Final week to get things ready for Christmas and the four day weekend. Get things tidied up Sunday latest Monday. Double check you’ve got it all done. Done the shopping, booking, preparing and maybe even the wrapping and any final cards.
Accept whatever isn’t done and enjoy all that has been.
‘Are we there yet?’ Clearly wanting to know how far from the finish we are is a natural desire. ?
If you’ve ever had a long journey with kids in the car, you’ll know the phrase I am referring to. But adults want to know to. They check maps, or their satnav, to see if they are ‘making good time’ and where the next rest station is.
Employers want to see ‘progress reports.’ Athletes need to track their gains and PBs. We all want to be a little better or further along with something at sometime in our lives.
It’s easier to review your progress if you have a plan to track against. Then you can course-correct if need be because you’ll know when you are a little off course. Tracking your progress allows you to see your plan unfold. And, spoiler alert, you’ll also know when to celebrate as you reach milestones.
This may be the most skipped step in the 7 step process. People are averse to tracking and reviewing. There are a variety of reasons for this. But the impact is that they usually make less progress. Often this occurs because they don’t know the progress exists so they give up too early and throw out the plan. If only they doubled down their discipline and tracked their progress and reviewed their plan daily. There would be a lot more achievements in this world!!
Review is step six in my forthcoming book – Achieve Anything – The 7 Simple Steps to Shift from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable. Be sure you include a daily review element to your plan to greatly increase your chance of success. Review your progress!
PS. On Tuesday, I received the Advance Copy of the paperback!!! Looking great! Amazing to have it in my hands. A couple of tiny tweaks is all it needs. Hopefully the hardback will look equally fantastic when I receive it later this week!
You can live in your head. But not for long. Physical requirements like food and water require some sort of action. Most other achievements need action as well. You can’t simply think, hope, wonder or wish yourself into a better life.
Having a positive mindset and doing visualisation both have their place in your success toolkit. However, taking positive action steps does become critical to achieve most outcomes.
Working from your written plan, you can create some actionable next steps to further move toward your goal. It may mean searching for something on the internet, making a phone call, meeting someone or sending an email. Whatever is the next step, get going. Your actions peak louder than words. And they are the backbone to your future lifestyle.
Act is step five in my forthcoming book – Achieve Anything – The 7 Simple Steps to Shift from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable. Taking action can be uncomfortable. Sometimes we are shy, concerned about rejection or just aren’t clear what we are supposed to do next. This is all natural. Rehearsing the step can help. Though sometimes it‘s better to dive in and see where things go. With a well thought out plan, acting on it is like pressing the accelerator. You’re going to Go, Go, Go, there’s no stopping you.
PS. On Monday, I had news from the publishing house that the paperback copies have been printed and are in ‘shipping’ status. Exciting!
It can be a simple plan of a few lines or a more involved plan of 20 pages or more. It depends on what you are trying to achieve.
Regardless, take the notes you’ve written down and start to coordinate them into a plan. You will need a start and a finish date and time. Some first steps. A desired outcome. Milestones are also helpful. And a few moments to breathe, pause, reflect and celebrate.
Like going on a road trip or a vacation, it’s beneficial to have a plan. That does include a budget too! Now you don’t have to have a plan. But that may have led you to where you are today. And unless you are 100% pleased with all of your life’s details at this time, then take my advice on the plan.
Planning itself helps to bring clarity to your thoughts, vision, process and steps. You don’t have to get it right but the process will help you enlighten yourself. There is an element of thinking on paper. Yes, it can feel like work but it doesn’t have to. If it does, put your head down and push through. This essential step towards success should not be overlooked or avoided.
Plan is step four in my upcoming book – Achieve Anything – The 7 Simple Steps to Shift from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable. Making a plan can make people ill at ease or uncomfortable. It’s not just the effort of creating it but the concern or fear of not being able to achieve the desired outcome. Planning makes things real. And real life and effort has real consequences. But if you draft a plan and build on it weekly, you’ll be on your way to unstoppable.
Everyone has obstacles to overcome. Some may seem harder for you then their’s seem for them. But how would we really know? Maybe you handle obstacles better than they do so yours seem easier or harder.
If you’ve done some thinking, you know there are obstacles in your way, before you even start. You need to honestly acknowledge those obstacles in your way, consider your options and make a plan to get beyond them.
Mostly, your obstacles will be thoughts in your head rather than physical obstacles. You might think that the issue is with some one or some thing, but it usually just needs a little more of your thinking (see yesterday’s blog).
At least write out your obstacles, even if you can’t fix them right away. If you know what they are, you can arrange things so they do not impede your progress much.
Overcome is step two in my upcoming book – Achieve Anything – The 7 Simple Steps to Shift from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable. A big part of shifting from where you are to where you want to be is getting past being uncomfortable. You either are already uncomfortable with the way things are or it makes you uncomfortable trying to overcome your issues and move forward. It’s ok. Let’s take this step forward together.
Sometimes our day doesn’t go how we want it to. It could be something we did or didn’t do. Or, it could be something that others have done or not done. It can even just be down to nature or circumstance. There are countless reasons why your day may not have gone as well as you would have liked.
Regardless of why it didn’t go well, things will get better tomorrow. The immediate impact can feel uncomfortable or even devastating. But hang in there. Time is an incredible thing that allows us to heal. Training the mind to have hope and look forward to brighter days is also very powerful.
Don’t dismay. You are stronger than you think you are. Recognise the hurt or the pain. But also know that pushing through will be the best thing you could ever do. You will be stronger and more experienced. You will rebuild and things will go amazingly well. Have faith. Have hope. Rest for a moment, or a day, and then get back on your path to a better life.
I’m cheering for you!
Find people who do what you want to do. Also, speak to people who have a similar philosophy. Find clubs, groups, associations, etc. that do the type of thing you do. Learn from these people. Do business with them too. Reach out and meet others. Make connections. Watch your life blossom and flourish.
You’ll find a way to mess it up. You don’t have to mess it up, but that does seem to be what many people do.
With ease comes complacency. Then you can fall behind the pack. After that it seems easier to play it cool then to try hard to catch back up. Then the seeds of self-destruction are being sown. You shrug it off and say you don’t care, when inside it is eating at you every minute. Envy, jealousy and hate become commonplace in your mind.
To turn that around you need gratitude. Appreciate all the little and large things in your life. Write it out. Don’t just think about it. Write out, ‘I am grateful for….’ It could be ‘I am grateful for my health, heat in my home, food on my table and a comfortable place to sleep.’
If life is too easy, we don’t appreciate it. There was no struggle. We want to prove we had to struggle so we create some drama. There is no need to do that. There is enough you are already struggling with unless you have the body, finances, relationship, education and career you always wanted. If not, get committed and be disciplined every day until those things are 100% how you want them. Until then, be grateful for every moment of being alive and being able to work toward your dreams.
When trying to get somewhere, it’s ideal to take the best route. But we don’t always know the best route until we’ve started and sometimes not until we’ve finished.
The most important part is to get started. Once you are thinking about your journey and writing down options, you will be more likely to discover the best route.
Don’t just age. Progress. Improve. Learn. Apply. Achieve. Start now. Think. Act. The time will pass anyway. May as well get producing in the meantime. Don’t just age. Age with progress.
