Are you winning the “game of life?" Are you as successful as you would like to be in your life and in your career? If not, what are you doing to change your situation? Are you consistently taking action to move toward your goals? Or are you complaining and blaming others for your current lot in life? You have the power to create a life you love – one that fulfills all your personal and professional needs.

Get in the Game

A great metaphor for the game of life is the Olympics. Olympic athletes compete to determine who wins the gold, silver, or bronze medals as well as who has the stamina to simply finish each event. In the game of life, some people are winners who successfully create lives they love. Some even recreate themselves as their lives and circumstances change. Others go through life never reaching for the gold, sitting on the sidelines complaining about the hand they were dealt. What about you? Are you in the game? Are you actively creating your next chapter?

In my youth, my dream career was to build robots for Disneyland. Instead, I entered the fledgling aerospace industry, starting as an engineer and climbing the ladder to the executive suite. By all definitions, I was successful. However, things change. When I reached the place in my career that I had been striving for, I discovered that my career ladder was standing against the wrong wall. So I reinvented myself as an author, speaker, seminar leader, and executive coach. How I did it is the subject of my first book, Get Out of Your Own Way: Create the Next Chapter of Your Life.

Let’s consider your situation. Indulge me for a moment. Let your imagination wander. Visualize yourself as a great Olympian. You pick the sport. You have worked and trained diligently to get where you are. You have established routines that you follow every day to stay in peak shape. Now your moment of truth has arrived. You are in competition with the best athletes in your field. Just being in the race is an accomplishment. (We place just by showing up.) Imagine what it feels like to win a medal. Visualize yourself on the winners box, having won the bronze, silver, or better yet the gold medal. What a thrill it is to be a winner! Savor that feeling.

How to Reach the Gold

Now consider, what determines who wins. Only the best of the best earn medals in the Olympics. These are people whose overwhelming desire to win leads them to establish routines that assure consistent peak performance in their chosen sport. Winners may not have the best game plans, but what sets them apart is their consistent pursuit of the skills and confidence necessary to win. Winners establish routines, both mental and physical, that propel them toward their goals. What makes you feel like a winner in your life? What routines have you established to help you accomplish your goals? What’s keeping you from reaching your goals?

Often, we stop ourselves from going for the gold. We get in our own way by the way we think and the actions that our thoughts cause us to take (or not take). What makes one person triumph over the rest of the pack? The answer is confidence, correctly targeted routines, and fearlessness.

A wise man once said that the road to confidence is paved with weekly victories. Your confidence grows when you take on the challenges of life in spite of your fears.

Establish routines that help you stay focused on your goal and moving toward it. Keep in mind that having an average plan and taking consistent action steps toward its implementation is more productive than having a marvelous plan and doing nothing to turn it into a reality. What actions do you take each day to propel you toward your goals? What routines do you follow every day? Your daily actions will determine whether or not you have what it takes to win – what it takes to create the life you want to live.

Every day, remind yourself to Get Out of Your Own Way™. Go for the gold! Identify action steps and consistently implement them. Learn to applaud your small victories and use them as stepping-stones. Modify your plan as required. Keep in mind that there is a big difference between just being busy and taking specific, well planned action. Remember, to obtain the gold medal in the game of life, have a goal, a plan, and take consistent action. Consciously create the next chapter of your life. Your future begins with what you do today to make tomorrow happen.

About the Author

Jovita Jenkins created her own next chapter, transitioning from a distinguished non-traditional corporate career in aerospace engineering and executive leadership, to founder/CEO of Ajides International, Inc., a boutique leadership training and executive coaching firm. Her highly acclaimed book, Get Out Of Your Own Way: Create The Next Chapter Of Your Life, is available on her website www.jovitajenkins.com, amazon.com, and in selected bookstores. Ms. Jenkins, coaches emerging leaders, speaks on success and leadership to conventions and corporations, and lectures in UCLA’s Technical Management Program. Watch for her next book, Rebirth of a Boomer.