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.
In all things, be mindful of moderation. Exercise, food, entertainment time, alcohol, caffeine, spending and work are all optimally experienced in moderation.
Sometimes we go overboard. It happens. But we can learn to moderate ourselves. At Christmas, enjoy a few snacks, one plate of food and two or three drinks over the day. More than this might have you feeling bloated, anxious or unwell. In addition, you not be pleased with your progress on longer term goals if you’re setting yourself back a little.
By all means, have fun and enjoy. Just see if your enjoyment can be maximised within a comfortable boundary.
The next two weeks will be challenging on so many fronts. Moderation is key to making the best of the holiday season.
I now appreciate The Flu far more than I used to. It was simple. People who were concerned about its effects would get a vaccine. Everyone else went about their business.
Each flu season there was a different variant that the scientists tried to predict and then create a vaccine to best combat it.
We didn’t name the different variants. It was generic. We called the winter months cold & flu season. People felt unwell, to varying degrees, for a few days or a couple of weeks, generally, and that was it.
No daily count of those vaccinated, infected, hospitalised or dead. Rare, if any, government briefings. Few people feared the flu. We certainly didn’t test daily to see if we might have it.
Going to restaurants and pubs and concerts was a thing. There was international travel! And you weren’t fired because you didn’t get the jab. Actually, most people didn’t get the vaccine. And no one else noticed or asked. You certainly weren’t ostracised or fired.
Sometimes we don’t know how lucky we are until the time has passed. The flu was an occasional inconvenience for most people pre-2020.
Now we might need boosters every 6 months for the rest of our lives. Masks will be worn indoors on and off forever too. Get used to school closures and online learning every 3-6 months. And lockdowns will be brought out for a month or two every year or the self-imposed ones might suffice.
The hospitality industry will never be the same. Nor will the joy of travel.
At what point will certain people, politicians and media be ready to start calling this The Flu and get back to some normalcy. Or are the last 21 months a glimpse of how the next 50+ years will be?
An essential part of life is enjoying it. And you can create a lot of momentum if you celebrate little and large wins. So make sure you book in little celebrations after every milestone.
Celebrations can be in the form of high fives, fist pumps, a little dance, or a favourite food or drink. For slightly larger wins, book a walk, lunch or dinner. Big wins might attract bigger events like a cruise, vacation, weekend away or special purchase. It might even be as simple as spending special time with someone you have had to miss seeing while you have been achieving your goals.
This is easy to overlook or see as being just silly or frivolous. But it will make your life more joy-filled. Don’t always wait for just the big win at the end of the year or decade. Some people wait their whole life before they can smile and truly enjoy where they are and the success they’ve been creating. My suggestion though is to not wait.
Celebrate, proportionally, as much as you can! It feels good and is quite motivational. It also reinvigorates you.
Celebrate is step seven in my forthcoming book – Achieve Anything – The 7 Simple Steps to Shift from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable. Be sure you include frequent, but proportional, celebrations for every perceived win. Mix it up. Do some free and paid-for ones. You will be so grateful you did this step a lot. It really makes your life more enjoyable. Build your confidence and happy factor. Celebrate your wins!!!
‘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.
It’s one thing to think about things. It’s another level to be writing down your thoughts. It is too easy to forget key pieces of information by the next day or a week later.
Writing things down helps you to clarify our thoughts. It also reinforces your thoughts. And it gives you a record of your ideas to look back on.
Scribble down some notes, make some drawings or type things into Notes on your phone. Do whatever you need to do to capture the information you have thought about.
This is a great process to help move you from uncertainty, with ideas all floating in your head, towards developing a plan. Write your ideas down. You’ll be more contented and confident if you do. It’s one more step from Uncomfortable to Unstoppable.
For example, let’s say you want to rent out your house for two years so you can spend the next two years renting a beach side apartment in the Bahamas or Aruba. Write down the rental income, the costs of living in the Bahamas and all the other challenges you’ll need to overcome (parent care, kids, business, flights, food, guilt and time organising it). Get all your thoughts down in one spot to consider all the points. This will be great progress.
Write is step three 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 turning your thoughts into tangible points.
You are either already uncomfortable with the way things are or it makes you uncomfortable thinking about writing everything down. You might feel exposed. You may realise the excuses you’ve been giving are flimsy and based primarily on fear or uncertainty. Write your ideas down. Get greater clarity. Organise your thoughts. Take action.
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.
Seriously. Actually thinking. Not remembering. Not reacting. Try thinking about your thoughts, beliefs and values. Think about your philosophical and political views. You should even think about your habits.
What habits do you have? Why do you have them? What did you have for breakfast this morning? Why?
When someone engages with you, really think about what they are saying and why they might be saying it. Become more curious. Get off auto-pilot. It’s harder than you think at first, if you’re really trying. But it does get easier. Try thinking.
Think is the first step of seven in my upcoming book, Achieve Anything. I’m happy to say the book was sent to the printers earlier this week and pre-ordering should be starting soon. Stay tuned!
