Thermometer or Thermostat?

I recently finished the book "Tribes" by Seth Godin. If you are not familiar with Seth, he has great insight into marketing and customer relations. He also has a great blog that is worth subscribing to. One of the concepts that he shared in the book was insightful to me...so I will share it with you. As Seth explains, people have a tendency to fall into two categories, thermometers and thermostats. thermometers do little more than report on current conditions, oftentimes complaining that it is too hot or too cold. Thermostats, on the other hand, change the internal conditions, regardless of the external conditions. Insightful, I thought. So, how do we ensure that we are, in fact thermostats, and how do we coach others to be the same?

Define Vision, Plan, Execute, Reflect

I had the opportunity to catch up with an old friend over the weekend. Maybe you have a friend like this friend. A friend that inspires, energizes, and motivates. Not that anything "magical" is said, only that vision, passion and energy permeate the entire conversation. Ideas are shared freely, plans for future endeavors are discussed, and truly, no idea is a bad idea. This particular conversation was about the YMCA movement, including career pathing, the Y's relevance in today's society, the culture shift as the Y moves from an organization led by baby boomers to an organization led by Gen X'ers, and the opportunities for the Y to use new tools to engage those who may not have a relationship with the organization.

However, this conversation led to some interesting thought afterward. How do great people (leaders) define their vision? Once the vision is created, how does one plan, and, finally, execute?

I have two young guys that work at our Y. Last week, they were in our lobby, with their bicycles, preparing for what appeared to be a long ride. So, I asked the question...What are you guys doing? They explained that they were about to hit the road, on their bicycles, to ride to Galveston. WHAT????

The Vision: two brothers want to accomplish a great feat.

The Plan: Ride approximately 100 per day. Each night, they will stop and camp, or stay with a friend. Maps were created to keep them off of dangerous highways and to map out where they would stay the night.

The Execution: They hit the road, worked their plan, and updated their supporters via facebook and twitter along the way.

The Reflection: I am not sure if these guys have spent anytime reflecting yet (believe me - I will ask), but I have spent some time thinking about the process.

These guys created a lofty goal (their vision), and had the ability to make it a reality.

In life, we all have (or should have) a vision of where we want ot go. maybe it is Galveston on our bikes, or maybe it is a job that we would like to have. The issue is that we don't formulate good plans. We find lots of excuses. Comfort Zones, Finances, Kids, Family, Fear of Risk, etc.

So, how do we overcome? How do we simply hop on our bike?