Progress Archives - Page 49 of 50

You Can Turn This Around

Posted on February 17, 2020

It’s not hopeless. It doesn’t need to be forever. There are always options. Good ones even. You can re-build or re-start from scratch. There’s a lot of awesome out there!

First you need to want something different. Ideally you can picture it in your mind, feel it in your bones and then describe it on paper. If you can’t find the time, or make the effort, to write it down, in a few bullet points, consider re-assessing if it is simply a wish rather than a goal.

If you’ve done the writing and are ready to go, then make a short little plan including the very next three simple steps you think you need to take to inch yourself closer to that goal. Call someone. Find an answer. Buy or borrow a book about it. It will then seem a little easier and you’ll feel like you’re on your way. Because technically, you are! (Cue the Quote: A journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step…)

Do these three steps as quick as you can. Do one now. Then the other two. You will feel good for starting.

You don’t have to do these steps and you don’t have to change anything. But if you want to change something, you really should get on with it: the clock’s ticking. If you don’t have anything in your life you would like to change or improve, you may now return to your regularly scheduled programming…

Action Goals, Results & New Thinking

Take Control

Posted on February 15, 2020

There is a mess in your life somewhere. You need to own it. You need to take control of it. Look it straight in the eye and say, “I am sorting you out today!”. Then go ahead and do it.

There is huge power and energy in deciding you will take control and make something happen. You start getting clarity. You Even want to move forward more quickly.

Find something today that you have been avoiding, putting off, procrastinating with, and then take control of it. Sort it out. Wrestle with it. Stick with it. Put a quick plan together to tackle it. Then execute on that plan. Get started.

Allow yourself that feeling of being in control. In command. Directing the outcome. Pushing things forward. You will stop making reasons and start making results. You will feel exhilarated. Confident. Ready.

You will make it happen. Take Control.

Action Goals, Results & New Thinking Observe Progress Think About It

Use The Feedback

Posted on February 14, 2020

Great, positive feedback is what the majority of people would like to get. It feels good and it’s energising. One great piece of feedback, or good feedback from the right person, at the right time, can keep me motivated for days or weeks.

Improvement feedback can be harder to take. It doesn’t have to be harder to take, but in general, a lot of people will have some challenges with constructive feedback, never mind factual or negative feedback too.

Since starting this blog, I have had a good deal of feedback. Some really good and positive feedback, while others have given good insights into ways I could improve the site or content. I have found both to be very useful and I have been delighted each time that someone has taken the time out of their day to think about the item, write down that feedback and send it to me.

The real key to feedback is not how it makes you feel in the moment. Although that can be helpful, and is important, what you need to do is reflect on it and use the feedback. That is the real key.

Use the positive feedback to encourage you to keep going. Maybe even create a notebook, journal or notes page in your phone, to capture all the good feedback. Then it is there for you when you need a little motivation or want to get smiling again. I have some from many years ago. It really makes a great impact each time I see it.

With growth or improvement feedback, you should consider it, assess whether it has some element of truth (whether you want to face that truth or not), and if it does, look at how you can start using the feedback and incorporating into your life. People are trying to help you, for free, so that you can improve and do better socially, financially, health-wise or whatever the topic is. People’s intent is usually good. But even if it isn’t, you can still use their insight and comments to help you improve and grow.

I’ve been using the feedback I’ve been getting for this blog and hopefully people are seeing the result of that. And what can’t be seen yet, I’m at least working on behind the scenes.

Always thank the person giving the feedback, whether you like it, or not.

Today, try to give at least one person some useful and actionable feedback. Also, listen for, or ask for, feedback from others for you to use. Write it down. Thank them. Use it! You will grow much faster, improve yourself quicker and see the benefits of that growth realised much sooner (in health, wealth, relationships, career, etc.).

Use the feedback.

Action Goals, Results & New Thinking Progress

Puzzled?

Posted on February 11, 2020

If I can’t figure something out, I might say I’m puzzled. This puzzled feeling has a tendency to occur more often when the outcome I want seems either, far away from my reach, quite difficult or very important to me.

The key to unlocking the puzzled feeling is to use the idea of a puzzle ?.

When you look at a puzzle, whether it is a small 10 piece puzzle or a larger 1,000 piece puzzle, how do you start?

Most people start by taking the first step. You wouldn’t think you could solve it in one step, but you could make progress. Take one step. Pick up a piece. Place it somewhere. Group items that seem similar. Turn a piece 90 degrees. Or more. Get it wrong. Get it right. Try other pieces. Put together separate sections as they become more obvious. Add the separate sections to the main puzzle.

It usually takes longer to place each piece at the beginning of the task, but you can often move a little faster as you gather some early wins and get some momentum as you see things starting to come together. Then we tend to reach a tipping point. You can go quicker and quicker because you’ll have seen each piece that remains more than once and also seen the places they could go more than once. Familiarity has a calming effect and helps make quicker decisions.

Then the magic happens as you race through the last pieces with excitement, anticipation and pride of achievement. Seeing it all coming together, you finish it.

Done ✅

This is how you achieve anything that you want to do in life. It’s all the same. Only the (project) names will change.

When puzzled, procrastinating or panicked, use the puzzle process.

Action Progress Reframe your thoughts

Positive And Enthusiastic

Posted on February 8, 2020

“Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

I have loved this quote since I first read it in my early 20’s.

It really struck me as a great philosophy for life and really aligned with how I tried to be. I think about it frequently and try to live this way daily. Some days to a greater degree than others.

A person could say that life has so many challenges and hardships that it would be hard to be positive and enthusiastic. This would ring true if you looked at life from that perspective. Believing you will encounter countless difficult situations in life, however, is all the more reason to be positive and enthusiastic now.

Reasons to be positive and enthusiastic:

Firstly, to keep your own spirits up in the face of challenges and hardships. Secondly, when you appreciate the trillions to one odds of being born. Thirdly, to be a role model to your children, family and friends. Finally, to help lift people up that are going through tough challenges and hardships at this time.

Imagine a world where most people were trying to become the most positive and enthusiastic person they knew. What might that feel like?

If you would like to be a little more positive and enthusiastic, print out, or write out this quote a few times and put it somewhere you will see it throughout your day. You could place this on your dresser, bathroom mirror, dashboard of the car or on your desk where you work. Hopefully it will make you smile each time you see it or think of it. I certainly do.

Then you just need to practice being positive and enthusiastic. Say and do things that will add positively to your relationships today. Say and do things that demonstrate your enthusiasm for your situation and the people around you. It can be a lot of fun, if you let it.

Enjoy!

Observe Progress Reframe your thoughts Think About It

Judging Me Too

Posted on February 6, 2020

A build on yesterday’s post about judging. The opening line was, “It’s something most people do to others”. I should have added, “and ourselves too.” because we know we are frequently our own harshest critic. We take the worst comments people have said about us and absorb those as reality rather than dismissing them as the outliers that they really are.

Use the bell curve, for all comments, to asses where on that spectrum you might realistically be and hold that as your minimum truth. Your mother might think you are amazing so that is an outlier at the one end of the spectrum and your worst critic might say the harshest things, creating an outlier at the other end of the spectrum. Then most of the other people are generally in the middle. Use their commentary on you: Not the worst critic.

Criticising is similar to assessing, though they tend to be the negative and positive word for the action. Then you judge and lock in a conclusion. So be super careful which area on the spectrum you lock in your own judgement. This is not a time to be self-deprecating or shy or to play down anything. This is you, talking to you, and about to pass judgement on yourself. You’ve heard from the various witnesses and you’ve weighed up their comments, within the context they were given, and now it is your turn to assess whether you lock away your potential for a lifetime sentence or if you can see the greatness in you, beyond a reasonable doubt.

If your past has not been well constructed, in the context of all people that have ever lived (not just the saints), then you can start again with a restart. If it has been fairly normal with a mix of good and less than great, you can make things better from this moment. But give yourself a break today. Judge the Whole You, over your lifetime, and not just a few silly mistakes.

You deserve the best mind coach in the world. Start with the one inside you already.

Progress Reframe your thoughts

Restarts

Posted on February 3, 2020

Sometimes we drop the ball. It happens to everyone. We’re going along nicely with our skill or habit and then boom, we lose it. People always fall off course, either from something they do themselves or because of some event that affects them.

The secret is in quickly restarting. Don’t wait a day or two until you feel like restarting or trying again. Don’t let the pressure or guilt get to you.

When you fall off a bike, you get back on it quickly and try again. Same with diets. If you have something to eat that wasn’t going to help you reach your ultimate goal, don’t say, “I’ll start next week”. Or tomorrow. Say, I made a mistake but my goal is important and I am getting back on track right now,

James Clear, author of the NYT bestselling book Atomic Habits, says it quite simply, “Never miss twice”. So you can miss a habit once and that’s just life. But if you miss twice, you’re actually starting a new habit. And it doesn’t sound like a good habit either.

I’ve talked about getting started with Start Me Up, being clear on The Finish Line, and now how to Restart. These are three cornerstone components to building great habits.

Remember, never miss twice, and restart immediately.

Progress Think About It

The Finish Line

Posted on February 2, 2020

Where is the finish line? For many things, it’s hard to tell where the finish line is. If you were running in an athletics event on a track, you would know where the finish line was. This is important. Knowing where you must push hard to, before you can rest, is usually critical in getting the best result.

In athletics, I was taught to run through the finish line. It was suggested that I run an extra meter or two so I didn’t let up at the line and allow someone to pass me by a nose.

Life’s like this too. You should make sure you know where the finish line is: precisely. Then you need to go really hard at it and run through it.

Without a finish line, you could find yourself going around and around (like on a track) and not ever feeling finished. This can become disheartening.

With a finish line, you know exactly what you need to cover (100m, 200m, 3,000m, etc.). Like in athletics, you should be clear with your activity and what you must complete to cross the finish line.

When you cross the finish line, celebrate!

Life is a series of 100 meter sprints which, when combined, are the distance of a marathon (or ultra marathon). Remember to celebrate completing each one, not just the very last one.

Action Progress Think About It

Start Me Up

Posted on February 1, 2020

The first step often can feel like a giant leap for mankind: Too big. Getting started can be such a challenge. And yet, it is instrumental in getting to the second step and then ultimately success.

There are different ways to get started. You can countdown if you are NASA or Mel Robbins – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… You can put it in your calendar and block a specific time on an exact date. This is described as the Seven Day Success Cycle in my video “ETRR 13” on the Videos page of this blog site. There are other ways too.

Whichever method you use to get started, remember that your environment should help support you. If you go for a run in the morning, make sure your clothes are out and ready and your shoes are at the door before you go to bed. Any other items you need for the run should also be set out neatly the night before. Set up your environment for absolute success while the intentions are high. Do not wait to see how you feel in the morning, you’ll rarely feel like it.

Once you’ve taken that first step, be sure to celebrate. This is the hardest step so it deserves the most celebrating. Every time you start something new or start on the next step, give yourself a well-deserved pat on the back. Well done.

Now Get Started! With a little momentum you’ll start to feel unstoppable: Like a rolling stone.

Goals, Results & New Thinking Reframe your thoughts Time

New Beginnings

Posted on January 31, 2020

Setting off in a new direction can be both exciting and intimidating. The future could bring untold opportunity or challenges.

Regardless of what is to come, or how the change has come about, or whether you wanted the change or not, the best thing you can do is to take a deep breath, stand tall, smile and go forward, with an open mind and the confidence that things tend to work out well for those looking for things to work out well.

We can focus on the past, the “what could have been’s“, the plans you had, etc., but that is over now and new paths are to be forged. Allow yourself 5 minutes to mourn your loss, and not more, because every minute of life is too precious to dwell on unavailable paths.