I moved to California (USA) in January 2013, and I started going to a nearby catholic church on Sundays. On March 10th, right after the 9am mass, I learned that there was a Lenten mission from Monday to Wednesday at the church. The Lenten mission consisted of a one-hour session each day where Father Franklin would talk about FAITH: Find Answers In The Heart.

Father Franklin challenged us each day to describe what we learned in 6 words. Here’s how I describe what I learned after all three sessions: Vision, Action, Transformation, Faith, Courage, Success.

A vision with no action is a dream. This is nothing new. We have heard this so many times before. However, it is so powerful, specially when you apply it to your daily living. How many of us have a “bucket list”? I do. I want to build a huge research center where several scientists continue to find a cure to different diseases and other professionals are taking all the necessary steps to ensure a free distribution of the cure to people in need. I want to work on a few infrastructure projects in Haiti. I want to be in a movie with Denzel Washington. I want to go to Italy and speak Italian and wear a suit better than Jay-Z (this guy just knows how to wear a suit!). I want to play tennis with Sloane Stephens. I want to travel the world and eat all kinds of food. I have a long and interesting bucket list, and if you would like to share yours with me, please email me. I would love to know more about you. How many of us have a list of things we want to experience this year? We all do, right? I want to get closer to God. I want to see my brother and my new sister-in-law saying “I do” with a big smile on their face. I want to help my coworkers succeed in their roles. I want to write a text where I share my thoughts with high school students, college students, and young professionals. I want to play tennis at least twice a week. I want to learn Spanish. Again, I have a long list and if you would like to share your goals for this year, email me. Now how many of us are taking actions towards achieving our goals? I may think I am, but it’s not enough. There’s room for major improvement.

A vision with no action is a dream. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming. We all have dreams, and we all dream about different things. According to what I learned during that Lenten mission, one of the main reasons why all of us do not live our dreams is because we fail to take actions that can make our dreams become reality. Of course it’s not that simple; taking actions does not necessarily lead to achievements. But if I want to get closer to God, I have to start getting to know Him better. If I want to go to my brother’s wedding, I have to start planning the trip. If I want to help my coworkers succeed in their roles, I have to start developing my own skills and succeed in my own role. If I want to write that text and share my thoughts with others, I have to … well … start writing! If I want to play tennis at least twice a week, I have to start playing once a week (I am so failing on this one…had a great start though). If I want to learn how to speak Spanish, I have to start practicing and use different resources. I have the push-to-start button in my car, and my car won’t go anywhere until I push that button, right? So just like my car, I have to push that start button if I want to get to my destination.

And Yes it’s true; not all of us live up to our dreams, but MANY of us do. This is why I have been spending a lot of time questioning, observing, reading and watching videos about other people to know more about them and to learn how they were able to match their actions with their visions. I strongly believe in inspiration from others and I love success stories. There are great men and women in this world who are considered to be inspiring ambassadors, and they don’t have to be strangers or celebrities. In the past few months, some of my female friends to whom I’ve been a complete a*** have taught me so much about me and have inspired me to become the best version of myself. I’m not there yet though; I’m still learning, and I have so much more to learn. I have to take more actions and find more inspiration to fuel these actions. While seeking inspiration, I’m discovering my weaknesses and my strengths, and I’m slowly matching my actions with my goals for this year.

When your actions start to be in line with your vision, you go through many and different processes of transformation. Based on my personal experience, I believe that transformations help you on three main levels. They help you identify your weaknesses and your strengths. They also help you feel good about yourself, because your transformations are results of your actions; your self-confidence increases and you naturally want to achieve more. Then you realize that to achieve great things for yourself or for others, you must take one or several leaps of faith.One of the most common transformations that occur when you start taking actions is the one that takes you from the I-know-all-about-this person to the I-have-so-much-to-learn-about-this person. Sometimes I feel like the most ignorant person on earth, and I’m glad! I’m glad because, when this happens, it means that I was still living in my own world but now I’m starting to walk towards reality land. The more I walk towards reality land, the more I understand what it really takes to achieve a goal: all the different steps, the risks involved, the major players, and more importantly the right attitude – the way to think and feel. Have you ever heard of the saying “change your thoughts, change your life”? Well whoever said this first is a hero. I have been finding this statement to be so true in my personal life on many occasions, and it makes me smile. I smile because I’m proud of myself, proud of the person I’m becoming, proud of the fact that I decided to take some actions. I become more confident, and I naturally want to achieve more, but just when I thought I figured it all out, I realize that to move forward I have to face a lot of fears and uncertainties – things that I can’t control. Therefore, I start looking for solutions, and I even try to control the things that I can’t control; lol … fool! And sometimes, I hear my heart screaming: “Olivier, Olivier, Olivier…the answers you are looking for are right in here. I’ve been trying to tell you for so long. I even tried to tell you even before you made the decision to take actions.” That moment is the moment when the light bulb turns on in your brain, and the light is so intense that it shines through your heart and dissipates the darkness caused by the outside world. Suddenly, your heart becomes a book of answers that you are able to read because of that light. The answers provided by your heart on how to deal with fears and uncertainties revolve around the necessity to take leaps of faith. I took a leap of faith when I decided to move to California; no family members, no friends, no idea if I would like it, no clue about my success at work, etc. The same goes for my goals this year; they all come with their uncertainties. I chose to get closer to God, but I can’t control how this is going to happen. I may book my flight to my brother’s wedding, but who knows what’s going to happen to me between now and the wedding date? I want to help my coworkers, but I can’t control how they interact with me. I started writing that text to share my thoughts with high school and college students, but I have NO IDEA how they will react…So when I take a leap of faith and pursue my goals, it gives me courage to deal with uncertainties and all other forces that are acting against me.Unfortunately, the light that I mentioned above is not always turned on. I’m still trying to find my switch so I can willingly turn it on and keep it that way, because when the light does not come on, I give in to my fears. I find excuses to quit. I run away like the biggest coward. When that light is on, I am able to find answers in my heart, and everything I do from this point on comes from that sacred place. I don’t always get what I want, even when I do what my heart tells me to do. But the clarity of what I need to do gives me courage (Wangari Maathai): the courage to work hard and work harder when there are no evident results, the courage to step out of my comfort zone and challenge myself to do things differently and things I’ve never done before, the courage to admit my flaws and mistakes, learn from them, and move on, the courage that I need to succeed.OC

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