The South often gets a bad rap about how we handle winter weather but what I think is important for other regions of the nation to understand is where northerners and midwesterners (Hey Mizzou crew) are accustomed to navigating snow and ice storms - for us down in the South these happen on an annual or maybe bi-annual basis.

As a result, we don’t spend a ton of funds investing in snow plows and salt to cover the roads and many times our spending on winter infrastructure is not the best.

Where we are proactive with weather, or least they have been this week, is in cancelling events and other obligations when we hear word something is coming.

I had three events I planned on attending this week that were postponed or changed to virtual and I’m still getting real-time updates on things that aren’t even happening until Sunday morning!

This type of widespread response can create a sort of anxiety and consequently many folks stay in, not because of the likelihood of danger, but because of the potential threat of it.

My dad was one of the brave few who ventured out into the “wild” earlier this week to get his registration sticker updated. As someone who was raised in the state of Denver, he’s not one to become overly anxious about snow or ice and he’s the absolute last person you’d expect to get a ticket for being out of compliance.

After he returned home from his errand, we spoke on the phone and he said “it’s not the highways that are bad, it’s the side roads.” I couldn’t shake that implication.

Many times in our lives we talk ourselves out of taking certain risks because of how hard or bad others have said they’ll be. Often times though, the very people giving the report are either sharing second hand information or information that’s heavily informed by what they’ve experienced previously.

As a result, we hear their reports and decide to “barricade ourselves in,” completely disregarding how smooth the road ahead of us can be if we’d only make the effort to get out onto it.

I think of the launch of my Freedom and Flow planners last month and how at one point I’d convinced myself that I simply didn’t know enough to branch out into this new business.

But then, I remembered that:

* This wasn’t my first business

* My husband runs an e-commerce company

* I’d already validated the idea in different circles

* I told myself I was going to have a planner out into the world by January

So I pressed ahead, and the feedback was better than I could have anticipated!

My goal for the week was 10 sales and we doubled it!

I’m reminded of a Bible verse that says:

Those who watch the wind blow will never sow, and those who observe the clouds will never reap.

Ecclesiastes 11:4 (CEB)

In other words, if you’re waiting on the perfect conditions to make a move, you’re always going to be waiting.

You have no idea who is on the other side of you taking the risk, of starting the org, applying for the job or accepting the position.

But you don’t need to know to move forward, you only need to be decisive.

Don’t let the “weather warnings” keep you frozen in place.

Go out and do something different. Don’t allow what you believe about what will happen keep you from moving forward, behave as if you’ve already received everythign you’re pursuing.