Great minds have great goals. The others make only wishes. (Washington Irving)
In my previous articles, I gave you a motivating speech.
I talked about vision, goals and actions.
In this article, I help you to take a more concrete step on the steps you can take now!
But everything always starts better with a little story 😉
Martin was a young boy who had long been passionate about insects.
A few days earlier, he had found the cocoon of a butterfly and had kept it to see it hatch.
The long awaited moment arrived.
Martin saw a breach appear on the cocoon, but the butterfly seemed to have difficulty getting out.
After a long look at the butterfly fighting against his cocoon without result, Martin thinks he could help a little.
With the tips of his fingers, he forced the cocoon and delicately enlarged the breach, which allowed the butterfly to go out.
Martin was surprised, however, to see how weak the butterfly was.
He crawled and did not spread his wings.
"It must be normal," he said to himself. But time passed and the butterfly eventually died without ever being able to fly.
The next day, Martin consulted his natural science teacher at school.
He explained that the hardness of the cocoon was the way nature used to strengthen the butterfly and allow it to fly.
Helping the butterfly out, Martin had somehow signed his death warrant.
This little story shows how much our sufferings, failures and disappointments are often what we need to know ourselves and move in the right direction.
If our life was not difficult, we would not know who we are.
It would be much harder to give us goals.
Freedom, the true, is acquired only through the pleasant sides of life, and those who are less so …
The principle of the roll
Do you agree with me that we often have a vision that we are born only to get a "roll"?
We let our failures and difficulties make us believe that we can not hope for anything.
Once a person succeeds, we criticize them and we accuse them of having acted dishonestly …
It's as if his success took away the chance to succeed in our turn.
However, nothing is more wrong !
As we have seen, we can replace this way of thinking with a vision of abundance.
We all have great potential to achieve what is important to us.
Previously, I believed that if I made a good living, I would encourage poverty.
This is a simplistic view of things, to say the least.
If they are honest, people who earn more money pay more taxes, taxes that are redistributed in part to the poorest.
On the contrary, if I do not make a lot of money, I depend more on society and I contribute less to the financing of the state through my taxes and taxes.
I do not write this to convince everyone to make more money.
I want even less to make people feel poor and to be forced to depend more on society.
They are already suffering enough like that …
I have already written on the subject and the issue of social justice is of great concern to me.
And I do not mean neoliberal political parties that lower the taxes of the rich (including large corporations) and maneuver in various ways so that the poorest always have less.
This question revolts me, but this is not the purpose of this article …
I just want to share you that Since I realized that my perception of my success directly influenced my activities and my success itself, I completely revised my goals upwards..
Of course, our goals must remain realistic, but we can get much more out of life if we decide.
Again, I'm not talking here about the realism of those who believe that everything is impossible.
Being realistic does not mean you have to stop dreaming.
What seems unrealistic today may very well seem realistic tomorrow depending on the learning you have made and the positive changes you have made to your life!
That's exactly what I lived.
Hoping more, I started to focus my actions and goals in a way that meets my new standards and I was quick to achieve results that I never thought possible before.
The power of your goals
Remember that I previously described goals as dreams with a timetable.
Our goals are fundamental for us to create a vision, a horizon of meaning that will support our life.
A very common attitude among successful people is their ability to set goals that are numerous and exciting.
When you think about your future, you help nurture the long-term vision of what you are going to create.
Your vision becomes clearer, more precise.
You know what you want to get.
One of the secrets that allows you to achieve results is to write down your goals, to dream first on paper.
You give body to your dreams.
You look them in the eyes, so to speak. They become more concrete and you can refer to them often and easily.
Whenever you read the dreams you have noted, you fill your mind with positive and motivating thoughts.
Unfortunately, many people stop there.
They just make wishes, hope and … wait.
These people will never make a positive difference in their lives because they are content with magic thinking.
To realize your dreams, you must then translate your vision into a series of specific actions that you can start as quickly as possible.
You must also be able to measure these results to make sure they take you where you want. And this step should not be considered lightly!
Indeed, very few people give themselves goals and concrete actions to achieve.
Very few people note their actions and know each day if they have moved in the direction of their dreams.
Quick access to your list of goals / dreams should help you define concrete actions and make appropriate changes to make them more efficient.
Success is not a miracle at all.
It depends on clear and realistic objectives through a vision of abundance, concrete actions and perseverance.
Remember, your past does not determine your future.
Only your present has this potential!
A strategy to get what you want
The pleasure of success is halfway to the moment you get in the habit of thinking about your future, giving yourself goals and taking action to reach them.
It has been a long time since my positive vision of the future makes me happy in achieving my goals.
Even the least interesting task becomes very motivating if you know it helps to get you closer to your goals!
I would go even further and say that I feel even happier in my work and in the hope of achieving a goal and improving my life than when I achieve this goal!
It's all about how quickly you'll increase your happiness by clarifying your vision, your goals and taking action.
You will have more happiness even before reaching your first goal.
When you work towards your success, you no longer feel like working!
No matter what you do, your actions become exciting from the moment they fit into the vision of what you want to achieve.
Here are some steps that will help you move forward a little more each day in this direction.
You can refer to the exercise that I presented to you in another article (An exercise to nourish your conviction) to follow the following steps, which complete it.
1. Choose your goals
Most people do not take the time to think about what they would like their life to look like.
They are content to follow the flow.
So, the first step is to choose what you want in each dimension of your life (career, self-esteem, relationships, health, finances, etc.)
When you make these choices, you clarify your vision and steer it in the right direction.
2. Write your goals
Once you have identified your goals, write them clearly and give yourself the opportunity to evaluate your progress.
For example, you can write "I want to quit and exercise at least 2 hours a week. "
As soon as you take the time to write your goals accurately, you give them body and you know or devote your energy.
You leave the magical thought that would passively wait for a miracle to happen.
3. Give you timelines
A goal is a dream with a timetable.
We must give ourselves, deadlines!
The more specific your goals and timelines are, the more you know where to focus your energy through concrete actions.
For example, "within six months, I will do at least one hour of exercise a week and I will smoke 10 fewer cigarettes a day."
If your goals are general, cut them into sub-goals.
You will have a schedule for each sub-goal.
So you'll know if you're moving, or not …
This strategy also has the advantage of making you forget the mountain you have to climb to succeed and help you focus on each step of the climb, one at a time.
The first thing you notice then is that you have succeeded!
4. Split the steps and determine the actions
Once you know what to do, determine the actions the most concrete possible to accomplish to achieve your goals.
Make task lists and organize them in the best possible order.
Specify the most constructive actions to be done at the beginning, in the middle and at the end.
Also identify anything that will help you get your results: people, information and past experiences, for example.
5. Take action as quickly as possible
Without action, something terrible happens: nothing.
This is the reason why you must take action as quickly as possible!
The action will motivate you and will show you that you are advancing.
People often fail because they omit this fundamental step.
They know what they want and how to get it, but do not do anything to reach it!
6. Persevere every day
You are almost there! If you have taken the previous good habits.
All you have to do is continue, persevere.
You have to work hard every day to make sure that you succeed.
Your dedication to achieving your goals will sustain your motivation, your energy, provide you with results on an ongoing basis and increase your determination to live the life you dream of.
7. Learn chess and mistakes, and correct the shot!
We'll tell you right now: nothing happens to us all cooked in the mouth.
Even if you determine your vision, your goals, the things to do and you take action every day with perseverance, you will be faced with failure.
Not very motivating what I tell you?
Well, the mandate I give myself in my blog is not to lie to you, nor to motivate you in a vacuum.
My goal is to help you succeed, really!
And the word success implies always, necessarily, absolutely, the words "failure" and error ".
Is this really a bad thing?
Think about it.
As I wrote above, the process of self-realization makes me even happier than achieving a goal.
If your vision is rich and you believe it, it will be your case too.
So if your goal is to increase your happiness and improve your life, you are certain that it will be the case if you take action to achieve your goals even if you are wrong and you fail.
Of course, by persevering and showing resilience, you will end up also to reach your goals!
But if you do not adopt from the beginning a realistic perspective that positively frames the mistakes and failures as elements that are integral to your success, you will become discouraged and return to your previous state of dissatisfaction.
That's not what you want, and that's not what I wish you!
Live goals and fresh water
When you have started applying these steps for a while, you will begin to think very often about your goals.
And this phenomenon is as normal as exciting!
If your goals often occupy your mind in a positive way, it is because you have won one of the most important parts of the process: that of meaning.
You are a little like the person who is so drunk with love who thinks of being loved!
The loved one occupies your thoughts and you will do everything to stay close to you!
The same can be true of your goals.
What helps me the most to realize me is my strength of conviction.
When I give myself a goal, I am convinced that I can achieve it if I do what is right (actions, perseverance and resilience).
I'm not stronger, smarter or better than anyone: I'm just certain that I can do it. This belief is VERY useful because it supports our efforts!
Indeed, what is the point of investing time and energy in pursuing a goal that we do not believe we can achieve?
From a practical point of view, to succeed, one must leave no room for doubt.
Yes, doubt about our methods and the means to achieve it is more than allowed, it is even recommended.
This is what helps to learn and avoid mistakes.
But doubt about the final outcome (success, goal achievement) is not welcome.
We must use this mixture of faith, conviction and naivety to motivate us, otherwise everything will be infinitely more difficult.
Carried by this "love" of your goals, you will take action every day, which will bring you closer to your success.
At that moment, you will have stopped resorting to the magic thought which made you only imagine:
- "What if it's like this? "
- "What if my life was like that? "
You will rather ask yourself: "How will I move to the next step to succeed? "
To complete the previous steps, here are some tools that will help you to stay clear of the path you have laid out for yourself.
Focus on your success and what you want to achieve
To make sure that you succeed in what you are doing, it is helpful to develop your optimism, your resilience and to strengthen the direction you have taken in the direction of your goals.
Successful people do not think about their past, let alone their bad memories!
They have the imagination riveted on their future and they taste the happiness of a present more and more satisfying.
Focusing on your goals and success makes you more efficient.
You enrich your action plans, you nuance your objectives.
You know that you are moving forward and your motivation is increasing every day.
You choose with more discernment the actions to accomplish that give you the most results.
The ability to constantly focus on the results you want to achieve increases your productivity.
To help you in this process, here are some questions you can ask yourself often:
- What makes a positive difference in my life?
- Which activities are most meaningful to me?
- What do I do that is most useful in relation to my goals, my values, my family, my work?
If it is difficult for you to answer these questions, gather more information, get to know yourself.
Ask yourself more questions that will help you to know yourself.
Remember, we realize ourselves and create a positive momentum all around us.
We do not succeed to please others or to impress them …
- Which actions make a positive difference for me (for others, etc.)?
This question is very useful because it invites you to use your time well and to make sure that your actions make sense.
You and only you can answer this question and choose the appropriate actions.
If you fail to make this concern a priority, you will not do anything useful and you will not move in the right direction.
Answering this question can do much to improve the quantity and quality of results you will get.
- What are the areas of my life in which it is most important that I get results?
Remember that your success depends primarily on your values and what you know about yourself.
What areas of your life are really what you want to become?
First of all, do you want to succeed in your career or does the family take first place?
When you have identified the most important results for your life, you can increase your standards.
High standards ensure success through rigor and professionalism.
And you must be able to measure these standards as you go.
Remember that the measurement is the map that allows you to progress in the direction you have chosen.
Without a map, you will not go anywhere …
- Which actions are most useful and relevant to achieve the results I want?
How can you use every minute and every action in the most useful way?
Do your activities distance you from your goals?
You must ask this question very often to avoid scattering.
What are the most useful activities and initiatives for you now?
By asking yourself this question, you make sure you do not waste your time and that each of your actions contributes to your success.
Because one of the worst uses you can make of your efforts is to concentrate them with rigor on what you do not need to do at all!
The five dimensions of self-realization: to aim for balance!
The human being is infinitely complex.
And you are no exception to this rule.
We all have many dimensions that are complementary to each other.
It's a bit like having several "baskets" in which we lay our eggs.
These baskets are five in number and are as important as they are indissociable, like the fingers of the hand:
- Self-realization: self-esteem and internal security, trust, goals, self-awareness, etc.
- Interpersonal relationships (family, love, friends, colleagues, etc.);
- Body and health through exercise and good nutrition;
- Career: a powerful vector for us to feel useful in society;
- Personal finances, because without money, we can hardly bear the rest.
These five areas are the best place to develop your good habits, as discussed in the previous article.
And if you do not make efforts to realize that in only one or two areas, you risk a serious imbalance.
You will then, it is the case to say, all your eggs in the same basket …
Let's take an example.
For several years, Michel has been devoting all his energy to his career and neglecting his life as a couple and relationships with his children.
He ends up at the top of his profession but faces a separation and conflict with his children.
His separation even leads to a depression that makes him lose his job!
All his efforts will have been in vain because of the imbalance and lack of vision.
Michel put all his eggs in one basket …
Another example ?
Imagine that you are realizing yourself in many areas but fail to look after your body.
You smoke, you eat badly and you stay sedentary.
In many years, you will be at great risk that a disease such as cancer or heart attack will shorten your life by several decades.
Yet, if you are happy and you realize, you will want to live a long and healthy life …
For this reason, remember that imbalances are waiting for you every day.
Proactivity and self-empowerment also means maintaining a global vision of all that you are in order to avoid imbalances.
To learn how to focus your efforts in order to achieve better results, here is an article that will allow you to develop a life plan to find your way!
And if you liked this article, know that it is from my book Unlimited growth. You can get it in ebook version to read it in full.
Here is a book that I suggest you to go further:
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