Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali said, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, your hands can't hit what your eyes can't see.” This is an amazing quote not just for boxing but for life as well. Now in this case we are not taking this as a boxing analogy. I don’t want you to actually hit someone (i.e. sting like a bee) but I do want you to be adaptable and take advantage of change. Floating like a butterfly can be thought of as being prepared for change. A butterfly flutters and changes direction with the wind. Change is inevitable, it’s going to happen. Even though a butterfly seems to flutter with the wind it survives the changes with the wind and still gets to where it wants to go. You need to be able to adapt to change and get to where you want to go. Sting like a bee is striking while the iron is hot so to speak. When change comes your way, look for how you can take advantage of it and grow. All change is an opportunity for growth. If you sting like a bee you will be in charge of change and not have change in charge of you. Now for the meat of the quote! “Your hands can’t hit what your eyes can’t see.” How do you survive change? How can you get to your goals if things are constantly changing on you. The key to this is having a vision of who you are, where you will be, and what you will be doing in the future as your goal. Let me repeat the important word here, “vision”! If you don’t have a vision of yourself you’ll not be able to see what you are trying to hit. This is why we all must envision who, what, and where we want to be in our future. Let’s say 5 years from now. Can you picture a vision of yourself 5 years from now? I can guarantee you successful people can! The people who can’t will not be able to control change to their benefit, but change will be in control of them. So just like goals and values you need to write down a vision of what you are going to be in the future so you can hit it. Take the time to write out a few paragraphs of what your who, what, and where you want to be in the future. Writing it down is the key to crystalizing it in your mind. You need to weather the storms of change and always keep your eye on the flower that the butterfly wants to land on.