View success as a process. The end game is not everything.
As we hit the New Year I can already feel it, people starting to scurry around like little Flintstones characters, our feet barely touching the ground. Can you hear that Flintstones ‘go fast’ music?. My clients are excitedly setting huge objectives, talking about their vision for 2020, what career goal they must hit. That’s a lot of pressure and the year has barely started.
And what if this new 2020 doesn’t unfold exactly as you want or expect it to? Do you have a back up plan, or three? Back up plans are not cop-outs or second choices; they are alternate ways of achieving a goal.
I’m glad my clients are attacking the year with gusto and I don’t want to be a handbrake, and here’s the but… just focusing on that end goal or that huge vision is only part of process of success.
There is one thing I can guarantee; the journey you are about to undertake will not go exactly as you think it will, well, for most of us anyway.
Saving the joy until you reach it, well, that means you are going to miss out on a hell of lot of good stuff along the way.
Most industries fluctuate, one minute there are very few opportunities then a flood of them. If we base our feelings of success or progression or even our self worth, on external factors (what those employers are doing) then each of us it giving over our ability to feel in control and therefore happy or purposeful to external factors.
One way to counter this or manage this is to retain a sense of control by measuring and celebrating completed short-term tasks rather than far away goals. This can help prevent the feeling that we are in a holding pattern, until a certain thing occurs.
Having strategies, or little reminders that prompt us to be more ‘in the moment’ and to ‘act now with what we have’, always help me to make the most of the single day that is in front of me. The feel good takeaway, a consistent sense of accomplishment by celebrating small objectives rather than sitting in that holding pattern waiting for the big payload.
Yeah, I still get stuck at times, I’m only human, but I have a few tools that help remind me to get off my butt and change one thing, or do one new thing that I will be proud of today. Today being the operative word.
1. Celebrate progress rather than getting it perfect.
Striving for perfection can take you into an over analytical tail spin. If you are moving forward, celebrate that. I just launched a new personal author website, I did it myself, chuffed! But I launched it before it was perfect because I realised, I could be making improvements forever. Just get it out there.
2. View fear as a friend.
Be afraid and do it anyway is a fave saying of mine. Fear is a driver, it says you are pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and that can lead to a whole load of new experiences and opportunities. If my clients don’t have a sense of fear or feel nervous heading into an airline interview, well, they may not want it enough. Wouldn’t it be great if we reframed how we feel about fear, instead of apprehension, the very next thought is - cool… I’m about to experience something new.
3. Measure the heck out of everything
We all know what they are - right? A checklist is a measuring tool, as you mark it off you see what you have completed, and your brain says, now I am confident to move to something else. Dr. Gail Matthews conducted a study illustrating that we are 42% more likely to achieve goals if we write them down. And I am adding, cross them off to create that sense of achievement.
The year has just begun and the answers, aspirations and projects will come as long as you get started. Celebrate something each day and make small changes that propel your towards your purpose.
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