Hello Angela’s lovelies!

I hope everyone had a productive week, and that things are moving in a forward motion for you. Are there any questions, struggles, or breakthroughs for you working through this process? I want to share with you a bit about one of my goals during this 12 week journey that we’re taking.

Three weeks ago, I saw this young homeless man walking past us whose pants were so worn, the backs of the thighs were completely gone. It happened so fast and it was so jarring to see his bare legs in January that he vanished before I could react. I facebooked about the experience and how I wanted to help, like donate some clothes to a shelter or a charity. Another friend responded that he wanted to donate. Within 24 hours, our idea grew into a charity drive.

That idea required a lot of groundwork. We created a defined goal and a plan to achieve it. We reached out to organizations that help people move to self-sufficiency. We presented this charity drive to an organization of which we are both already members, and it is now becoming an ongoing effort by the organization.

I’ll be honest – there have been stumbling blocks all along the way. We struggled for mutual time to hold meetings. It has taken a long time in some cases to hear back from people we’ve contacted (and some never replied). There are difficulties in nailing down venues to be drop-off centers. There is also the rapid expansion of this idea into bigger and bigger things, which creates an issue of being able to maintain it and make sure it still achieves the goal.

Throughout all of this, I have been going through the steps – who am I being today that is moving this forward? That keeps me positive and pleasant in dealing with people when getting a response that could be taken as negative. Having an action list keeps me on track each day to achieving the greater goal, and I can see progress crossing things off the list. I hold myself accountable by checking in with my buddy and letting him know what I’ve been able to accomplish, and sharing my goals for the next check-in. Each day I risk a no or a push-back from the people I contact – but it has been wildly positive.  And this entire project has the ultimate goal of helping others to a better life.

I want you to see an example of dreams to action in process so that you could see that it can indeed work for you. So what’s something interesting that you’re finding in moving your goals into action?  Please share!

joy in action,

Sean

A quick footnote: I ran into the same homeless young man again a week later – and I just happened to have thermal underwear in my bag that day. They are now his. Keep moving forward!