WEEK 97: RESULTS ARE A MEANS TO AN END, NOT AN END THEMSELVES

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.     John F Kennedy

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): 

I had a couple of conversations this week on the power of having a purpose with some possible future LYP members and wanted to share the insights I shared. 

To start, I want you to think of a large room in your mind filled with people. Next, say I have two volunteers who will help me. 

One I ask to just walk, no specific place in particular. The volunteer might ask where to go, but I would just say walk anywhere you want. 

The other I ask to walk from one corner to another. 

Now which one will get to their destination faster?

Of course the person who walks from one corner to the other!

Now how might this situation be similar to our lives, and how we try to achieve success on the path to achieving our dreams? 

Well, most of us, me being included for about 35 years before I started my LYP, are the person walking aimlessly around the room. Going from one spot to the next, trying this and that, always moving, yet really going nowhere. However, the biggest detriment is we do not have the power to say NO!

For example, if someone were to come up in the room example and ask you if you wanted to walk over to another area, you would probably say yes, as you really have no other place you need to go.

In real life, think about all the things you want to achieve, but not having a clear purpose. If something interesting comes up, you will probably say YES, even if it takes you away from something you want to achieve. (See example below).

Now why is this so? Well let me share TWO inherent benefits of of having a purpose. 

First, it gives focus to your activities. Who reading this has done 20, 30, 40 things at once and then get frustrated as you make little to no progress. Without a clear purpose you will try many different activities, some will move your forward, yet some will keep you where you are at, or even take you backwards. 

Having a clear purpose is like uploading directions on your GPS. It provides the steps you can take in order to get to your destination as fast as possible. 

Second, it gives you the power to say NO! This is huge! I remember many instances in the beginning of my LYP where I was able to say NO to activities which did not move me closer to achieving my ultimate outcomes. 

In the walking example above, if you are walking from one corner and someone asks you to go to another part of the room, you can kindly say NO, as you know this will take you farther away from your final destination. 

For example, I distinctly remember Friday afternoons where friends would invite me out to "Happy Hour" after a long week of work. Before my LYP I would have said yes in an instant. However, once I had a purpose to finish writing my book, I made it a point to meet my daily writing quota. If I did not, I knew what I would be doing that day. 

The same is true today currently with goal of growing my online businesses forward. There are many instances where I could be doing other things...catching up with the Game of Thrones series, reading the mountain of books I want to get to, or..., yet I know if I do not complete certain actions, then my partnbers and I stay stagnant and possible lose momentum on moving our business ventures forward.

To help you with this second benefit of saying NO, you can use the Pareto principle to accelerate towards you ultimate outcomes! I have mentioned this principle in the past, and it is idea where 20% of your actions produce 80% of your results.  

To start, you just list and track all the activities you take on a daily basis in order to achieve your goals. Then, you identify the 20% actions which help you make the biggest strides towards your ultimate outcomes and the remaining 80% which do not. Then you focus on the 20% and see how you can improve them, and CUT THE REST!  Although these other actions might help you grow incrementally, you with have to be ruthless and cut them out if you truly want to accelerate towards achieving success. 

Thus, want to achieve success? Want to achieve your dreams? 

Have a clear purpose to help you accelerate towards these eventualities by one, giving you focus to your activities, and two, giving you the power to say NO! 

What Went Well?

Weekly Task completed while on the road again amid heavy daily challenges. 

What is something we can improve? What actions can we take next week?

Build sustainable change properly. I have been trying some new techniques in growing our businesses, yet I went from 0 to 180 degrees. The LYP has taught me how to build sustainable change...incrementally...and I have been struggling to maintain some of these new methods, because I pushed too hard in the beginning.

Thus, I will start small and add 1% until I reach my ceiling, and then stay there until that gets easy and continue to add 1% to grow.

What is something to avoid next week?

Judging results. Results are merely a Means to an END, not an end themselves. 

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PLANNING (Implementation Intention):  You will follow through 2X to 3X more likely to complete your weekly task than you normally would just by filling in the following statement.

I plan to complete the weekly task [day] at [time] in [location]. 

A reminder you might have to use multiple Implementation Intentions in order to follow through.

EXECUTION (strategies used):  From week to week, I use a combination of many strategies. There are always some which are used more than others depending on what comes up, but I wanted to offer a link to all them at once. 

My advice is to identify the I CAN'T statement you tell yourself during the most. Then find a strategy below the statement which resonates with you, and then start using it. 

Enjoy!

STRATEGY LIST