A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege and opportunity to attend a convention on Health and Wellness. Among many of the seminars and workshops were some devoted to learning how to grow your business; how to network with others; how to truly be successful at what you do.
Thinking about all of the advice they offered, I realized that most of it is applicable on a personal level. How do we reach the goals that we set for ourselves? Today, I’m going to discuss three of them.
The first and most important suggestion is to have a powerful “ why “. Why is this goal important? Why is it really and truly worth spending the time and effort to achieve it? Using myself as an example, from a business perspective, why should I be putting in all the extra effort on running my own business instead of working for someone else for a paycheque and benefits? I want the flexibility of working my own hours so I can spend more time with my kids while they’re young. I want to earn more so I can be free of debts by the time I’m 50; I want to be able to pay for my children to go to school as long as they need to get the career they want. I love this job and I want to keep doing it as long as I can. Those are extremely important to me, and they keep me going, even when the going gets tough.
How about you? Are you trying to lose weight? Why? Do you want to be healthier? Why? It’s not enough to simply want those things. You’ve got to REALLY want those things. I see people day in and day out who would “like” those things; but the only way things would improve for them is if a magical fairy would wave her wand and make it happen. They don’t have a strong enough reason to make it happen.
What’s your why? Do you have a family history of diabetes or cancer – seen a loved on suffer – and want avoid that fate for yourself? Do you want to still be around and active enough to play with your grandkids? Do you want to be a better role model for your children? Do you want the freedom to buy clothes from non-specialty stores? Do you just want to not be out of breath when you climb the stairs?
I can’t tell you if your why is strong enough. I certainly can’t judge whether your why is “good” or not…what may seem trivial to one person may have a significant, deep meaning to someone else.
Set goals
Set goals for yourself. Either daily or weekly or both. From a business perspective, this could be “I want to talk to 2 people about my business each day”. If you want to get healthier, it could be “I’ll only eat out twice this week” or “I’ll walk 30 minutes every day this week” or “I’ll eat 5 servings of vegetables every day”. Any number of goals are possible depending on what stage you’re at in reaching your target. Remember to be specific. Saying you’ll eat “more vegetables” or “walk daily” lets you shortchange yourself too easily. You need to be able to measure how well you’re achieving your short-term goals so you can adjust as you improve.
If you’re not actively working at achieving your long-term goal, then it won’t happen. There is no magical fairy. It’s your life , and it’s completely under your own control. And if you’re not motivated to keep working at this goal, then your “why” isn’t strong enough. You need to take a look again at why you’re doing what you’re doing.
If you’re not making progress, talk to an expert
If you knew everything there was to know about achieving your goal, and you have a strong enough “why” to motivate you, then you’d already be there, wouldn’t you?
So if you’re not there, and progress has stopped, then chances are there’s something else you could learn. Talk to someone who has been through it already. If I want business marketing advice, I’ll talk so another entrepreneur who has been successful in his or her business, or maybe go straight to a marketing specialist. I’m not likely to ask someone who has spent their entire career as a cashier or sales clerk, for example.
If you want to become healthier, do you talk to your friend who has been an athlete all his life? Or the one who is a couch potato with no interest in becoming fit? How about talking to someone you know who has changed his or her lifestyle and is getting healthier day by day? Or an expert on fitness or nutrition, like a personal trainer or dietitian?
Albert Einstein defines insanity as “the act of doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”. If a few weeks or a month of doing the same thing isn’t eliciting any progress, then why should months or years of it be any better?
Reaching big goals is never easy, but only with the right motivation and tools do you have the best chance at success.
Good luck!
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