Who do you admire, follow or wish you were like?
Chances are they appear larger than life to you, having achieved some pretty amazing things and you wish that could translate into a better life for you.
What we see is the RESULT of the achievement…the lifestyle, the prestige, the notoriety, the stuff (material things), the experiences they now can share with those around them – all very powerful, emotionally charged images that become stuck in our brains.
What you don’t see is how all of that came to be.
But that doesn’t stop us from making assumptions such as:
- He was lucky
- He had access to people or information that we don’t
- That person was gifted in some special way (intelligence, confidence, personality, inside information)
- They were in the right place at the right time
- Someone gave them a head start that gave them a special edge
Each of these rationalizations serves to place their achievement farther away from our grasp while explaining away our own inability to even DREAM about reaching their level of achievement.
Is that really true though?
Having worked with dozens and dozens of high achievers in the fields of business, sports and life in general, what becomes clear very quickly is that they all started from the same place that everyone else is today…a desire to achieve great things but meager resources, a healthy dose of self-doubt, not very much in the way of special contacts and certainly not any more intelligent than anyone else.
So how did it happen for them?
How were they able to go from where they used to be to achieving a better life?
What went on behind the scenes such that they could actually live out there dreams and achieve higher levels of achievement than the rest of the population?
What it comes down to is that they dared to have a BIGGER vision, BIGGER motivation, BIGGER plans and took BIGGER action for a longer period of time until they turned momentum in their favor.
It all starts with expecting bigger things in your life.
The Difference Between Dreaming Big And Expecting Big!
Many of you reading this right now have had big dreams and wishes…based on what we have observed someone else achieve, we (for a split second) imagine what it would be like if we could approach that level of success in our own lives.
Then what happens?
REAL life takes over, we go back to getting through the next task, finish out the day, get to the weekend so we can once again dream a little before the reality of the next week infringes on our lives…right?
That’s where we can make changes that lead to higher achievement in life.
Turn BIG Dreams Into BIGGER Expectations
In order to take the next step and achieve new levels of growth in your life we must turn these safe and fleeting dreams or wishes into obsessive expectations. Your mind is just as powerful as the highest achievers you look up to and just as capable of bringing about everything you want in life BUT you must put it to work in the right way. Wishing or dreaming for a few minutes each weekend or even each day is not enough to trigger your mind into working to make things happen. Yes, dreaming and wishing feels good – but achieving feels even better!
Practically speaking, start today turning your biggest dreams into written and visual statements of expectation that you study several times each day so that your mind is put fully to work on helping you get where you want to go. Remember…the big difference between a wish/dream and an expectation is belief and certainty. So, turn your dreams into statements of certain expectation backed by full belief – this will allow your mind to work hard and bring about massive change in your life.
Become More Consistently Motivated
Do you have a list of quotes, a set of images, a library of stories, a playlist of audios and videos that allow you to work regular motivation into your daily activity OR are you like everyone else who become motivated by chance when you happen to come across a person, story or video that catches your eye? For the average person, motivation happens infrequently and by chance. For the extraordinary person, motivation is on-purpose, planned and regularly scheduled to feed their energy and execution of their big plan. Once again, life achievement does not occur by chance, it takes focus and work.
Surround Yourself With Other High Achievers and High Believers
There is nothing more destructive on your path to personal growth than people who do not believe in themselves, and by extension, do not fully believe in you. We may think that their attitude, words and thoughts just bounce off of us but in reality the constant exposure to people who have not yet committed to their own personal growth wears us down and removes focus from being the best person we can be.
Even worse, when we lack belief in ourselves we seek out people who also lack belief to make us feel more “comfortable” when “comfort” is the last thing we need. We need to change our thinking around the people we surround ourselves with. It can start with reading inspirational stories, watching videos but needs to quickly translate into seeking out positive, growth-minded people around you. Join clubs, seek out high achievers on your local sports team or gym, take extra learning courses and find the 2-percent that are passionate about learning the topic…be active and draw high achievers to you.
High achievers are no different than you in that they started at the same place you are today.
They are different in terms of the path they have chosen and in their commitment level to sticking with that path.
The only obstacle standing in your way right now to living the life of those you admire the most is expecting and then taking action on arriving at the same place they are. For most of you today, that is a big leap in thinking, but with daily practice around reinforcing belief and certainty, working to stay consistently motivated and surrounding yourself with other believers you can easily make the transition.
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