4 Powerful Ways to Imagine Your Success into Reality

2021-05-30 ~ adminlife

Everyone has big dreams. Everyone wants to be successful. Maybe you see yourself making an Oscars acceptance speech or winning the Nobel Prize. Perhaps you want to be a successful entrepreneur or an elite athlete.

Whether you want to be winning an Olympic medal or making your first million, you can use the power of visualization to make your dreams of success a reality.

Picture Yourself Winning

Just wanting to be successful isn’t enough. You have to be able to taste your success. Picture yourself being offered that promotion, being congratulated by friends and family, seeing your new business cards.

Make your success as real and detailed as you can. How good does it feel?

Find Your Trigger

Finding your own personal success trigger can be a powerful way to keep the momentum going and your energy high. Write down your big goal, whether it’s winning an Oscar or scholarship, or running your own business. Make it a positive statement that is straightforward and concise. For example, “I will be promoted to Vice President next year.”

Look at your trigger statement every day. Maybe make it your computer wallpaper or your smartphone’s lock screen. When Jim Carrey was a young actor trying to make it big, he famously wrote himself a $10million check dated far into the future. When that day came, he was offered $10million for his role in Dumb and Dumber.

Remember that story when you see your trigger statement and think of how good it will feel to achieve your goal.

Create A Vision Board

Vision boards help to make your dreams concrete. You can use pictures, photos, affirmations, and quotes to create a picture of the life you want.

A vision board can be a poster, a Pinterest board, a whiteboard, or a journal. Make you sure you keep your vision board where you can see it every day and add to it when you need to or when you find a new photo or quote that really speaks to you.

Feed Your Dream

You can make your visualization even more potent by nourishing it with positivity. Don’t put all the good feelings in the future but feed your dream with happy memories. Think of times when you felt happy, successful, and content with your life.

These positive images reinforce to your mind that you have already proven you can have a happy, fulfilled life. Keep negativity at bay by reminding yourself that you have done it, you are doing it, you can do it!

Finding success involves keeping your mind positive that your goals are achievable. If you set your goals properly, this will be less of an issue. There is still the possibility that you may be less than successful because you really can’t picture your success vividly.

When you set S.M.A.R.T. goals, and use visualization, success is almost guaranteed.

Book a 15-minute “Get to know you” call by clicking the blue button below

and we can start the process of setting your goals and moving you towards the best year of your life.

To your success

Michael

Photo by Erin Song on Unsplash

Behaviour vs. Outcome-Based Goals

2021-05-02 ~ adminlife

We all know that goal-oriented people are more successful, happier, and more productive. But setting and keeping goals is a skill, and like any skill, there’s a right way to do it. One thing you might find helpful is separating your goals into behaviour-based and outcome-based models. There are a few differences between the two, and knowing which is which can be key.

Behaviour-Based Goals

Behaviour-based goals are typically changes you make to how you act. For instance, handling stress better, being nicer to others, and spending less time procrastinating are all examples of behaviour-based goals. They focus on how you personally feel and behave, rather than just looking purely at the outcome of your actions.

Behaviour-based goals play into outcome-based goals, but they aren’t the same. When you change how you think and feel, often you’ll notice a change in results. But that’s not the focus, it’s just a pleasant side-effect.

In order to make behaviour-based goals, you’ll need to reflect on how you feel when you’re completing a certain task. Do you get snippy with coworkers in the mornings, or feel tired when you’re trying to meet a deadline? Focusing on the way you feel when you aren’t performing well, then making a concrete effort to change can help to make you more pleasant and productive.

Outcome-Based Goals

Outcome-based goals are changes you make to your performance. For instance, answering your emails faster, reducing the number of errors you make, and getting projects done on time are all outcome-based goals. They focus on the outcome of your actions, rather than how you feel about performing your tasks.

Outcome-based goals tend to be easier to quantify. You can count the number of emails you respond to before lunch, and you can keep track of the amount of time you spend on a certain project. For this reason, most people focus on making outcome-based goals. After all, your progress is so much simpler to quantify.

Making Them Work Together

The real key to success is melding behaviour-based goals with outcome-based goals. Often you can get to the root of a problem by changing your behaviour, and then watch as your outcomes change. Sometimes it’s hard to separate the two, and that’s okay. Just don’t lose sight of the fact that your performance is a mix of both. Having the right mindset is just as important as working hard if you want to succeed.

Goals need to be set and you have to believe fully in them. Whether they are behaviour based or outcome based, you can’t achieve them if you don’t believe in them.

Book a 15-minute “Get to know you” call now

and start discussing what goals you want to set and how to set goals them as well as other areas of success.

To your success

Michael

Photo by Ronnie Overgoor on Unsplash

Do Your Goals Support Your Values?

2021-01-04 ~ adminlife

If you’re struggling to be as successful as you’d like to be, there’s a great chance that a discrepancy exists between your goals and your values. If our goals are antithetical to our values, success is all but impossible. We don’t like to behave in ways that are counter to our values. If a mismatch exists, something has to give.

If you’re forever coming up short when it comes to achieving your dreams, your values might be at odds with your goals.

Use these techniques to set goals that support your values:

List your current values. Have you ever taken the time to examine your values? Most people have never given their values a second thought. This is a shame, because a person’s values guide their thinking, decisions, and actions.
- Take 30 minutes and list your values. Put them in order of their priority to you.
- Ask yourself if your behaviour is aligned with your values. If there’s a mismatch, what set of values would actually represent your behaviour?
- Most of us have an idealized impression of our intentions, values, and qualities.

What are you trying to accomplish? What are your goals in life? What do you want to accomplish? Do you want to be wealthy? Get a six-pack? Write a screenplay? Save the whales? Build a real estate empire? The first step to any great success is to identify your objectives.
How do your current values impact your goals? If your values and goals don’t match, the odds of success are dismal without something changing.

- For example, if you believe that wealthy people are fundamentally bad, you’ll never accumulate a significant amount of wealth.
- If comfort is a high priority for you, that six-pack will never materialize.
- Do you value having a lot of leisure time? A goal that requires a lot of work isn’t going to happen.
- Look at your goals and look at your values. Do your goals support those values? Do your values support your goals?

What would be the perfect set of values to support your goals? Imagine you could build a person from scratch that would be perfect for accomplishing your goals. What values and qualities would they possess? How would you be different if you had these values?

- Think about the people you know that have accomplished what you want to accomplish. How would you describe them?

How close can you come to matching those values? How well can you rearrange your values to match that ideal set of values? The closer you’re able to come, the greater the odds of your success.
Reinforce the values that matter. Imagine that your goal is to save $20,000 for a down payment on a home. Let’s suppose that you’ve determined that you need to be someone that values saving money over spending. How can you build this value in yourself and make it a part of you?

- Prove to yourself that you’re that type of person: For example, pick up pennies you find on the ground and save them. Cut coupons. Find new ways of dealing with stress other than shopping. Save part of your income as soon as your paycheck hits your bank account.
- When you keep proving to yourself over and over again that you possess a value, those actions will build and reinforce that value.

Are your goals and values a good match? It’s important that they are. When a mismatch exists, it’s important to either alter your values or your goals. There’s only so much resistance a person can overcome. Success is much easier when your values and your intentions are highly compatible.

To your success

Michael

P.S. If you are looking for more information on confidence and motivation you can join my Facebook groups Developing Confidence in Yourself or Confidence Coaching. For success articles you can join You Are Success Life Coach.

These groups will enable you to learn more about all aspects of confidence, motivation and success.

You can also contact me at michael@coachmichaelw.com to arrange a discovery session to Determine Your Primary Life Goal or to discover your Limiting Beliefs that can help to make your life more successful.

Feature Photo by icon0.com from Pexels

Improving Follow-Through on Your New Year’s Resolution

2020-12-21 ~ adminlife

By the time we reach a certain age, we understand the real point behind our New Year’s resolutions. It’s admirable to make real efforts to improve yourself. Yet, for many, making it past February 1^st with your resolution intact just doesn’t happen.

What can you do to ensure you follow through with your New Year’s resolution and ultimately achieve the results you seek?

Consider these suggestions:

Is your resolution realistic, specific and achievable? What about your strategy for achieving it? For example, if losing a certain amount of weight is your goal for the year, it may not be realistic for you to plan on doing it by eating only 1,200 calories per day.

- However, what if your resolution was something like, “Decrease my calorie intake by 10% each week?” Or “Eat 3 fruits daily, one before each meal.” These goals, as you can see, are more realistic, very specific in their plan and frankly, more do-able than simply saying, “Lose 50 pounds” or “Eat 1,200 calories a day.”
- If your resolution or method of achieving it isn’t realistic, change it today for better success.

Think about ways to keep your resolution in mind. Write down your resolution in your journal, jot it on a note, and place it on your refrigerator. Record it in your calendar. You can even keep your resolution written down on a paper on the front seat of your car. When your resolution is in your thoughts every day, you’re more likely to follow through with it.
Ask your spouse or friends to bring up your goal frequently. After all, people close to you want you to be successful in your goals. It can be as non-threatening as, “So, how are you doing on working toward your New Year’s resolution today?”

- Discuss your struggles, plans and daily successes with people who love you. There’s no way you can just forget about your New Year’s resolution when you discuss it often with those who matter.

Start early each day. Set up a resolution so you can do something related to the goal first thing in the morning. Since most people are at their freshest and most energetic in the morning, it’s good to be able to achieve something related to your resolution right after you get out of bed.

- If your resolution has something to do with your nutritional intake, eating a balanced breakfast will get your day off to a great start.
- In the event you’ve resolved to get more exercise, getting in 20 or 30 minutes of exercise would be a great start to your day and respect your resolution.
- Resolutions to delve more into a subject or learn a new language can be achieved by studying for a half-hour first thing in the morning.
- Plan to take a step toward your resolution in the mornings. This way, you’ll start the day off with your resolution in mind and feel positive and successful all day.

Be flexible about your New Year’s resolution. Give yourself permission to tweak your resolution as time goes by. Maybe you’re unable to drop calorie intake from 2,500 calories in a day down to 1,500. So, don’t beat yourself up if you consume 2,200 calories a day. In a few weeks, you can cut another 100 calories.

- Allow yourself to make desired changes related to your resolution gradually. The more flexible you are, the more likely you’ll achieve your resolution sometime during the year.

Staying with your New Year’s resolution as long as it takes to be successful is possible. Just apply the above strategies: make it realistic and specific, keep your resolution in mind, ask friends and family to talk to you about your goal, start first thing in the morning, and be flexible about your resolution to achieve your goal.

Stick to your New Year’s resolution to experience one of your most inspiring years ever!

To your success

Michael

These groups will enable you to learn more about all aspects of confidence, motivation and success.

Feature Photo by freestocks.org from Pexels

Simple Guide to Setting Realistic Goals for the New Year

2020-12-14 ~ adminlife

The New Year is the perfect time to start fresh. If there’s any aspect of your life that you’d like to improve, set some clear and attainable goals for yourself that will help you get there.

Take It Slow

Work towards your goal one piece at a time. It’s important to take it slow and not take on too much at once. The main reason that some people fail when it comes to their New Year’s goals is because they fail to plan out a realistic path.

Follow Through With a Plan

It’s easy to say: “I want to lose 50 pounds” or “I want to learn a musical instrument.” Keep in mind that big goals like these will take some time and effort. Diets are hard to start because you may feel unmotivated or hungry. Musical instruments require time to master, and you may start with weeks of just learning notes before getting to any fun melodies.

Remember that the beginning is tough. Muster up the courage and enthusiasm to continue with your efforts. Remember that most people give up, but you’re not most people, are you?

You’re different because, unlike most people, you’re going to create a clear and realistic plan to take you right to success. If you’re going to lose 50 pounds, define how you’re going to lose those pounds. Are you starting an exercise routine? Are you going to join Weight Watchers or count calories?

You know that you won’t lose the weight quickly; it’s a steady loss that brings success. Even if you’re short a couple of pounds on one of your short-term goals, you can revise your plan and kick up the pace, or just continue on your path because you’ll reach your 50 pound goal before the year is out. That’s what you’ll be able to accomplish with a solid plan in place.

Be Real

You have to stay realistic when it comes to your New Year’s goals. The holidays are a joyful time, and often times you’ll feel motivated to achieve something big. Know that you can achieve big things, but there are also only 24 hours in a day.

Avoid making goals that would take more than a year to complete. If you want to make a long-term goal like this, break it up into parts and give yourself a realistic plan for your first year goal.

Visualize the Outcome

When you run into snags in the road, as you’re bound to in life from time to time, it will help to visualize yourself reaching your end goal. Visualizing it makes it feel real and motivates you to continue to work hard to make it happen.

The Right Attitude

If you’re practicing the right attitude, you can go far. It’s true that all you need to do is believe in yourself. You’ve probably realized that if you don’t believe that you can accomplish something, you simply won’t. How can you expect to achieve great things if you don’t believe in yourself?

An optimistic attitude is critical to your success. Think about how you felt when you first set your New Year’s goal. Chances are that you had an excellent attitude, so try to maintain that mindset throughout your journey to success with your goal.

Once you’ve determined a realistic goal and divided it up into short, achievable tasks, you’re bound for success as long as you take action to complete each step. Go ahead and make that New Year’s resolution, knowing that this year is going to be your most successful yet!

To your success

Michael

These groups will enable you to learn more about all aspects of confidence, motivation and success.

You can also contact me at michael@coachmichaelw.com to arrange a session to talk about what we can do together to make your life more successful.

Feature Photo by Breakingpic from Pexels