Do you want to know a secret? I could let you in on
something that could literally guarantee your success in achieving your
goals. It's a secret not too many people fully comprehend but it
ultimately controls how successful you will be in attaining your
outcome.
In this era of speed and quick fixes, many people want
to know if there are any shortcuts that will help them succeed. Quite
frankly, for most of us the journey toward reaching our goals will take
valuable hard work, persistence, and determination. The experiences you
have along your journey illuminate the very qualities of
self-leadership, self-love, and self-empowerment that you were looking
for to bring meaning and value to your life meaningful.
So, while
there are no magical shortcuts, there are tried and true fundamental
ingredients required for success. Here is one success secret that can
help you on your way.
It's a biggie, so pay attention...
Believe You Can Achieve
Your ability to achieve a goal is dependent on many factors, but none of them is more important than believing you can!
Your
potential to achieve the goal you desire is unlimited. You may not yet
grasp the unbounded extent of your true ability to effect change in
your life, but that is the ultimate point of your goal. Yes, of course
you want the outcome of success. But more importantly, you want to know
on a conscious level that you have the ability to have an idea, to make
a decision about moving forward on your idea, and then actually bring
your idea into reality.
You can make your dreams real. You can manifest your choices on Earth.
When
you set a goal to overcome a difficult personal challenge, you have
just stepped into an interesting journey. You are now engaged in an
attempt to achieve something that you do not yet believe you can
accomplish. Yet here you are anyway, taking risks and moving forward on
a great adventure to determine if you can actually live life
differently, in a way that you have never done before.
We may not
be born with a nothing-can-stop-me attitude, but that is the wisdom we
gradually give to ourselves when we set forth to achieve a personal
goal.
Goals Take You Beyond Self-Doubt
Attaining your
goals is essentially a process of discovering how to erase self-doubt
and feelings of hopelessness or helplessness in regards to a specific
aspect of your life.
- Why do you want to achieve your particular goal?
- When you have the outcome you want, what strengths will you have that you didn't have before?
- How will your life feel different?
Pursuing
meaningful personal goals is how you allow yourself move you beyond
fear, uncertainty, and doubt. To illustrate my point, set a goal to
overcome one of your personal challenges. Now begin to take action on
that goal. As soon as you reach your first obstacle, you are going to
hear yourself thinking and feeling some version of, "It's no use, I
can't do it. I'm unable to move through this. Things will never change."
And
that's the big secret I'm wanting to share with you today: The purpose
of your goal is to bring you to the edge of your currently held
limitations so that you can discover if it is possible for you to
evolve beyond them.
In other words, when you set out to achieve a
goal you are supposed to run into your fears, objections, and doubt.
When you face your fears and then move forward anyway you discover you
have decision-making power. You realize you are bigger than your fear.
You gain access to inner determination, spirit, persevering, hanging in
there, and never giving up. You have assertiveness, you can make new
choices, and you can effect change in your own life.
Steps to Expand Belief
It's
easy to say, "Believe in your dreams and they will come true." But the
key to making your dreams come true is realizing that at first you have
no track history of success. You have no proof that you can imagine a
better future and then make it come true. You actually don't know that
you can do what it takes. What you do have are walls that keep you from
knowing your true potential. Realize this important secret and you will
understand that the purpose of your goal is self-discovery: who are
you, can you have what you want, and how exactly does conscious
creation work?
Through your goal you can discover that the "key
to success" exists within you. Follow these action steps and discover
new ways to tap into your inner potential and walk beyond your walls of
limitation.
1. Acknowledge Your Power of Choice
Here
is an experiment. For the next 48 hours, eliminate the words, "I have
to" from your vocabulary and substitute the words "I choose to."
Instead of saying, "I have to change my eating habits," or "I have to
tolerate my lack of joy," say, "I choose to eat healthier," or, "I
choose to explore my ability to have more joy." Feel how empowering
this simple change of words can be.
When you eliminate "I have
to" from your vocabulary, you assert control in your life and live by
choice rather than by default. You set your priorities, you are
responsible for your actions, and you have control of your destiny.
Choose to try it out for a couple of days. I can testify you will begin
to feel less helpless and more in charge of your life immediately.
2. Small Steps Equal Big Success
Begin
by finding the smallest achievable steps that will take closer toward
your goal. Why the smallest steps? Mainly because success builds on
success. If you choose actions that are too big, it's easy to become
overwhelmed. You won't follow through with the action, your motivation
deflates, and you consider giving up. Take a few minutes and list
several of the smallest steps that will move you slightly forward
towards the life you want. Find easy, "I could do this" steps. Choose
actions that are right for right now and follow through.
3. Try Even When You Still Think You Can't Do It
Take
action on your goal even when it's difficult or you don't know the
outcome. Even if you fail, there is much wisdom to learn within your
setbacks C if you can look at your disappointments without
self-criticism. Allow the satisfaction of learning through experience
to be bigger than the misery of the mistake.
4. Establish Evidence of Your Success
Praise,
praise, praise yourself at every opportunity. And celebrate. You don't
need fireworks, but do find ways to acknowledge your efforts and your
success. Place a checkmark on your calendar, gather congratulations
from your loved ones, obtain a hug from your partner, or recognize your
actions in writing. Document and celebrate every step toward your goal.
Get in the habit of acknowledging what you have done right.
Recognizing
your efforts and successes establishes a track record of achievement
and reinforces a belief in yourself. Gather proof and collect evidence
that it is indeed possible for you to have what you want. Use every
success and every effort as an excuse for feeling good in your body and
life. The better you feel, the more excited and alive you become, the
easier it is to continue moving forward on your goal.
You can
have the life that you really, really want! Set a positive destination,
make a choice to start walking, acknowledge that you will experience
fear and doubt, take action anyway, and track your successes. As you
take these specific steps, you show yourself that you do hold the key
to being the master of the rest of your life!
