Remember when you were a little kid out on the porch in the evening and some grownup said, “oh, there’s the first star – quick make a wish?”   We asked for things like red bicycles, baseball mitts, and dolls.   And those things often appeared on our birthday or as a holiday gift.

I’ve been holding conversations with groups of adults over 50 around the topic of what they are going to do in the next phase of their life, and I find a lot of people start their answer with the words, “I wish……”

For the most part, these are folks who have spent the last 30 years living in the same area, employed in the same career and working hard just to maintain the status quo of their lives.  They haven’t had the opportunity to try to make any major changes so they can’t quite imagine how to start.

At a presentation for The Transition Network here, author Carol Saline (Mothers and Daughters) talked about the many transitions of her life.  She suggested an approach for career and life decisions that reminds us that making successful changes or transitions requires taking action. She calls it FOOFY and I like her philosophy.

•    “Get your Foot in the door
•    When Opportunity knocks, just do it
•    When Opportunity doesn’t come calling, send out invitations
•    If you believe in something Fight for it
•    Just say Yes – never let the fear of failure hold you back!”

Wishing for a different life gets us nowhere until we start doing.

In a conversation over the weekend I discovered that an acquaintance previously served on the Board of an organization I would love to be associated with professionally.

I discovered this only because when she asked “what have you been up to?”,  I didn’t hesitate to state clearly what my immediate goals are.   If I had said that I was just “busy trying to build my business” the opportunity would have passed right by.

She offered to provide an introduction to some current board and staff members and suggested an approach to getting involved with them.

I need to polish my resume and pull together a proposal to present within a week or so and that’s going to require putting in some extra hours, but I can’t ignore this “knocking” on my door.

What have you found yourself wishing for lately?  It’s time to turn some of those thoughts into real concrete ideas and apply the FOOFY principles to your efforts.   Paying attention to opportunities and taking even small actions are the first steps to success.

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