There’s an old story about a man who goes to the bank to cash a check. He goes up to the teller and he asks, “Can you cash this check for me, please?” The teller looks at the check and says, “Yes, of course. Just sign your name on the back of it and I’ll give you the money.”

 

The man says “Wait a minute, you want me to sign my name on the back of the check, and hand it to you? You’ll be holding my check with my name on it. You might decide not to give me the money.” The teller replies, “Sir, you have to sign your name on the back of the check before I can give you the money. It’s banking policy.” The man argues, “Could you just give me the money? I promise you, I will sign my name on the back of the check.”

 

Does this sound familiar?

On many levels, this is what I unintentionally do, and so do you.

We go to the teller of life. We go to our imagination. We go to our dream — our goal for our life, for our business, for our family, and we say, “I really want my life to be like this, my business to be like this. I want my income, my relationships, my health to be like this.” And we describe it. Then life says to us, “Great, then go ahead, sign your name first to it. Decide, then take action, become the thing you say you want, and I will cash that check for you.”

 

What do we often do? We back up and say, “No, no, no, give me the resources first.” In other words, when the economy is good, when my business is growing, when I have the money and the time, when I’ve got the support, when all the ducks are in a row – which means, when things change around me first, then I will sign my name to it, then I will commit to the thing I say I want.

 

How often do we respond this way?

We must be willing to sign our name to the very thing we want. Then take the first step in the absence of knowing all the answers. No new process can begin, no new path can be forged until a decision has been made. Once you make a firm decision, even in the absence of perfect conditions, a whole manner of things begin to happen and rush to your aid for the fulfillment of that decision.

 

Question: what excuses do you have for not deciding on your dream?