Five frogs are sitting on a log. Four decide to jump off. How many are left?
The first time I heard this, I answered, “One.”
“No,” my friend responded. “Five. Why? Because there’s a difference between deciding and doing!”
American politician Frank Clark said, “What great accomplishments we’d have in the world if everybody had done what they intended to do.” Most people don’t act as quickly as they should on things. They find themselves subject to the Law of Diminishing Intent, which says, “The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will never actually do it.” Don’t we all have things on our to do list that hasn’t gotten done. That we have allowed ourselves to push back
I remember praying for better leadership skills. Pastoring a small church has some challenges but I wanted to attend a coaching conference to better my leadership skills. The problem was the cost. I put it off and put it of until I realized if I don’t do it. I’m not going to grow. After realizing I wanted to grow professionally, I made the decision to go. That was a great decision because it allowed me to grow and practicing some of those principles I learned allowed me to lead with a whole new perspective.
You may be under similar personal or professional pressure right now. If you are, you’re probably anxious to start growing and developing. But what if you’re not? Whether you feel prompted to or not, now is the time to start growing. Author and professor Leo Buscaglia asserted, “Life lived for tomorrow will always be a day away from being realized.” The reality is that you will never get much done unless you go ahead and do it before you are ready. If you’re not already intentionally growing, you need to get started today. If you don’t, you may reach some goals, which you can celebrate, but you will eventually plateau. Once you start growing intentionally, you can keep growing and keep asking “What’s next?”