Tag: take action

Why Some Get Results When Others Don’t

Get Results: redefining success
Get Results: redefining success

Have you ever wondered why…

People who have been told to stop smoking for health reasons, still smoke. Research says this is as high as 70%.

People who hate themselves because they are too fat, go eat more chocolate.

People who have never followed through, suddenly do.

Have you ever wondered why some people don’t take action when others do?

Why do people buy educational products and not get results?

How great would it be if everyone who bought them, actually used them, and did something with the information they provided?

I think people buy products to escape that feeling of lack, they buy for the feeling of hope it gives them, even if only for a short time.

What turns a person on, and what pisses them off is RELATIVE. It’s different for everyone.

People that don’t take action are  in a DESIRE situation, they have dreams and ambitions, but not in a MUST situation.

People that do take action fear not following through more than taking action. They fear what they will miss out on, or they have a strong enough reason to follow through.

And they get validation when it works. Once they’ve proven it to themselves, they do more of it, often at a higher level. They leverage their results.

Some create rituals to allow them to get another skill to help them be even more  productive/capable of earning more, being more and having more.

Breakthroughs come by feeding your mind, and creating a ritual every day, building momentum.

Surround  yourself with more successful people, to help change your perspective. Shift your desires, your standards change by being in situations which show you better.

Alternatively, find something your excited about doing.

What would you do if you had a gun to your head?  What would you do if you could not fail?

The holy grail between someone taking action or not is CERTAINTY or BELIEF. If you know it will change your life, you will take action.

Non-believers buy the product event though they don’t believe it will work. The product has to prove itself to them first, before they will believe it. They also lower their expectations. But to be a critic, you don’t have to have guts.

GUTS are needed to BELIEVE, but people don’t want to get their hopes up, for fear of disappointment.

Success is about 2 things…

  1. MINDSET – It’s about potential. Practice in your head, so that you believe it, and body will get you through. The belief in their potential is key. You might say “I’m not like Tony Robbins, or Jim Rohn, so you take no action. So what would happen if you were certain you would not fail?
  2. WHAT ACTION YOUR TAKE – will determine the results you get. Each success, builds on the last, via momentum.

So how do you produce certainty when the world is not giving it to you? Get results in your head, before you actually have them in reality. Visualise what your life is going to be like, believe it. Increase your EXPECTATIONS. Condition your mind so that you know you will achieve x.

Studies show MIND affects PERFORMANCE. So VISUALISE, perfect practice makes perfect. Through mentally practicing many times you develop certainty.

We have beliefs we aren’t even aware of. The POTENTIAL is always there, but you must change you feeling of CERTAINTY.

Don’t focused on the action, visualise the results. The action becomes automatic, you’re in flow state.

CONDITION YOUR MIND by making it a RITUAL, create CERTAINTY and BELIEF that you can and will succeed.

So in summary…

  • DECIDE – enough is enough
  • VISUALISATION – success
  • CONDITIONING – develop rituals, and create certainty. keep moving forwards
  • RITUALS – regular perfect mental practice
  • CERTAINTY – create a belief
  • GUTS – believe and don’t fear disappointment

Hacking Procrastination

Get Results: procrastination
Get Results: procrastination

Many of us have fallen victim to PROCRASTINATION. It’s a real productivity killer, but have you ever dissected why you procrastinate?

I recently came across an interesting equation that provides some useful insight into the components that make up procrastination, and hopefully by looking at each of these components we can begin to analyse how each of us are falling victim to procrastination.

Motivation = (expectancy x value)/(impulsiveness x delay)

Lets look at each of these components…

Expectancy

If you feel confident of successfully completing a task, your expectancy will be higher and that will increase your motivation to get the work done.

If the task looks really difficult, expectancy will be low and you’ll be more likely to procrastinate.

Value

Value includes the rewards you get for completing the task, as well as how pleasant or unpleasant the experience of actually doing it is.

Impulsiveness

This is about how susceptible you are to falling foul of distractions and impulses to do other things, and this is directly correlated with procrastination.

The less able you are to resist the sudden desire to check Facebook, the more you’re going to put off working on that should do task.

If you can resist such an impulse, you’ll actually be strengthening your brain’s ability to focus. This is definitely a case of practice makes perfect.

Delay

This is the amount of time between now and when you’ll get any reward for completing the task.

The more you delay doing a task, the less likely you are to do it, because people naturally place far more value on short-term rewards over long-term rewards, even if the long term rewards are objectively greater.

So having identified the components that cause procrastination, the question is how to overcome them…

Increase EXPECTANCY

Break tasks into smaller sub-tasks. This reduces the psychological burden and possible anxiety, which can be experienced when taking on a particularly difficult task. The thought of taking on a particularly hard task can often be enough to prevent you from starting.

Don’t be scared to ask for help. If you can enlist the help of someone who genuinely knows what they are talking about, they can help you over the inevitable difficult bumps in the road.

Improve task VALUE

Improve the actual rewards for completing the task, such as visualising a more fulfilled life or enjoying the fruits of your labour.

Improve the experience of doing the work itself, such as doing the work in a nicer location/environment.

Add additional rewards for completing sub-tasks, such as can be found with gamification, or letting yourself watch a movie, or spend time on social media, when you complete something.

Prevent IMPULSIVENESS

Prevent distractions and temptations by removing yourself from them. If you’re needing to exercise, go to the gym where you’ll be immersed in a fitness focused environment. If you need to get an article written, work on a computer that has no internet access, so you aren’t distracted by social media.

Willpower get used up during the day, like a tank of fuel, so do hard things first when your willpower is fully charged.

Overcome DELAY paralysis

To make use of our natural tendency to put more value on short-term rewards over long-term rewards, break long term goals into shorter term ones, and give yourself a treat when completing them. This way you are making use of your natural tendencies, rather than trying to fight them.

The Pomodoro technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980’s. The technique uses a timer to break down work into intervals, traditionally 25 minutes in length, separated by short breaks. This timer acts as an external motivator, and makes a bigger task more digestible.

So there you have it, work your way through the components of procrastination and figure out how best to hack each, and at the end of it, do what you want to get done.

For more motivational hack, check out our motivational guide.

Putting knowledge Into Action

Get Results: Take action do it know it
Get Results: Take action do it know it

The old saying goes “You can’t beat experience.” You can be told time and again how to do something, but until you’ve actually experienced it, you don’t and can’t really know.

Taking action is key

Imagine trying to ride a bike, simply by reading a step by step process from a book. There are certain things that just can’t be conveyed by words. The experience of feeling the point of balance, of instinctively knowing how to shift weight to stay upright, can only  be learned by DOING.

As the poster quote says at the top of this post;

“When you’re told it you might believe it, when you’ve done it, you know it.”

You can read as much as you like, glean insight and understanding about a subject, and you should, but without actually taking action to do something with that information, what’s the point? How do you really know it works?

There are many things that sound plausible, and on an intellectual level can be believed as fact, but without first hand experience, there is no way to know for certain.

We might fall foul of hidden agendas, manipulated for someone else’s gain, suckered into buying something we don’t need, all because of a compelling proposition and reasoned argument.

Information is abundant, you can Google just about anything, and find thousands of webpages devoted to it. If you look hard enough, you’ll also find lots of contradictory information on many topics, that might result in your head spinning with confusion.

Find reliable sources

I personally try to find reliable source of knowledge that risk their reputation and credibility on the information they impart on others, and that have impartial testimonials and reviews to back their claims. They are people that know what they are talking about, because they have succeeded in what they teach, they have first hand experience. They can be role models, mentors, or mastermind teams. You can study their models, relationships, systems and habits to get an good overall view of their approach.

Trial and Error

I then progress with a plan of action in mind and test their approaches for myself. This process of trial and error, can be an expensive one if you’re not careful, both financially and time wise, but I like to see for myself. Does it work for me? I do a process of DO, TEST, MEASURE, and TWEAK. The experience of others is a starting point, it’s an insight that can be used to build from. It might provide information that you hadn’t considered for yourself, and you can take things forward from there.

Don’t fear failure

You should never be scared of failure because it is an integral part of the learning process, just as much as your successes. “There is no failure only feedback.”

Improve skill

As you progress towards your destination or goal, your experience will improve as long as you adopt “purposeful practice” and along with it, your SKILL will improve. To be considered as an expert, it is commonly believed to involve 10,000 hours of purposeful practice.

Delegating

You can’t be good at everything and sometimes you would be best advised to employ the services of an expert, saving yourself time and effort, providing you can afford the expense of course. If you can’t afford it, then the one thing you do have is time. Stop binge watching the latest season of “House of Cards” and knuckle down to some purposeful practice and skill look towards improving and refining your skills.

However be very careful what you delegate to others. If you’re building an online business, you can employ a website designer to help you out, but you should know what is needed for success and ensure you direct them as to what you want and need, don’t just expect them to know, or care on your behalf. You’re the driver, and should take ultimate responsibility, using experts where appropriate, under your supervision and in-line with your vision. Use their knowledge, and experience of course, but don’t blindly offload everything without overseeing and understanding what’s going on.

Taking Action Quotes

Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: take action
Get Results: put knowledge into action
Get Results: put knowledge into action

Initiate Momentum to TAKE ACTION

Get Results: why do people not take action when others do
Get Results: why do people not take action when others do

Without the motivation to get off your ass and take action, nothing is possible. Taking action is where all progress happens. It is where you will “learn” as well as “do”.

All action and inaction is driven by motivation, which is made up of two opposing forces. One that wants us to be more, to have more, to be better. The other wants to keep us safe, psychologically and physically. They fight over everything we set out to do, and each battle can have only one winner. We need to give ourselves more of a reason to act than not, if we are to chase down our goals. We must NEED or WANT enough, so that staying safe is not enough.

After forcing the initial effort needed, habit comes to help us carry it on. Once you learn to master this initiation phase, the world is your playground.

Learn from TAKING ACTION

The feedback you get from doing is where all your education lies. Don’t be scared of testing boundaries, see what works and what doesn’t. Go about your actions with purpose and in a systematic manner so you can keep track of successes and failures.

Overcome fear of failure

If you fear failure, then you have to be prepared to undergo something of a mind shift. Redefine what failure means to you. Failure can only occur if you throw in the towel, if you are using it to navigate the path to your goal, it just becomes part of the process.

Think of it like finding your way out of a maze. Having a reliable map is great, but not always possible, so in the absence of such a map you might have go down a few dead ends and participating in a little trial and error is as effective as anything else, in such situations.

The three groups of people

Now some people are happy to take action, they have found a purpose that they are enthusiastic to pursue. They wake up excited at what lies ahead of them. Motivation is not an issue for these people. Sure, they might be somewhat fearful of the unknown but they find not taking action much more scary. Their fear of inaction outweighs their fear of action, hands down.

The next group of people, find they have their backs to the wall, they have to take action because of necessity. They might be facing financial or social pressures that are threatening to ruin them, or they might have reached the end of their tether, and just can’t take their present situation any longer. If they stay put, they are finished, emotionally, financial or in some other way. Again taking action is far less risky then not, at this point.

The third group of people are the least likely to be motivated to take action. They might have a burning desire to do something, a dream they  want to fulfil, but their fear of change, of the unknown, of the possible risk that might, could possibly be waiting for them further down the road, is too great to take a chance. They might not be 100% content  with their present situation, they might even be unhappy with it, but it feels safer or more comfortable to maintain the status quo.

So how do you find enough motivation to initiate action. Well first understand that like pushing a car from a standing start, the hardest bit is starting. Once you build up some momentum, a little thing called inertia takes over. Inertia is where the very act of movement helps propel you forward, requiring less and less effort from you. Inertia comes through the habits and rituals that you do daily. They might be small in nature but doing them daily, means you are using less conscious effort, just to take the action, you just do it, cause it’s what you always do.

It gets easier

So  knowing that the first day of a new you is going to be the hardest, but give it a couple of weeks, you will have a new routine that kind of, takes care of itself, without you having to force yourself. If you still have to force yourself at that point, maybe it’s not for you. It’s important to have some self awareness of what you like and don’t like and why, check out my piece on self awareness for more information.

Move from indifference to WANT or NEED

Well going back to our groups of people, those that WANT enough to take action, those that NEED to take action, and the third group, these I call INDIFFERENT to taking action. The INDIFFERENT group as highlighted previously, are the least likely to act, because their fear of taking action is stronger than their fear of not taking action. So, if you’re in this group and are wondering how you find enough motivation to move you towards your goal, you have to push your mindset into either the WANT or NEED groups.

One of the best ways to increasing your WANTING, is by setting yourself goals.

Without a goal to aim for, you will lack direction, and it becomes difficult to effectively gauge if you are doing the right thing at any given moment. With a goal, you can develop a plan of action for achieving your goal and feel that you have a sense of purpose in the pursuit of it.

One of the masters of goal setting Zig Ziglar, outlined a seven step process for effective goal setting:

  1. Identify exactly what you want and write them down
  2. Spell out why you want to reach goals
  3. List obstacles to overcome to get there
  4. Identify the people, the groups and the organisation you need to work with in order to get there
  5. Identify what you need to know to reach your goal
  6. Develop a plan of action to reach your goal
  7. Put a date on when you expect to get there

On the other hand, manoeuvring yourself into a NEED state is for sure, a more high risk option, and not one that I would personally recommend. It includes things like leaving a regular day job that you might hate, to build your dream business, so that you have to make it work, or sink. I would prefer to work in the evenings to test the idea and build it to a point where it becomes less of a risk, but taking this all-or-nothing approach remains an option that some choose to take.

Over to you

You should try to find a purpose that pulls you towards it, rather than you having to push yourself to do it. Alternatively you have to cut your options so that you “HAVE to” take action, and give yourself no other choice.

One thing is for certain, if you stay in a state of INDIFFERENCE, you’re unlikely to take the necessary actions to leave your present situation. “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always got.”

Now I’ve given you some pointers, the details of how you go about it, are unique to you and your circumstances. Good luck. Please sign up to our mailing list if you want more tailor-made content, and share this article with your friends and family if you found it useful.

For more about motivational influences, check out our Motivation guide.

If you would like to read more articles focused on INITIATING MOMENTUM, click here.

Why Are You Not Taking Action?

Get Results: why your not taking action
Get Results: why your not taking action

Why do some people NOT take action, when other’s do?

Why are you not living the life you want?

If you’re where you want to be in life, you’ve already won…

… but if you’re hungry for more, for better, then what’s missing?

Why are you not where you want to be?

’cause your stuck in the…

STATUS QUO

You’ve settled

There’s not enough MOTIVATION to move you forwards

You haven’t given yourself a big enough WHY

If your goal isn’t big enough to PULL you to it, or…

You’re not desperate enough to HAVE TO get off your arse…

You WON’T TAKE ACTION

And only by TAKING ACTION is anything going to change

Increase your DESIRE or DESPERATION

Take your motivation from a “WOULD LIKE TO” to a “MUST DO”

There are three states you can occupy, two of which will push you to take action, the other will keep you stuck in your current status quo.

The first state is to “WANT TO…” this is where you are drawn towards or pulled towards a goal or to take a particular action. You’re compelled to act from within yourself. This state is due to having purpose, doing what you love, pursuing something you are passionate about.

The second state is to “HAVE TO…” this is where your back is to the wall. You’re forced to take action through necessity, financial or otherwise.

The third state is “Indifference” this is where you’re somewhat content where you are but would ideally like to progress, be in a better place or position in your life. You have ambitions and dreams but you’re not motivated enough to take action. This is where most people exist.

They don’t take action because they don’t have a big enough WHY. They fear taking action over not taking action. They haven’t tipped the balance. They need to shift their state into one of the other two states to motivate them into action.

Use Negativity To Drive Action

Get Results: Motivation requires use of negative emotions to drive action
Get Results: Motivation requires use of negative emotions to drive action

Fear and pain is often the very thing that can stop you pursuing your dreams, by contrast, it is often the most powerful catalyst for change. Let’s look at a few examples…..

Regret

Missed opportunities, like what you didn’t do when you had the chance, is often quoted to be one of the greatest pains, when people look back on their lives. We tend to regret what we didn’t do over what we did do, that didn’t work out. Fear of regret however can help to strengthen our motivation to “take action”. Focus on how you will feel, if you fail to give-it-a-go. Visualise your regret, and use that to drive you into action.

Escaping Pain

When you can’t take any more, when you’ve had enough. “No more” you say. This is regularly the point of change. You just can’t take the negativity, the draining negative emotions of a situation. You might feel trapped, frustrated, possessed, and you want to escape to a different reality. It can take years to get to this point of no return, but change happens in an instant, when we decide it has to.

Embarrassment

Loss of credibility or being seen as a failure by others is a big motivator for most people. Put yourself in a situation where you have to deliver on your promise, by declaring a target, a goal and let the fear of failing, drive you into action. Accountability partners, and/or social groups like weight watchers are great examples of this kind of motivation.

Something to prove

How people are viewed by others is a big deal for many, if you’re cast in a negative light, or are seen as less than we feel you should be, you might feel the need to prove a point. Have you got something to prove? How about proving that you can set your mind to something and see it through to a successful conclusion. Use this drive to motivate you into action.

We often ridicule negative emotions, and try to avoid them, but as we’ve pointed out, they can be used to help you take positive action, as you reach for your goals.

For more about motivational influences, check out our Motivation guide.

Taking Action is key to Getting Results

Get Results: take right action
Get Results: take right action

Taking Action is the single most important aspect of getting results. Without this part of the equation nothing is realistically possible. It’s true that you need a goal, a sense of direction to work towards, but you can plan your path to your hearts content, but if you don’t then take action, all that planning isn’t going to materialise into your reality.

We have all been guilty of procrastinating, this often manifests as over-planning. keeping busy devising a goal, and perfecting a plan of action, then tweaking and re-tweaking.

Get Results: Doing is the greatest teacher
Get Results: Doing is the greatest teacher

Ultimately it’s prudent to have a goal, fashion a plan that can best be described as a “minimum viable outline plan”. Something that gives you a sense of direction, so that you’re not floating around aimlessly but allows you to retain some level of flexibility going forward.

You should progress with a open mind and open heart, and learn from your experience moving forward.

Successful software developers have long since understood the value of producing a minimum viable product, getting it out in the market, and enhancing it via feedback from customers. That way the market helps in the development process in a real world environment for which it was intended. This approach prevents wasted time developing and realising later it has been overdeveloped or developed in the wrong aspects. Letting the end user decide what they want makes sense commercially. Think of it as a collaboration between developer and customer.

And so it should be as you move forwards towards your goal, let the real world give you feedback as you progress. You take action and the world around you reacts in all sorts of unforeseen ways. Whether it be serendipitous encounters with influential individuals, or insights you could never of expected had you not taken action.

Purposeful right action is an even better way to describe it, because you are working towards something, you measure your progress or lack of, tweak and test as you go. Think of it as if you were learning a skill, lets take driving for instance, your instructor watches what you do, informs you when doing something wrong, watches you do it again, corrects if necessary or lets you know you’ve completed the manoeuvre correctly.

It’s true to say that some people are more naturally talented then others, they have physical attributes that might make it easier for them to be successful, but natural talent is just a head start, whether or not you are naturally talented there is no doubt that taking action or practice has it’s also known improves performance.

The 10 thousand hour rule is routinely quoted  as being the time it takes to become an expert in most endeavours, a 20 hour rule is also quoted as being the time it take to become proficient at something. The fact is the more you purposely practice or “do” something the better you will get at it.

Ask the focus question as a compass

A good way of focusing your actions so that you don’t waste time doing none important tasks and as a result make sure you’re taking “right” action at all times is to ask this question…

“What’s the one thing you can do now such by doing it, everything else will easier or unnecessary?”

get results: what's the one thing you can do now such by doing it, everything else will be easier or unneccessary
get results: what’s the one thing

It’s a great question for bringing some perspective to each situation you find yourself in, using like you would a compass, when you feel lost or confused about what needs doing next.

Mini-goals

Another way of ensuring the action you take today is moving you towards your goal is setting up mini-goals, that line up with one another like a pathway to your end goal. for instance have weekly goals that that leads towards achieving a monthly goal, that leads to a 6 monthly goal, that leads to a yearly goal that leads towards a 3 year goal and so on. Line each mini-goal up like you would when domino toppling, knock your weekly goals down and that automatically knocks the monthly goal down and so on.

Summary

So TAKING ACTION is an essential step in achieving any goal, it is probably the most important step, but taking action without direction and purpose is rather like floating at sea without a rudder. Have a goal and take action towards that goal. Have an outline plan but know that you should allow some flexibility as you go. Keep focus by asking the focus question, and use mini goals to keep you heading in the right direction. oh yes and enjoy the journey. Life is a journey, it isn’t a destination after all.

For more articles about TAKING ACTION, click here.

Taking Action

Get Results: take action
Get Results: Take Action

The “why” of taking action

The most important part of any plan or goal is actually “taking action“. Without this crucial step nothing will come to fruition. A dream is but a dream unless you move to make it a reality. It’s not just about taking action, it’s taking action in the right way. Doing the important things that need to be done to carry out the plan and achieve your desired goal is what’s necessary. If you can act with purpose, make sure you are doing the important things in a productive manner you cannot fail to make progress. Throughout this post I am referring to “taking action” in a business sense, although many of the principles can be used for personal goals/plans with little adjustment.

Don’t let fear stop you

Sounds simple doesn’t it. Well it is as long as we don’t allow fear to overtake us and sabotage our actions. The fear of failing, the fear of rejection and the fear of disappointment are our enemies in such situations. They show themselves in the form of procrastination, indecision, overwhelm, insecurity and self doubt. To overcome these enemies we must re-frame them in our minds, believe we are good enough, not fear failure, but embrace it as a necessary component of making progress. If you have never failed at anything, you have never pushed yourself to your boundaries of your capability. Imagine your life inside a bubble: only by pushing past the boundary of that bubble can you make it bigger. A bigger bubble equals a bigger life. Quite often the fear of something is far worse than the actual experience of it, so get  out of your head and get on with taking action.

Overcoming obstacles

We are sure to come across obstacles along the journey. Obstacles are part of the learning process, they test us and our plans. We should be refining and improving our plans as we move along our journey. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it, so difficulty is a barrier to entry for our competition also, and means that the weaker ones are weeded out along the way. You’re ahead of 90% of the population by even making a start, so take strength from that fact and push on. Use problem solving techniques to overcome difficult-to-solve obstacles, and look for “role models” to find better ways of doing things and overcome things that get in your way. Look at the systems, models, habits and relationships that successful people employ(ed) on their path to success. Research these and test them for yourself. Use the acronym M.A.R.S.H to remember these important areas of study.

  • Models
  • And
  • Relationships
  • Systems
  • Habits

Models  – Business models are an area of study in themselves. It’s important to understand how businesses do what they do, the nine building blocks of business models include:

  • Core capabilities: The capabilities and competencies necessary to execute a company’s business model.
  • Partner network: The business alliances which complement other aspects of the business model.
  • Value configuration: The Value Configuration describes the arrangement of activities and resources that are necessary to create value for the customer.
  • Value proposition: The products and services a business offers. Quoting Osterwalder (2004), a value proposition “is an overall view of .. products and services that together represent value for a specific customer segment. It describes the way a firm differentiates itself from its competitors and is the reason why customers buy from a certain firm and not from another.”
  • Target customer: The target audience for a business’ products and services.
  • Distribution channel: The means by which a company delivers products and services to customers. This includes the company’s marketing and distribution strategy.
  • Customer relationship: The links a company establishes between itself and its different customer segments. The process of managing customer relationships is referred to as customer relationship management.
  • Cost structure: The monetary consequences of the means employed in the business model. A company’s DOC.
  • Revenue: The way a company makes money through a variety of revenue flows. A company’s income.

There are so many examples of business models

  • Auction business model
  • Bricks and clicks business model
  • Collective business models
  • Cutting out the middleman model
  • Direct sales model
  • Distribution business models, various
  • Franchise
  • Freemium business model
  • Industrialization of services business model
  • Low-cost carrier business model
  • Loyalty business models
  • Monopolistic business model
  • Multi-level marketing business model
  • Network effects business model
  • Online auction business model
  • Online content business model
  • Premium business model
  • Professional open-source model
  • Pyramid scheme business model
  • Razor and blades business model (bait and hook)
  • Servitization of products business model
  • Subscription business model
  • Value Added Reseller model
  • Unbundling business model
  • The long tail business model
  • Multi sided platform model
  • Free as a business model
  • Open business model

Look for alternative ways of doing things and thinking “outside the box”. Look at other industries and see if it can be ripped and piveted for your purposes.

Relationships – Probably one of the best ways of getting what you want is by forming relationships with others. None of us are an island and we all need to develop good personal and working relationships. Form relationships with like minded people that can help you and you can help in return. There has to be some form of mutual exchange for any relationship to flourish. So don’t fall into the trap of forming relationships for pure selfish gain. Form them to improve the lives of all involved and nurture them with genuine concern and caring. Win win situations are the only sustainable option we have, otherwise eventually the one getting the raw end of the deal is going to feel used and unappreciated and move on, it’s just a matter of time. Think about how you can add value to other people’s lives in every aspect of yours. We all admire people that put others first. For example, I once had a guy, who I had never met, design me a website because he just “wanted to help me out”, he is now a good friend of mine and I still haven’t forgot that gesture. I have done similar myself since, and it feels great to do something special for another human being out of the blue.

Systems – Famous systems include franchises such as McDonald’s, where they can afford to employ lots of young adults with little or no work or life experience to work in a multi million pound fast food business and produce consistent food products time and time again. How do they do this? Well they have very efficient systems of food processing and product delivery that give consistent results. Systems include procedures, processes, courses of action or methods that achieve a specific result, consistently.

Habits – Habits are actions we do automatically, without thinking about them. We can form good or bad habits. Habits are formed with practice and doing and thinking things in a certain way over and over again.

Use goal setting to control the direction of actions.  Taking action without goal setting is like driving around a town without having somewhere to go. So use goal setting to focus your actions like a compass, and move you in a direction that will lead to a better life.

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Walking Towards your Goal

 

Get Results: walking towards your goal
Get Results: Walking towards your goal

Hazel and I recently went for a lovely walk around Entwistle and Wayoh reservoirs which took us approx 100 mins to walk the 9 km distance, and I thought of how that walk was almost a metaphor for the road to business success.

When we first started it look such a long way, Hazel asked “Are we going to walk all the way around it?” but as I’m trying to lose weight at the moment, I thought it would do me good to do it. It reminded me of setting off with a business goal in mind that may cause us to question ourselves “Is this goal too big for me?” or “Can I do this?” Just making a start is half of the battle in these circumstances, make a start and see what happens.

Get Results: walking towards your goal
Get Results: Walking towards your goal

As we walked around the reservoir we just took it one step at a time, not big steps but definite ones, one after the other. We were admiring the scenery as we went, it was such a lovely day. Before we knew it we had travel approx 4000 steps (according to our mobile phone app) when we turned back to see the distance we’d travelled we were surprised at our progress. It hardly seemed any time at all, yet those small steps had added up, partly because of our consistency of walking and partly because we were enjoying the walk so much. As in business if you take the important steps towards your goal, and try to get some enjoyment from the journey, you will be surprised how quickly you can make progress.

As we progressed along the pathway we found lots of alternative routes that went off into the surrounding woods, some of which looked rather interesting, but we stuck to our aim of going around the water’s edge. In business we face lots of distractions, that try to lure us from our main path. Beware of these time wasters. Stick to the quickest route to your destination otherwise you might find yourself lost and wasting time and effort, leaving you without the energy to get to your goal

Sometimes our path may be blocked and we are forced temporarily off route, and this is ok, we just have to take a diversion and get back on course as soon as we can.

As we passed the halfway stage of our walk we got a second wind of energy which seemed to add a spring into our step. There seemed to be a building momentum pushing us towards our destination. In business you find that the same thing seems to come to your aid after you’ve gone so far, pushing you forwards, or is it your goal pulling you to it?

When we finished after an hour and half or so, we had walked close to 9 km, not that far you may say, but for me, who has back trouble when walking, I thought it was a great achievement. I felt pleased that we had done it but was surprised how quickly we had done it and how easy it had seemed after all. Again in business you will find that sometimes goals, which seemed such long shots when you started out are indeed much easier to achieve that you worried they would be. But you’ll never know until you actually give it a go.

Summary

  • Set yourself a big goal
  • Formulate a plan of action – the best way to achieve your goal
  • Make a start towards your goal – just do it
  • Avoid distractions
  • If you hit any road blocks take enough of a diversion to get past it and carry on
  • Let momentum push you goal-wards. Successive wins (steps) build and form new habits which will make the journey easier as you go
  • Achieve your goal, enjoy your sense of achievement and use this to set new bigger goals and repeat the cycle

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Plan Less Do More

Get Results: plan less do more
Get Results: Plan less do more

Sometimes it pays to spend less time planning and more time doing.

Much of the popular advice about undertaking a new project advocates doing lots of planning. It’s important to ensure you align any new project with your life goal, so you know you’re undertaking it for the right reasons. You don’t want to get to the end and discover you feel empty and unfulfilled, having just successful completed your project.

Having said that, I have always found greater effectiveness comes from the actual “doing stage”, the experimenting bit, if you like. Getting your hands dirty, testing things out, failing and learning from that failure, tweaking and testing again. I find this way of working far more interesting and insightful.

Don’t get me wrong, having an outline plan is fine, a general direction to aim for, making sure you have an end goal that you truly want and believe in. The finishing line is important otherwise you’re like a rudderless boat floating around aimlessly and without any purpose and as a result little desire, or motivation to do anything constructively. Not having a sense of purpose takes the fun out of life. Human nature is inspired by ambition and striving, and as long as it’s done positively and without desiring power over others, or knocking others down, it’s a good thing. “A rising tide lifts all boats”.

Some years ago organisers did an interesting experiment where they pitched kindergarten children against MBA Harvard graduates and asked both groups to build the tallest structure they could within a time limit, using sticks, tape, and string, placing a marshmallow on top. The graduates took the task seriously, taking a highly analytical approach, debating how best to use the string, tape and sticks to achieve maximum altitude. For all the planning and construction, they ran out of time and were unsuccessful. The kindergarten children on the other hand, just got on with building, if it didn’t work they quickly tried something else, they got to give it a lot more tries than the graduates. They learned from their mistakes as they went along, instead of trying to figure out everything in advance. They won! They were more efficient in using the time they had available to them.

When it comes to making progress with a difficult task in uncertain conditions, there is no substitute for quickly trying things out to see what works. As soon as you think of a possible combination, try it to see how it will work.

In a rapidly changing world we must become better experimenters. Coming up with ideas, building and testing those ideas. With technological advancement it is often less expensive to try out your ideas than to figure out if you should try them out.