Many people don’t reach their full potential. You can be good at setting goals, be talented, innovative, organised, creative, a problem solver, a doer, conscientious, dependable and committed and still not be successful. Why?
Scenario
Its 7.30 am. You’re leaving the house. Things are out of control! There’s a list in your head, but you’re still rushing around. You’re stressed! The dog makes you skid across the floor as you balance 10 things in your hands. You spot a forgotten report in the dog’s mouth. ‘Fetch the bone is super fun,’ says his wagging tail. Grunts, wails and screams, now the only language your adorable, crazy, creative Superhero kids can manage. They ‘snail along’ as you pleadingly hurry them along. ‘Patience, patience,’ the thought loops around, and around. Stress, stress, stress! And you, – you’re about to explode! A slow-motion chaos descending, about to swallow effort and everything.
It’s simple to change. Here are THREE things you can focus on to change your habits and achieve your goals, starting today.
- Persist V Procrastinate
Will Smith Says: “The first step is to say you can.”It can be easy to get distracted by what others are doing – persist in your goal. Keep moving forward, focus on one small step at a time. Focus on yourself and what you are doing. Don’t procrastinate – keep going forward even if it’s very slowly, one action after the other – focus on your inner self and your goal. Don’t stop.Don’t worry about what others are doing. Turn inward and find your deep strength and determination to keep focused. We all have dormant inner strength, find it and use it positively. Be honest with yourself.
- Analyse Before You Rationalise Past MistakesMargie Warrell said: “You don’t succeed by avoiding failure. You succeed by trying and making mistakes, learning and starting over.”
We know successful entrepreneurs and innovators fail fearlessly, many times before succeeding. When they succeed, it was by learning from their mistakes, pressing on through failure, persisting, being self-disciplined, and making adjustments, until they succeeded.
When we rationalise, we’re just making excuses. We all know excuses are defences for poor behaviour. Learn from past mistakes. Analyse by looking at what you did, what happened and see what can be tweaked.
Remember small, tweaks, small steps, make new habits a long-lasting transformation.
- Discipline V MotivationStephen Covey said: “Self-discipline is a muscle that gets stronger the more you flex it.”
Discipline and motivation are different. Motivation is important. Often, though we run out of it when we need it most because, just like will power, it tends to get depleted. Self-discipline is a staying power we can fall back on when exhaustion, fear and doubts drain our motivation and will power. Motivation tends to come more from emotion/mood; it’s influenced by context too. Motivation can work hand in hand with self-discipline. By developing our self-discipline, we can kick ourselves back into gear. Being persistent helps develop self-discipline.
Perfection is not self-discipline. Perfection becomes more important when you’re a ‘Master,’ meanwhile give it your ‘best go, right now’
A Habit to Change: Get up 10 minutes earlier, give yourself some breathing space – get to work cooler and calmer – – [BUT you procrastinate, … you’re so tired, … you like your bed, … extra time in the shower, …?] No!
You CAN change your habits within months, to fit new realities. It’s relatively easy. You can do it. Make it stick – Persist, Analyse, be Disciplined.
Luciana Niven runs development programs for leaders to assess, build and measure resilience.
Luciana brings dedication, breadth and depth of experience to individuals and any strategic operations team, gained in a variety of senior positions,in internal and external global consultancies. She has a wealth of experience and knowledge in Coaching and Mentoring, HR Facilitation, Learning and Development and Change Management. Building on this she designs ‘exclusively small group’ retreats in global locations that focus and support leaders, and individuals to direct and develop their own potential, with space and time to ‘think,’ be coached and mentored over a week. You can contact Luciana for a chat and more information, click here:luciana@ldnivenconsulting.com