Creating Action For Personal Success – Part VI
Well here we are…the final installment of “Creating Action for Personal Success.”
Action is paramount to success! An individual can set personal goals, develop affirmations and visualize ever day, but unless they take some from of action, little to nothing is going to happen.
Over the past 5 installments we’ve discussed a myriad of topics related to action and personal success. Today I’m going to finish up with…
Gathering Resources to Support Your Action
Setting up structures (or rituals) to support the actions that your need to be take will be an important step in the process of achieving your personal goals. To be successful in this ‘creative process’, you will benefit greatly by preparing ahead of time, before setting out on your journey for personal success.
In simple thing to do is create a list of what you will need to do, both internally and externally, to prepare for your journey. This may include aspects such as creating time every day for meditation, writing a journal or exercising. It may also include getting their finances in order, or creating a strong support system. Think of this as a pre-flight check list.
Goal-Setting
Often people think that goal setting is the end of the action process. On the contrary, it is only the beginning. Once your personal goals are established, you will need to create an action plan in order to reach the desired goal. One goal may have many sub-goals that need to be accomplished before achieving the final desired result. Creating an action plan supports the client to develop a strong structure with which to work. You can look at the goal as the objective and then break it down to strategies and tactics. Strategies are ‘what’ you are going to and tactics are ‘how’ you are going to do it.
Prevent Slipping into Old Patterns
As you proceed into the path of creating their desired goals, temptation might slip in and yes…you may take a few steps backwards before moving forwards. If this happens, understand that this is normal. There are many reasons why people fear success and unconsciously sabotage their own development. This is normal human behavior. What is not normal is being aware of it.
As a coach, this situation provides me with the opportunity to acknowledge my client’s for the work they have done so far. It also provides me with the opportunity to encourage them to keep moving forward despite the difficulty….this is how mental strength is developed.
A common pattern of development is for many individuals is to quickly achieve their initial goals and to then have a set back. This is often because the first goals they achieve are more obvious and therefore more achievable.
As you develop, you’ll then move on to tackle more significant goals. These goals may be blocked by more entrenched behaviors. At this point you’ll needs a lot of encouragement, motivation and enthusing to maintain your progress…even if this progress is slow. It is important for you to acknowledge your efforts/action in maintaining a forward focus, even if you are not seeing a lot of progress.
Creating an Action Plan
Once you have worked through this process and has established the personal goals that enthuse and excite you – goals that you feel passionate about – it is time to create an action plan. This plan will create a structure and ritual for you to work with. By creating an action plan, you’ll have a road map to follow, as well as a process to track successes and challenges. This action plan is a powerful tool for achieving any personal goal since it allows you to actually track your progress and visually see the benefit of the process.
If you’re familiar with my SMARTER goal process, the action plan serves as the “ER.”
Positive Affirmations
Positive affirmations are powerful statements for the mind. They can be useful for moving someone into action. They have a tendency to create what one really wants. The process of writing down affirmations is liberating, easy and usually effective. This process requires you to simply say a positive phrase repeatedly. This can be done in front of a mirror, by writing them down, or by simply saying the affirmation out loud or silently anywhere, or having a recording of them and listen to them as you meditate.
Affirmations are also a good tool to use when negative self-talk creeps in. Whenever you catch yourself saying something negative, like, “I can‘t do this,” or “I am stupid”, change the negative self-talk into a positive message by using a positive affirmation.
Unfortunately, in our world we are inundated with negative messages. Whenever you turn on a television you encounter unrealistic images about what people should look like, how many material things they should have and what their relationships should be like.
If you don‘t meet these ideals the message is clear: you are not attractive enough, you don‘t have enough material things and your relationships are inadequate. It‘s important to have strategies to counter this avalanche of negativity. Positive affirmations are useful to remind you of the reality of who you are and your life and to brush away doubts.
Come up with several affirmations that will support you in moving forward. Also, write them down and place the affirmation(s) where you can see them. A fridge door or bathroom mirror work well, I happen to like them on my desk and as a screen saver. You will also find it helpful to write down their affirmations every day. This is an excellent way to create focus in the right direction.
I create customized affirmation audios using a special brainwave synchronization process that bring brings the brainwaves into the very receptive Alpha state. If you like have a customized affirmation audio, please Contact Me.
Focusing on Solutions
When creating action, it is more useful to focus on the solution rather than on the problem. That doesn‘t mean the problem is to be ignored. It just doesn‘t become the focus of the process itself. What is more important than the problem is to discover what will solve it. Once you figure out what works, then the solution is to do more of that. If we discover what does not work, than figure out what needs to change and do that instead.
Coaching is about help my clients take action and moving forward. As long as they focus on the solution, they will continue to move forward.
The key to moving forward and staying focused on solutions is to understand that once you know what works, do more of it. When you discover something that doesn‘t work, do something different. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting to get different results is fruitless.
Build on Past Successes
One of the most powerful tools to use in achieving your personal goals is to build on past successes. Reminding yourself of past successes can provide a shift in perspective. It also allows you to recall moments when you were successful. By anchoring on to this past experience, you can tap into the success and use it to keep yourself focused.
A tool for tapping into past successes is to create a Success Time Line. To create a Success Time Line draw a line on a piece of paper. At the left side of your Time Line write the date when they were born. Starting from the left side and working toward the right, write the date and a short statement of every success you have had since then. For example, winning a spelling bee contest, graduating from school, or getting your first job. These are all examples of when you completed something successfully.
Once you have completed your Success Time Line write down what strengths you used to achieve this success. This will help develop your inventory of strengths. It will also provide a real life example of when you used those strengths. Whenever you become discouraged you can review your Success Time Line and tap into the power of that moment to gain encouragement.
Create a List of Encouraging Role Models
I encourage you to discover who your role models are and why. This will help you decide how you want your life to be and what it will take to create it…the life you really desire.
Role models can be very powerful in providing courage and inspiration to follow through with those things that you might not otherwise think are possible. Role models let you know what is possible for you. If they can do it, so can you!
If you don’t have any role models you admire, then I challenge you to find them. Go to the library or the internet to do some research. Find biographies or autobiographies of five people that have qualities that you admire. Once you have your list, write a short description of the role model‘s life. Then write down the qualities you admire in the role models and which qualities you wish to emulate. These role models can be from someone who is alive, deceased, someone they know, or someone famous and notable, and even fictitious…to a point.
Enlist the Help of a Support Team
As you begin to take action, you will need the help of a support team. This team will consist of people you can depend on to keep you moving forward. This has also been referred to as a ‘Mastermind Group.’ As your virtual – and I hope someday “live – coach, I am automatically on their support team. However, this is not enough. You only spend a short amount of virtual time with me each week. Therefore, in order to have personal success in your process, you must surround yourself with people that are going to be helpful and encouraging.
In addition to spending more time with people that are positive and supportive, you will also want to manage your relationships with negative and non- supporting people. This may mean either decreasing the time you spend with them or, if this is not possible, putting boundaries in place about when, how and for how long you’ll interact with them.
This most likely will be a difficult step for you to take…and I’m here to assist you. Nevertheless, it will become easier as you begin to realize the positive changes that begin to take place in your life along with the action steps you take.
Creating action is about setting up a good solid structure and ritual for the purpose of moving forward.
As a coach, I can help you achieve what you desire by setting goals, creating action and developing your mental strength. This in turn will lead you to achieving your personal goals and personal success.
Contemplation
Think back on your experiences:
- How have you felt when others have encouraged you to take action when you doubted your strength, or ability in a specific area?
- What are your top 10 strengths?
- How do these support you in your development of your coaching practice?
Think of one goal that you will have for the next month. This may be a self-contained goal, or it could be part of something much bigger – like setting up your business!
- What structures do you need to put in place to enable you to achieve your goal?
- Make a list of five people that you most admire and describe why you like them.
- What are the attributes that you want to make your own?
- Who is on your support team?
- Is it big enough?
- Are there others you need to engage with more to support you in achieving your goals?
References
Roberts, L. M., Sprezter, G., Dutton, J., Quinn, R., Heaphy, E. and Barker, B. (2005). How to Play to Your Strengths. In Harvard Business Review on Managing Yourself (pp. 63-78). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
OK…that’s it…I hope you enjoyed and found a lot of value out of these session on creating action.
I’d really like to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Find out more about taking courageous action and achieving personal goals and personal success by picking up a copy of “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” today.
If you’d really like to make fast progress towards realizing your future and develop the mental strength and mindset of confidence, request your Introductory Consultation today!
Great way to “kick start” your inspired action…take a look at The 2nd Passage….this is a truly life transforming event!
I’d also like to thank ICA again for their inspiration and assistance on this topic.
I’ll be continuing this topic next week….Oh yea…did you get a chance to check out the new section on my blog “Warrior Mind Programming”? This is where I have some great audio programs designed to bring your brainwaves into a Alpha, Theta, or Delta state and create synchronization between the two hemispheres.
If this sounds Greek to you, no worries…I have complimentary direct download e-book on the page that explains everything! Once you have experienced this process you’ll understand, feel and see the affects.
Related articles
- Warrior Mind Podcast Episode #32 – Personal Goals (warriormindcoach.com)
- Creating Action For Personal Success – Part III (warriormindcoach.com)
- What Is Your Good? (warriormindcoach.com)
- Creating Action For Personal Success – Part IV (warriormindcoach.com)
- Creating Action For Personal Success – Part V (warriormindcoach.com)
