Growing or Dying?
In my many years of study under the incredible Bob Proctor there was always one underlying lesson that governed all others. There are only two directions that any living organism can venture: towards growth or towards death. Every once and a while it’s important to take a step back in order to clearly identify what people and activities are facilitating my growth and subsequently what people and activities are facilitating my death. Now, of course, we’re all going to die at some point, that we all know is the inevitable, but, the journey can be one of growth and cultivation or it can be one of drought.
If you think of your body, mind and spirit as a garden that you have been put in charge of; are you flourishing, growing and blooming or are you wilting, thirsty and dying? As human beings we have a responsibility to ourselves to plant, nourish and harvest the seeds that we sew.
Over the course of the next week, take an inventory of your life. What activities are you participating in? What company are you keeping? What books are your reading? What television are you watching? What food are you eating? What music are you listening to?
Are you planting and caring for seeds of growth, development and life? Or, are you planting seeds of drought and famine?
“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”
- Maria Robinson
Throw a dart!
Whenever I teach goal setting I always tell the participants that no matter what your goal is you have to put a date on it. I call this step in the process, throwing a dart out there. I call it that because we don’t always know exactly how much time will be required for us to see the goal through to fruition. However, the reason the date is so important is that without having it you have no timeline. Therefore, you have no understanding or comprehension of the fact that where you are today and who you are today, will be very different from where you are and who you are when you achieve your goal.
The second component is that you will have no way to measure your progress without knowing when you expect to achieve the goal. If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it! Furthermore, you will have no way of knowing whether or not you are on track towards the achievement of your goal. One of the things to remember is that to get what you’ve never had you must DO what you’ve never done. Goal achievement is all about action.
By setting a date you are able to work backwards. Think to yourself, “what is the last thing that will need to happen before I can say I’ve reached my goal?” From there continue to plot the reverse course of action all the way back to where you are today. This enables you to embrace all the action steps that you will need to take in order to see your goal through to fruition.
For example, let’s say you wanted to lose 30 lbs of weight within the next 12 months. Right away we know (simple math: 12/30 = 2.5) you will have to lose 2.5 lbs per month in order to achieve that goal by the end of the 12 month period. The next step is to plan what ACTION steps you are willing to take in order to lose 2.5 lbs per month. Lastly, deploy the plan. Now, at the end of the first month you will know whether or not you are on target to reach the goal. If you’ve only lost 1 lbs by then end of the first month you will immediately know you need to tweak the ACTION steps in order to get on course.
By throwing a dart out there (setting a date) you are able to plan the ACTION steps you need to take. Furthermore, you can begin to MEASURE almost immediately whether the ACTION steps are moving you in the direction of your goal and whether or not you are on target. This way you can tweak your plan right away if you are not on track. This date is not set in stone and it is not there to make you feel bad if you require more time to see your goal through to fruition. It is there to help you get STARTED on the road of ACTION steps so that you will see the results you are looking for and achieve your goals!
Burst Your Bubble
I was chatting with one of my colleagues this morning and because we both live and work in the field of personal development it is always the basis of our conversation. Today we were talking about how challenging the last step is prior to a major breakthrough in life. Even for us, with a plethora of combined knowledge and access to information the last step is still tough.
I often think of it as a living inside of a bubble. The bubble we presently occupy consists of all our current belief systems, perceptions, basically the “system” we operate ourselves with. As we grow as people and expand our level of awareness, through education, we begin to fill more and more space within our bubble. Eventually, if we continue to seek out information, we start to rub up against the boundary of the bubble that we are living in. The friction and tension that is a result of pushing up against the barrier signifies the “last step”. If you push through you end up bursting your bubble only to find yourself inside a new world, a bigger, brighter bubble. However, the pitfall is that the tension overwhelms us and we shrink back to a place of comfort.
So, how do we avoid this?
Step one is always awareness. Ok, so I’ve covered that, now you know what’s coming. The feelings of overwhelmingness start to creep in and your mind starts telling you that it would be easier if you went back to doing what you know.
Step two is to counteract! Even though your self-talk may start to stray from the objective you MUST take control. Remind yourself of all the good that you desire and all that you deserve to accomplish. If you don’t already use them, introduce affirmations. Tell yourself that you are worthy of what you are working towards and that you will persevere! Furthermore, create a vision or an image board. It’s easy to forget why we are doing all this hard work if the goals and objectives are not visible. When we lose sight of the image in the minds eye is when it is most important to have something ready in the physical world.
Step three is simply to have faith and believe. If you have the desire to do something, be something or have something, you already have within you the capability and potential to see it through to fruition. You’ve planted the seeds of growth, you’ve developed and cultivated them, the key now is to believe that they are growing. We don’t “see” grass until it bursts through the surface of the Earth, but that grass has been working hard beneath the ground to make it to that glorious day. The same is true here. Just because we can’t “see” the objective today doesn’t mean it won’t arrive tomorrow. Believe and succeed!
Burst your bubble – it’s worth it!
Remember: to get what you’ve never had, you must do what you’ve never done.
Success is not a Thing!
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.” – Earl Nightengale
Being an over achiever I have always been interested in rising to the top, but, looking back, I had a very skewed image of what success was. I thought success was a thing, a destination, a finish line. I thought success was having things: homes, cars, clothes and vacations. I thought success was popularity. I thought success was money, lots of it. I was wrong!
I love this definition of success because it encourages leadership and creativity. It is a statment of movement and growth. But, most of all I love this phrase because it promotes the concept of abundance. There is no limitation in his definition. It can apply to anyone at anytime. Furthermore, there is no competition. Success is not beating everyone else.
Progressive – a movement forward
Realization – to make real; to understand fully
Worthy – having value, merit
Ideal – principles or values that one actively pursues as goals
Using these definitions, success is a forward movement to fully understand, or make real, a principle of value that has merit. In other words, success is a movement, it’s a progression, a realization. Success is a journey, not a thing. Set big goals that are worthy of you, see them through to fruition, grow and develop as an individual and you will have success. The homes, cars, popularity, money etc. are merely results of your commitment and dedication to a life of success.
Stay Focussed on the Goal
Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal. – Henry Ford
No matter what, stay focussed on what it is that you want. Spend no time entertaining thoughts of doubt, worry or fear for they will only distract you from where your attention and energy is needed. There is only room for one image in your mind so make sure you always see the goal. Use your will power to ignore all pictures of that which you do not want.
