reach forward and don’t look back. Don’t be afraid to take the risk but be very afraid of stagnation. Stagnation will stifle who you really are and stunt your growth into what you should be. There is victory in and through your struggles. Struggle for equality, struggle for opportunity, struggle for acceptance, and struggle for more from life. Get your focus back and spring forward. As we set our clocks ahead over this past weekend it reminded me that I had to lose something to gain something. I lost an hour of sleep but I gained additional sunlight that shortened my dark times. Whatever you want to do in life successfully will cost you something and it may not seem like the ideal thing to do, but you must give it up so that you can have it all. Don’t let the unknown of the future trap you in the past. Don’t fall back into the same routines that 2012 brought you. Don’t allow your past to dictate your future. If not now, ask yourself when? Springing Forward is putting a pep in your step and a song in your heart and an idea in your mind and a stretch in your hand. If you can’t reach your destiny with your feet, reach with your hand. If you can’t cross the finish line by reaching with your hand, stretch forth with your head. Life’s’ victories do not always come to those who are the smartest, the cutest, or the wealthiest. But to everyone who will dare to step out on faith and keep on walking, sooner or later victory shall be theirs. Spring Forward my friend and have massive success!
Eric Smith
Leadershifting to Success 