Goals. Dreams. Fear.
With 2016 almost at a close let’s take some time to reflect on goals for this year and where you are at with those goals. If you’ve not quite reached your goals, today’s blog post outlines fourteen steps to help you stay focused on your dreams!
Step 1#: Admit stuff gets in your way: Denial is the enemy of success. Excuses prolong the misery and keep you further from the solution.
Step #2: Take responsibility for your part: The more time you use to blame your habits on others, be it your parents, your spouse, your friends, the government, or anyone else, the less time you have to do what you need to do to move forward.
Step #3: Feel your fear and take action anyway: Fear keeps you in bondage. Walking through fear sets you free.
Step #4: Share with another person: Acknowledge on paper and to another person what’s really important to you in this moment.
Step #5: Remind yourself of your agreement: Reflect back on the promise you made with yourself and the agreement to live your dreams. Keep it uppermost in your mind. Repeat it over and over again, perhaps in the form of an affirmation.
Step #6: Break the hard stuff into small pieces: It’s easier for the mind to accept a small piece than a big chunk that appears too hard to handle. So reduce all tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces and then do something.
Step #7: Alternate between the easy and the hard tasks: For some of you the best approach will be to tackle the hard tasks first. For others, it will be more rewarding to do the easy tasks, and then move on to the more difficult ones.
Step #8: Take it a day at a time: There will be days when you’ll feel as if you’re on top of the world, in the flow, in sync with the universe. Then there will be days where nothing goes right. Consider this time an opportunity to take a much needed break or regroup.
Step #9: Schedule everything: Visual reminders are powerful and scheduling is a visual reminder. Schedule time to do the things that will take you closer to what’s important to you.
Step #10: Delegate tasks when you can: Delegation is a learned skill that begins with selecting the appropriate person for the job. If someone else is willing and able to perform a task for you, let them!
Step #11: See discipline as a good thing: In today’s “I want what I want when I want it” world, the quick fix is the order of the day. We are always looking for the faster and easier way around every situation. And sometimes our quest for all things immediate has us bypassing the real lessons to be learned, such as patience and discipline.
Step #12: Avoid being a perfectionist: Understand that every time you say “I’m just a perfectionist,” you’re giving yourself permission not to try. It’s good to want to do a job well. But, when your best becomes an excuse not to try, that is not a good excuse.
Step #13: Don’t wait for the right time: Forget about waiting to be in the right mood- it will never come. There is never a right time to do the hard things you’ve been avoiding.
Step #14: Even if you don’t believe you can complete the task – just do it anyway! Act as if you are enjoying it, and then before you know it, you will be where you want to be.
Right now, get up from wherever you are and do something. Perhaps it’s writing out your goals or creating a visual that will help you stay focused on what you want to do. Whatever it is, just do it or tackle a small, manageable piece of it today!
So what steps can you do today toward moving past your procrastination, past your fear?