Definition:  WOO – Window Of Opportunity – The WOO is every precious moment!

Breakthrough Leadership Vision:  Seize the WOO!

A seven-year-old boy stands atop a glistening, snow-covered hill, bursting with excitement as he prepares to zoom down the slope on his brand-new sled. The hillside is at least fifty yards wide and nearly perfect for a great run. There is only one obstacle in sight, a single stump about halfway down the hill, but there are lots of open hillside on either side of it. Just as he is about to kick off, he hears a well-meaning voice cry out, “Watch out for the stump!”

Whoosh—he’s off. He rockets down the hill faster and faster, the icy wind whipping his red cheeks.

As he steers the sled that voice keeps repeating in his mind: Watch out for the stump.

Swerving left and right as he picks up more and more speed, he can’t seem to get that stump out of his thoughts. Then, wham! He crashes into the stump like a guided missile locked in on its target.

In fact, that little boy was programmed to crash into that stump. I know because I was that little boy. My sled was demolished, and though I only sustained a few bumps and bruises, my dignity was shattered. For a while after the incident, I was humiliated; I had crashed and burned. But ultimately my sledding ineptitude led me to an epiphany, a WOO from which I learned. We are taught—in fact, programmed—to be almost magnetically attracted to obstacles and fears, just as I was drawn to that stump.

If we can change our focus, we can change our lives.

For years one of the cornerstones of personal growth has been “What we focus on is what we get.” There is some truth in the statement, of course, but I’ve always felt it misses the essential ingredients that give our focus power: our own vision and creative spirit. Isn’t the more empowering truth that what we focus on is what we create? Our vision and focus unlatch the locks on those exciting windows of opportunity, but it’s only through our energized and enthusiastic actions that we throw open those WOOs and improve our lives, relationships, health, and finances.

Our vision creates opportunities. But it is our choices and actions that create our results.

We’ve all heard the saying “Luck happens to the prepared person.” By having a vision about our future, we’ll see opportunity in an entirely different way than others might. What may seem like a “lucky break” to those who lack our vision is, in fact, a purposeful choice.

A woman who attended one of my seminars recently had to make her way around the venue in a special wheelchair. Her spine had been damaged and her legs had been amputated after a terrible auto accident years before. In the seminar, I led the participants through all kinds of physical exercises to teach key messages. She found ways to do every single one. As we prepared to break wooden boards karate style, as an unforgettable metaphor for breaking through our fears and obstacles, she rolled her chair up to me and said with absolute conviction, “I am breaking the board!”

I was amazed at her determination.

But I immediately thought, “How?” She must have read my mind, because she said, “I’ve been thinking about this all day since you said we get to do it (notice she said I GET to do it, not HAVE to do it!). If you will put my board between two chairs and lift me from my chair so I can hit downward at it, I can do it!”

So, I did.

With three hundred people cheering their lungs out, she tried at least ten times. But the board didn’t break. Then, on the eleventh try, she broke through. When you’re committed to your vision, you’ll never quit after ten!

This remarkable young woman was committed to breaking through. She recognized that she could choose where to apply her focus, and control her controllables. Her vision was unstoppable. Instead of fretting about what she couldn’t do, she focused on what she could do. Instead of worrying about what could go wrong, she poured her energy into what could go right. She focused on the WOOs rather than the obstacles. After she broke through that day, the other participants, powerfully inspired by her commitment, elevated their own commitment to break through and focus on possibility, not limitation.

As we begin to shift our focus more consistently away from the tree stumps in our path, to what we want rather than what we don’t want, we free our spirits and bring greater passion and energy to our lives and businesses.

Here’s an irrefutable truth: You have the talent to succeed and build a thriving network marketing business. So, it’s your passion and vision that will make the difference far more than your talent.

And the key question is: What are you focusing on?

One of my daughters’ dance teammates became a perfect example of the power of the passion that ignites you when you focus on what you want to create.

Lindsey was at best a fair dancer through her high school years. She didn’t seem to possess the natural talent and balance as a dancer that was so apparent in a few of the stars. She was never chosen for the leading roles in the dance studio’s productions. But Lindsey loved dancing, loved it with a passion. Every day she visualized herself on stage dancing her heart out. While others faded away from dance in their college years, Lindsey seized every WOO she could find to dance and perform. She graduated with a degree in dance and has been performing at Walt Disney World for over a decade. She lives with joy doing what she loves because she found her passion and immersed herself in it every day. She focused on what she wanted and never stopped until she had created it.

My friend and mentor, the great John Wooden often said, “There are no overachievers. We are all underachievers.” When we focus on our passions and seize every WOO that leads us in the direction of those passions, like Lindsey, we will come closer to our true potential far more consistently.

For what we focus on is what we create.