Make it happen part 1
I want to change
You’ve got an idea, a goal, a dream – something you’d love to do, or even something you’d like to change – but haven’t quite managed to do it yet …sound familiar?
In this programme we look at ‘what it takes to make it happen’…. How to turn your goals into reality.
This programme particularly complements the Mynd App’s goal-setting programme, but here, we look at things from a slightly different perspective. We’ll explore what characteristics you might draw on in your pursuit of change – and let’s be clear, any improvement you make, or goal attainment in itself, is a change.
Specifically, in this and the next module, we’ll look at ten key qualities or attributes that you can draw on to get to where you want to be, whether that’s fitter, slimmer or healthier, faster, stronger or mentally tougher.
These are ten proven processes that, if you do them, will increase your success rate immensely.
And then in module three-we take a look at ten things that might stop you from making your dream or goal a reality. ‘Predictable challenges’ as I like to call them.
So overall you’ll know both what to do, and what to avoid if you want to succeed in life. At the end of this programme you’ll be much better equipped to find what is known as your ‘activation motivation’ and to get through the challenges and obstacles that have held you back in the past.
There’s a big difference between people who achieve the success they want and everyone else – and mostly it’s a mindset issue. Yes, some people are born into fortunate circumstances and some people get breaks – but there are hundreds, thousands of examples of people who have managed to become extremely successful despite difficult and challenging starts in life. Just look at people like Alan Sugar, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey even Steve Jobs and Richard Branson, among many others – theirs wasn’t all plain sailing and privileged upbringing – there’s something else going on…something you can learn…
Imagine for a moment achieving that big goal in life that you’ve dreamt about but up to now, you’ve put on the back burner. If you knew you’d got through every obstacle, every challenge put in front of you and achieved your goal, how would you feel? What would it mean to you?
In his theory of True Success, philosopher Tom Morris looked at factors that contribute to achieving success – let’s explore these and more as we look at …
Ten factors that will help you get where you want to
There are ten key elements to becoming a successful person; they are not inherited or genetic traits – we all have the capacity to put these in action. The trouble is, for a variety of reasons, people tend to hold very limiting beliefs. We cover these in more detail elsewhere, but in brief, these limiting beliefs make you think that you can’t achieve success; you start to believe that you don’t have what it takes, and worryingly you believe that you cannot learn what it takes to become a success. You might blame your circumstances, your coaches, teachers or mentors, or even your parents – anyone but yourself. Why? because that’s the easy excuse for not achieving – then it’s not your responsibility. It’s not down to you.
But the truth is, it is down to you, and you can change your likelihood of success. That’s what the MYND APP is all about – giving you the belief in yourself and your ability to be a success, and the tools to change your mind-set. Follow these guidelines, and you can achieve the goals you set yourself.
Here, then, are the first five of ten proven factors that will help you to make it happen – whatever ‘it’ is for you.
As you go through the list ask yourself what qualities you possess. Recall when you’ve demonstrated that particular skill or attribute in the past– you might surprise yourself at how many times you have.
- Determine what you want –
That is a goal or set of goals – “powerfully imagined” – I like that bit – POWERFULLY IMAGINED. The goal should have some real meaning to you – something you’re passionate to achieve or change – It’s a good idea to write it down, too, and I also encourage you to listen to the goal-setting programme for details on how best go about it.
[ Legendary runner Paula Radcliffe put it nicely when she said “Never set limits, go after your dreams, don’t be afraid to push the boundaries. And laugh a lot – it’s good for you!”
2.Focus and concentration on the preparation and planning
Take some time to really add detail to what you want to do, how you’re going to do it, who could help and so on. Remember, preparation is key to any long term and sustainable success.
Olympic Gold medal cyclist Chris Hoy said at one meet: “The work’s done, you turn up on the night and do your best”
The confidence you can get from preparing properly is immense. As we see in the programme on confidence, a lack of self-confidence comes partly from the feeling you haven’t prepared for every eventuality.
3. Confidence and belief in yourself
Again, the comprehensive Mynd App programme on confidence will help you here. For now, if your goal is challenging but realistic, tell yourself, with hard work, and following these guides, you will achieve it.
4. You need to make a real commitment of emotional energy –
Often, trying to change something or reach a new level can be an emotional rollercoaster – if you’re fully aware of this at the start you’ll deal with it better. Remember, you must be willing to invest some emotional energy in the process, and it’s likely to get uncomfortable in places!
Changing life long habits will normally take a lot of conscious effort and challenge your will power. By keeping that ‘powerfully imagined’ goal in mind, it will help when things get emotionally tough.
When legendary footballer, Lionel Messi, made his goal to be a professional player he knew what emotional investment he would need to make:
“I always thought I wanted to play professionally, and I always knew that to do that I’d have to make a lot of sacrifices. I made sacrifices by leaving Argentina, leaving my family to start a new life. I changed my friends, my people. Everything. But everything I did, I did for football, to achieve my dream”
5. Being consistent, stubborn and persistent in the pursuit of the goal.
This needs little explanation, but it does bear repeating as it really is a crucial element – being consistent, stubborn and persistent.
As an exercise, think of a time that you achieved something worthwhile and had to be stubborn or persistent in what you did. How was it for you? How did you manage to get through that situation and what qualities would others have seen in you at the time? What does that persistence say about you as a person?
So to summarise this module
There are a number of key factors that will help you achieve your objective – it’s useful to use our list as a guide to the main qualities that are going to help to get you to where you want to be. In this module we looked at the first five:
- Determine what you want –and see the results “powerfully imagined”
- Preparation and planning
- Confidence or belief
- A commitment of emotional energy
- Being consistent, stubborn and persistent
The Mynd app will look at every one of these attributes in detail in different modules and help you improve the way you do them, giving you the best opportunity to get to where you want to be.
In the next module, we’ll take a look at the next five components in our list to make it happen for you.
Your Mynd Activity
Knowledge is power.
Knowing the elements needed for success can help guide you through the challenges that inevitably come when pursuing something worthwhile.
Make a list of these five qualities and put it somewhere you’ll see every day.
Understand what it takes and learn the skills to develop these qualities and then see the results come you