9 Misconceptions of Success

success

Sometimes it isn’t about what you don’t know. Often, it’s more about being mistaken about the things you’re certain are true. Misconceptions create challenges. What if your preconceived notions about success are incorrect? How might your beliefs about your likelihood of success change?

If your beliefs are accurate, you might find that achieving success is a lot easier than you originally thought. With a fresh set of beliefs, new actions and outcomes can be expected. Success starts with you!

Check out these 9 misconceptions of success:

  1. It’s too late to reach your goals. Many of the world’s most successful individuals didn’t get started until later in life. Consider Colonel Sanders, who started Kentucky Fried Chicken in his sixties.

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  1. Successful people have to work insane hours. While many successful people do work many hours, that’s primarily because they enjoy what they’re doing. But it’s unnecessary to focus all your efforts on work.
    • It’s important to spend time doing things that help you move forward in a positive direction. Sometimes, that even means doing things that make you feel uncomfortable.
  1. It takes a long time to become successful. It depends on what you’re doing. If you want to become a doctor, it does take a while. But many things can be accomplished quickly with a good action plan
  1. You have to play by the rules to succeed. The alternate, “You have to break all the rules to succeed,” is also false. Each situation is unique. You can make up your own rules, as long as you avoid hurting anyone or breaking any laws.
  2. Money isn’t important. Money is very important for those things that require money. Money doesn’t provide emotional support, but it can do a whole lot for you. If you’re unable to pay your bills or buy food, you already know the importance of money.
  3. Success is only about making money. It’s important to have enough money to support your idea of success. But money isn’t everything! Maybe your version of success is about having freedom and enjoying life. Having more money than you need is of questionable value.

  4. You’ll achieve the most success if you do it alone. Success rarely happens in isolation. You’ll probably need help along the way. Partnerships, joint ventures, favors, and mentors are often part of becoming successful. Hopefully, you’ll be able to pay it forward and help someone else on their road to success someday.
  5. If you lack education or come from a certain background, you won’t find success. Successful people come from all backgrounds and levels of education. In fact, a disproportionate number of highly successful people didn’t complete high school!
    • Having a certain background and education can provide different opportunities, but there’s an alternative path to success. History is filled with success stories of those with serious disadvantages.
  1. Success is the goal. Success is the condition of having met your goals. It isn’t a goal in itself.

Success is frequently different than what we think it is. You’ve learned to talk, walk, and read. You’ve made friends and achieved many other things. Use those experiences to lead you down the path to success with your bigger goals.

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To your success

Michael

Michael W

 

 

 

 

P.S. you know that living a life that is in balance is important. When you can balance your work, family, health, relationships, fitness and money, you feel better and can achieve your goals. You have the support of your family and friends which makes life worth living.

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

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Simple Guide to Setting Realistic Goals for the New Year

setting goals

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 practising 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!

You can book your 15-minute “Get to know you” call by clicking on the blue button belowbook nowand we can talk about how we can work together

To your success

Michael

Michael W

 

 

 

P.S. you know that living a life that is in balance is important. When you can balance your work, family, health, relationships, fitness and money, you feel better and can achieve your goals. You have the support of your family and friends which makes life worth living.

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

Confidence and Life Coaching

 

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Set Your Game Plan for the Coming Year

game plan

You probably have goals that you hoped to achieve this year, but didn’t. This time of year, it’s natural to lament about goals you seem to have lost.

Thankfully, your goals don’t have to remain mere dreams. You can take yourself from a path with unachievable goals to one with attainable targets by just changing your approach.

Once you’ve committed to believing in your abilities, you can start to put things in place to actually attain what you’ve set your mind and heart on. And this holiday season is the perfect time to set that game plan.

Use this step-by-step approach to make an effective plan to achieve those goals:

  1. Be thankful for the year’s achievements. Even if you didn’t reach the targets you wanted, there are undoubtedly things that you did accomplish. Take a few moments to run those accomplishments through your mind and give thanks for them. Feel good about yourself. You’ve most likely achieved far more than many others!
  2. Start with a master list. Instead of just dreaming about the things you’d like to achieve in the coming year, take the time to sit down and write them on a master list. Be specific about exactly what you want and how much (make it measurable).

 

  1. Prioritize your goals. By the time you’re done writing, you’ll probably have a list of 20-30 goals. First, arrange your list in the order in which you want to achieve them and then zoom in on the top four or five.

 

  1. Plot and set attainable targets. Now that you’ve identified the four or five most pressing goals, plot out attainable sub-targets for each of these goals and give yourself a timeline to achieve each step.

 

    • Remember that the best way to achieve mammoth goals is to break them down into smaller pieces that you know you can achieve. Now, you know it’s attainable because you’ve figured out how to achieve each step. It’s only a matter of completing each step, one by one. Once you complete your last step, you’ve achieved your big goal!
    • Plan to give yourself a small reward when you’ve successfully conquered each phase of the master plan.

 

  1. Reaffirm your commitment. As the old year is winding down, make some time to read through your list and reaffirm your commitment to achieving these goals in the coming year.
    • With each goal, start by saying, “I reaffirm my commitment to …” and read the details of the goal from beginning to end.
    • By reaffirming your commitment, you officially vow to do what is necessary to achieve the goals, which is a much better place than you were at the start of this year.
    • Commit, also, to actively finding solutions to overcome any challenges that may crop up. When you mentally prepare yourself ahead of time for challenges, they’re not such a shock, and you can focus on solving any constraints and continue moving forward.

 

Now that you’ve changed your approach, you can expect to see a much-improved outcome with each goal you’ve set for yourself. Go get ‘em!

You can book your 15-minute “Get to know you” call by clicking on the blue button belowbook nowand we can talk about how we can work together to help you set your goals for the coming year and plan how you will achieve them

To your success

Michael

Michael W

 

 

 

 

P.S. you know that living a life that is in balance is important. When you can balance your work, family, health, relationships, fitness and money, you feel better and can achieve your goals. You have the support of your family and friends which makes life worth living.

Check out my programs at Confidence and Life Coaching by clicking on the logo below:

Confidence and Life Coaching

 

Photo by STIL on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

4 Powerful Ways to Imagine Your Success into Reality

imagine

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.

  1. 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?

  1. 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.

  1. 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.

  1. 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

Michael W

 

 

 

 

Photo by Erin Song on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

Improving Follow-Through on Your New Year’s Resolution

new year resolutions

 

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 1st 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:

  1. 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.
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  1. 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.
  1. 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

Michael W

 

 

 

 

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.

 

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