I am fascinated by the silent majority of us who have dreams, even a clear vision on what they would like to achieve in life but still can’t manage the noise.
By noise, of course I am referring to the distractions, interruptions and alternatives each and every one of us are offered daily (even hourly).
This choice is quite an amazing dichotomy between the satisfaction of having multiple options backed by the fear that we not miss out on something in direct opposition to the anxiety, fear and frustration associated with not being able to focus on what we really want for any more than a few short, fleeting moments.
Life, for many, is a constant struggle between having too much choice versus channeling the power of focus and choosing what is truly important in their lives
Which is it, an ocean full of options or a a volcano’s worth of force behind your desired option?
Isn’t this really what stands between you and massive accomplishment in your life?
In other words, often it is not having a vision, purpose, passion, goals or any of that stuff, rather it is balancing the desire to do anything with the need to make a difference in one or two key areas of our lives.
Do you see that challenge in your life?
So, what happens if you want to become a higher achiever and improve a part of your life that you feel is lacking direction today…how can that be done?
1. Big WHY
It stands to reason that if – to date – we have favored “keeping our options open” allowing ourselves to go off in different directions and try many different things that we have not yet found (or convinced our brains that we have found) a big enough purpose or WHY that is worthy of leaving other options behind. That is step 1. In some cases, you may already know what your big WHY is, and simply need to be convinced that it is important enough to you to be #1 and that you are convinced you can achieve it. Belief is a powerful force in deciding to dedicate more of your life to a given purpose. Belief can be cultivated through visualizations of you achieving your desired result, studying others who have achieved (or partially achieved) what you desire and spending time with those who support your drive rather than tear it down.
2. Be Willing To Give Up To Live Up
A saying we like to use in sharing programs like “Getting Unstuck In Your Life” is that in order to “Live Up” to your desired lifestyle you must be willing to Give Up the sense of comfort and security you most likely associate with “leaving your options open” or “try as many things and perhaps one will succeed” mindset today. You must change your beliefs such that you are certain the way forward is to focus more on living up to your desired outcome and that leaving all of the other “noise” behind is the way to accomplish this change in your life
3. Focus On The Top 2
At any given time, have a maximum of 2 TOP priorities. For you, it may be achieving a certain result in your own business 2-years from now AND losing 10-lbs OR it could be to start a new business that replaces your existing income within 12-months AND repair or cultivate a meaningful relationship that is lacking in your life. Force yourself to focus on 2 major objectives at a time though, this way you must make decisions on what is clearly noise and what is not. Once you come to terms with this decision you can now easily handle disruptions or “noise” throughout the day or week because you can immediately recognize if it is related to one of your top 2 priorities.
4. Reinforce, Reinforce, Reinforce
To prevent a situation where you are only temporarily committing to your top 2 priorities and then changing them weeks or months out, you want to build habits of reinforcement into your daily routine. Reinforcement methods we use include: meditation on your objectives, 15-minute brainstorming, daily visualizations around what it’s like to have already achieved your objectives, daily activity to keep momentum, continually seeking out others who are like-minded and can help reinforce your ultimate purpose and journey.
5. Inner Drive Over External Validation
If you are the type of person that needs external validation (someone telling you that you’re direction is right, that you have done a good job or praise for a job well done) to stay motivated, then seek to change that right now. The biggest way I know to help with this is to change your beliefs to one where you realize being driven internally, self-praise, staying true to your own inner voice and beliefs is FAR more powerful and fulfilling than adjusting your path to seek out external validation. know that being fueled by inner drive will give you immense energy and will attract the right people into your life over time. Trust that external validation will come when you are completely aligned with your inner drive.
Before you move on, ask yourself this question:
“Has the life I have lived so far resulted in where I really want to be?”
If the answer to that question is no, then taking a page out of the approach used by some of the most successful and happy people in history is certainly a step in the right direction.
These people have discovered the power of “No”!
They have realized that there are 1 or 2 things in their life that will make a massive difference to them and that the only way they can live their dreams is to eliminate the “noise” around all of the other options in life.
Oddly enough, I have never met a person – high achiever or otherwise – that decided to go “All In” around chasing a life dream that regrets their decision and I have met MANY who attribute their ability to succeed beyond their wildest dreams directly to their ability to focus on what is important eliminating all of the other stuff.
What’s next for you?
Are you ready to streamline your life and prioritize the really important things?
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