By: Xs & Os of Success CEO Jay Ship
If it’s ever been a struggle to create what you want most in life, consider that your goals and the strategy to achieve them may not serve you best. To set and achieve your goals with minimal effort, start with upgrading your attitude and your strategy to achieve greater results. Becoming the best version of yourself will also enable you to be a better teammate at home, at work and in the community.
To begin, here are ten strategies that will enable you to maximize your potential and manage your life.
1) Quit Tolerating
To attract new and better opportunities and results, first, clear out what’s clogging up your life to create the space for the better stuff to show up. List the things you’re putting up with that limit productivity, cause stress and waste time and energy. Then, determine what needs to happen to eliminate these tolerances. If you no longer accept being dragged down by unwanted events, problems or other people’s behavior, you’ll stop wasting time managing situations that shouldn’t be there anyway.
2) Play Your Game
The best game to play is the one where you make up your own rules. If you’re encountering resistance in reaching some goals, chances are it’s either something you really don’t want to be doing, an old goal that may not serve you or you are operating from someone else’s agenda! Take the time to discover what YOU truly want by aligning your goals with the priorities in your life rather than the “shoulds” (I should do this…I should do that…).
3) Create A Winning Routine
Are you busy with tasks? Feel that you’re fighting the clock every day, week or month? Design a weekly routine that complements your goals so you can focus on the activities that support your objectives and enhance your lifestyle. This includes planning for the unplanned as well. Develop a healthier relationship with time by underpromising on personal/professional deadlines so that time becomes your ally instead of your adversary. To develop a highly effective routine, get organized, eliminate distractions, reduce stress and manage your tasks in order to reach and exceed your goals. (I have not even come close to mastering this one!)
4) Have Fun
Let’s face it; this isn’t our practice life! Are you doing the things that bring you the most joy? Find time every day that’s yours. Shift your binoculars around to magnify your achievements rather than what you didn’t do. Otherwise, when’s the big payoff?
5) Deepen Your Learning
While we attract what we need to learn, we often resist the lessons. If similar problems keep reappearing, we missed the lesson. To accelerate success, learn from every experience and person in order to grow and move onto a new and better path.
6) Expand Your Vision
What does your ideal life look like? The fact is, we never grow past what we feel is possible. Let go of your current perceptions that are inhibiting your ability to explore greater possibilities and achieve more. Clarify what success looks like in every area of your life (career, relationships, health, environment, etc.). It’s a lot easier to create something great when you know exactly what you’re looking for. Besides, it’s your canvas. What masterpiece do you want to create? WE GET WHAT WE FOCUS ON!
7) Transcend Your Beliefs
Ever hear the saying, “Freedom is not free?” This holds true for our thoughts as well. Limiting beliefs often keep us prisoner, preventing us from creating greater successes. Your outlook determines your outcome. So if you believe, “The past is responsible for the quality of my life today,” “Success requires sacrifice,” or “This is as good as it gets,” consider challenging these assumptions and replacing them with healthier ones that would better serve you. Upgrade and direct your beliefs rather than allow them to control you.
8) Do Complete Work
You don’t have to achieve every goal at once. Instead of stopping and starting something, pick one thing you want to change, create or finish and commit to seeing it through to completion. Then, move on to the next project. Otherwise, consider that you may be an adrenaline junkie and love the rush associated when working on overdrive. To prevent sporadic results and a pile of unfinished projects, get off the adrenaline train and start creating the momentum that produces consistent, long lasting results.
9) Focus On the Present
Although planning for the future is productive, during our quest to achieve more we often lose sight of what is occurring today, preventing us from enjoying the hidden gifts or treasures that are already present in our lives. Keep focused on what is occurring now as opposed to what happened yesterday or what will be in the future. Live for today while planning for tomorrow.
10) Fear-less
Every year we want more but fear prevents us from taking risks, so we continually produce similar results. Since fear is the negative assumption of the outcome, shift your focus towards the positive outcome or what you DO want to manifest, instead of what you are looking to avoid. Get outside your comfort zone!
