There are four keys to realizing your true potential. Call them the four corners of the foundation. You need all four. Any less will not do.
First Corner – Goals – Do you have specific measurable goals? “I want to do better” is neither specific nor measurable. Where would you like to be 6 weeks … 6 months … 6 years from now? Number of weekly appointments … number of dollars deposited in the bank … number of hours on the golf course weekly. What it is doesn't matter. That’s up to you. What does matter is that it is specific and measurable in a defined time frame. You need annual goals that then need to be broken down into quarterly, then monthly, then weekly, then daily, then hourly goals.
What you do in the next hour will have a major impact on where you are a year from today.
Write it down along with a specific plan of what needs to be done to reach that goal and review your plan every single day – every single day.
This takes a lot more than quickly writing a list of hopeful goals and tossing the pad into your desk drawer only to be reviewed at year’s end.
Write it … plan it … measure it … do it.
Second Corner – Fear of Success – Not fear of failure (there is no failing, just feedback for the next attempt). Everyone has heard about the fear of failing. But what about the fear of success?
Your income level is now at X. If you are successful and get it to 2X, what additional pressures and responsibilities will you have.
Your family and others will expect no less in subsequent years.
Failing is easy. You can always say you tried and it just didn’t work out. But once you reach that next rung up on the ladder, how do you turn around and head back down?
You may not realize it but it may be the fear of success that is really holding you back.
You need to face this very real reality of life and decide which way on the ladder of life you want to go: up, down or exactly where you are?
Third Corner - Paying the Price – Who doesn’t want to win the lottery? Who of us would not accept a free gift if truly no strings or effort were attached?
The single biggest difference between those who ‘do’ and those who ‘don’t’ in all walks of life is simply the fact that the ‘doers’ never give up. Never.
Just think back to the time when you were learning to ride a 2-wheel bike. The first time you fell … the second time you fell. You kept falling (and failing) over and over again until the pieces fell into place and you were actually on your own. Just think of how many times you fell. The determination you had to try again and how you felt when you reached success.
Where has that determination gone and how can you get it back?
Because with it you can not fail (only have along-the-way feedback) and without it you can not reach your goals.
If the fate of your loves ones was truly dependent upon your doing something you haven’t been able to ‘get to’ lately, I’m willing to bet, for the sake of your loved ones, that ‘must do determination’ would quickly rise to the surface and conquer the day. It’s in you. You just need to wake it up.
Fourth Corner – Take Personal Responsibility – Let’s get this straight. It’s to your credit or it’s your fault where you are in life.
It’s not the HMO’s … the insurance companies … the media … the economy … the war … the changing neighborhood or the competition that is responsible for where or who you are.
It’s you, you and only you.
Very few of us go through life taking personal responsibility for very much. It is so much easier to blame others or other things for what is happening to us.
Luck … fate … chance … sure they exist (or many people believe so) but you can’t depend on them.
The harder and smarter you work, the luckier you seem to get.
Before you can move forward, you need to look in the mirror and say and truly believe that who you are, where you are, what you are, is for the most part your responsibility and no one else’s.
With the four corners of the foundation in place we can then start to build the life we dream about … talk about … but have never achieved.
Want to talk? Call me at 1-800-696-7788, ext. 112 – 6:15 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. EST.
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