By Sherry Winn

Two weeks ago a client asked me the difference between waiting and expecting. The disparity is the gap between fear and faith. Waiting represents wishing and indicates you don’t believe your request is going to happen. Expecting is acting as if you are receiving what you desire.

When you wait you are removed from action. When you expect you take action.

Imagine for a moment you want a particular job, but you don’t believe you can have it. You wait for the job to manifest but fail to take action toward getting the job. Why don’t you take the necessary actions? What belief holds you to waiting rather than acting?

A friend of mine, Maggie, decided she wanted to own her own salsa company. She knew from her experience of winning a salsa-cooking contest that her salsa was amazing. Maggie also knew if she could get her salsa in front of people they would buy it. The challenge was getting her salsa in grocery stores. Through persistence Maggie eventually convinced some of the local grocery store managers to purchase small amounts of her salsa for their stores.

This was not enough for Maggie. She wanted to sell her salsa in larger quantities. Maggie asked other food company owners how they got their product into the chain stores, and they told her it was next to impossible, and it took years of hard work.

Maggie didn’t accept their answers. She expected her dream to come true. She wrote down a list of 90 potential grocery stores and called all of them. At the end of every call, Maggie received the same answer: “No.” She looked at the list, thought about it, and started calling every store manager again. One manager asked if she could meet the next day at 8:00 a.m. Without hesitation, Maggie said she would be there. She jumped in her car and drove all night to make it to the meeting the next morning where she promptly convinced the store manager to purchase her salsa.

Maggie expected her dream to come true. She persisted with actions until her dream become a reality. The key is she did the hard work before she started making salsa. What was the hard work? Maggie worked on her faith.

So many people believe the work is done when they ask. This is the preliminary work. It is the beginning of the race. When you ask, you are at the starting line. If you remain at the starting line, you are waiting for something amazing to happen to you. What happens is you never get to the finish line, because you never ran the race.

How do you discover the faith Maggie possessed?

1.  Take responsibility for what you see in life. Interpret life as a positive experience.

2.  Choose the feelings you want to experience. Choose to feel good even when the events happening around you don’t seem to line up with what you desire.

3.  Align yourself with positive people who inspire and believe in you.

4.  Understand what you think becomes what you perceive and what you perceive is what you live.

5.  Seek books that teach abundance and worthiness.

6.  Practice the art of forgiveness. Your power is in letting go of the past and living in the present.

7.  Release self-judgment. Judgment prevents you from the vision of achievement.

8.  Tell yourself every day you are a creator and you choose to create abundance.

9.  Look for “facts,” which verify you are moving toward your desires.

10.  Affirm you were born as worthy. How could you not be worthy when you came from Source Energy who only knows worthiness?

People who wait, see signs they can’t get what they want and stop trying. People who expect their dreams to manifest move forward toward their goals. Are you going to stop at the starting line or do you have the Maggie mentality to ask and then receive by taking the necessary steps toward the finish line?

Coach Sherry Winn is an in-demand motivational speaker, a leading success coach and seminar trainer, a two-time Olympian, a national championship basketball coach, and an Amazon best-seller.

Coach Winn is the originator of the WIN Philosophy ™ and the WINNER Principles ™, and is known for her passion and belief system that ALL things are possible. You can access Sherry for coaching, training, or speaking appearances at www.coachwinnspeaks.com.