Ah, spring in Canada! There’s nothing quite like the changing of the seasons to get your heart pumping. Everyone seems to have an extra bounce to their step. The migrating snowbirds are returning from their winter retreats, and the trees and grass – once dormant – are starting to show signs of coming to life again.

Spring – a great time for renewal. A great time for all of us to dig ourselves out of the winter doldrums, dust off our summer sports equipment, get the bike out of storage or go for that long overdue walk. Spring is a great time to “re-sharpen the saw” as Stephen R. Covey would say. The season of new beginnings is a perfect time for self-reflection and re-assessment. Are you getting what you want out of what you’ve got? Are you getting your WIIFM? (What’s in it for me) Spring is a good time to ask yourself: Are you happy and content with where you are at this stage in your life, both at work and at home? If the answer is yes – great. However, if you’re not perfectly satisfied, what are you prepared to do about it? You need to change the behaviour to change the result. Doing the same thing and expecting a different result is the true definition of insanity. You need to have a Dr. Phil moment and take an honest look at yourself and your surroundings and come to terms with whatever it is that is getting in the way of you getting what you want.

It may come as a surprise to some people but life is not meant to be a spectator sport. Life is a ticket to the greatest show on earth. You need to get off of the couch, roll up your sleeves, and get back in the game. Where would you like to see yourself in 6, 12, 18 or 24 months from now, both in your personal and professional lives? Success is a matter of being focused on the goal and being prepared to do whatever you need to do to accomplish it. Success for the most part – in any undertaking – is having a plan and then working that plan, and if you’re not accomplishing what you set out to do, then you need to change that plan and start again.

Larry Winget in true Larry Winget fashion sums it up best in his book – “It’s Called Work for a Reason: Your Success is Your Own Dam Fault”. Wishing and hoping won’t make it so. You need to develop those kinds of habits that are going to take you to where it is you want to go. (Soft skills like patience, open mindedness and empathy) Don’t wait for perfect! There’s never going to be a “perfect” time to start, a “perfect” set of circumstances, or a “perfect” plan. You need to heed the advise of Esther Dyson: “The delusion that you’re perfect – or that if you do the right thing, things will always work out OK – makes you resistant to change and fearful of failure … you’d rather not discover that you’re imperfect, that maybe what you were doing was wrong. The more people can go through these discoveries the better.”

So remember – Any time is a good time to start a new beginning. Why not make spring time – your time for renewal? Strike up the band. Shake the dust off your action plan and get at it! Read a book, attend a workshop or join a group of like-minded people. The point is – stop talking about it – and do it!