To Get Clarity Of Direction

This past weekend my friend Chris auditioned for a role as a drummer for the summer at a major US theme park. He has had the dream of being a professional drummer for a few years, and lately had been a little frustrated with limited opportunities to pursue his passion. He discovered information about the audition online and I was thrilled when he called to tell me that he was booking a flight, a rental car, and a hotel room. He was going to make it happen and determine where he stood as a potential drummer on a bigger stage.

Regardless of how Chris did in the audition, he was taking a giant step toward getting clarity of direction about fulfilling a dream. Almost weekly I encounter people who want to take their work or life in a new direction, but simply aren't willing to invest the time, money, or energy to see where they are-or where they need to be if their dream is to become a reality. It's just safer to think about it instead of actually pursuing it. But those who take the steps are the ones President Theodore Roosevelt was thinking about when he wrote the words:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

How did Chris do, you ask? He didn't get the job. But he DID learn three specific areas on which he needs to focus if his dream is to be realized. He's now one step closer. How about you...

What do you need to do today to get clarity of direction about a dream or goal that is stirring within you?