Three Most Important Elements to Creating Positive Change

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If you open yourself up to the belief that each and every one of you has an inner strength that can be utilized when you need it most, you can begin to move forward.

ACTION STEPS:

  1. Clarify

The first step in moving forward is clarifying what, specifically, you would like in your life. This means clarifying what is lacking and then clarifying what you would like more of. What would your ideal life look like? Take a minute to write down what you would love to see in your career, in your relationships, in your personal growth and for your health.

  1. Create

Once you have clarified what you would like to see in your life, it is time to create the blueprint. Your dreams will not be realized on their own. You need to create a specific plan. What steps can you take? What markers can you use at points of achievement? What do you need to do on a monthly, weekly and daily schedule? Create your list.

  1. Commit

Once you have created a plan, you need to commit to the process. Nothing worth achieving is going to happen overnight. You need to acknowledge that what you are striving for is worth the time and commitment. Commit to doing whatever you can to increase your chances of succeeding. Bring on the support of friends, work with a life coach, talk to a therapist, or work with a physical trainer.

 

 

Failure as Feedback

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How do most of you define failure? Does it bring up a negative feeling? Or, can you think of it in terms of being useful in getting you where you want to go? What if I told you that only you have the power to decide whether or not something is indeed, a “failure”? Let’s assume for all practical reasons that ‘today’, failure means success. How can you possibly acknowledge your success at the same time you are vocalizing failure? Here are some examples: being able to recognize that everything hadn’t gone according to the plan, or you didn’t achieve the desired outcome, is in itself a positive outcome; that the specific path you took this time around, clearly wasn’t the right one, and so it has been successfully eliminated and will not be repeated; that you’ll know to do things differently in the future; that the experience has enabled you to grow in some way. “Failure” can simply be a great way to get us to pause in the midst of our process. This pause allows us to possibly change directions, try something new, continue our learning, or shift our focus. Imagine what would happen if we didn’t get that feedback, and continued endlessly along the wrong path, toward the wrong goal, or without ever learning a new approach? Failure, then, can really be seen as positive feedback…information that gets us back on the right track!

1. Clear idea of end result
Always have a clear idea of where you want to go and continue to re-evaluate it as you move forward. What direction are you heading? What is your ultimate goal? Spend some time this week writing down what you would like to see in your future. Focus on career, personal development, relationships, balance, etc.
2. Identify milestones
Identify specific milestones or markers along the way, to let you know you are on the right track. Be sure to celebrate these successes. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds, break that down into five-pound milestones. Each time you lose five pounds, celebrate and acknowledge your success.
3. Continually learn
If something doesn’t appear to be working, or working fast enough, don’t hesitate to try something new. Explore why it isn’t working and try going about it in a different fashion. Continually learn from others who may have traveled down a similar road before.

 

Seven Steps to Reaching Your Goals

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Successfully executing any personal strategic plan for change requires that as you develop your plan, effectively incorporating these seven steps for attaining each and every goal:

1.  Express your goal in terms of specific events or behaviors.
For a dream to become a goal, it has to be specifically defined in terms of operations, meaning what will be done. When a goal is broken down into steps, it can be managed and pursued much more directly. “Being happy,” for example, is neither an event, or a behavior.  When you set out to identify a goal, define what you want in clear and specific terms.

2.  Express your goal in terms that can be measured.
How else will you be able to determine your level of progress, or even know when you have successfully arrived where you wanted to be? For instance, how much money do you aspire to make?

3. Assign a timeline to your goal.
Once you have determined precisely what it is you want, you must decide on a timeframe for having it. The deadline you’ve created fosters a sense of urgency or purpose, which, in turn, will serve as an important motivator, and prevent inertia or procrastination.

4.  Choose a goal you can control.
Unlike dreams, which allow you to fantasize about events over which you have no control, goals have to do with aspects of your existence that you control and can, therefore, manipulate. In identifying your goal, strive for what you can create, not for what you can’t.

5.  Plan and program a strategy that will get you to your goal.
Pursuing a goal seriously requires that you realistically assess the obstacles and resources involved, and that you create a strategy for navigating that reality. Willpower is unreliable, fickle fuel because it is based on your emotions. Your environment, your schedule and your accountability must be programmed in such a way that all three support you – long after an emotional high is gone. Life is full of temptations and opportunities to fail. Those temptations and opportunities compete with your more constructive and task-oriented behavior. You will find it much harder to stay the course, without programming.

6. Define your goal in terms of steps.
Major life changes don’t just happen…… they happen, one step at a time. Steady progress, through well-chosen, realistic, interval steps, produces results in the end. Know what those steps are before you set out.

7. Create accountability for your progress toward your goal.
Without accountability, people are apt to con themselves. If you know precisely what you want, when you want it (and there are real consequences for not doing the assigned work), you are much more likely to continue in the pursuit of your goal. Find someone in your circle of family or friends to whom you can be accountable. Make periodic reports on your progress.