Tag: goals

Quick wins are different than big wins

Make sure you balance between getting quick, easy wins and working to overcome a difficult challenge. Getting those quick wins can provide a boost to your energy, but if you only focus on the little wins, you won’t ever achieve the unrelated big wins, which are often going to take much longer and require more consistent effort.

The best way to win in each scenario is to tie the little wins to the big wins. What small project can you conquer that will act as a stepping stone to winning the bigger projects? If they are related, you can directly work on one project goal while indirectly bringing you closer to your other project goal(s). If the two projects are unrelated, you will have to make time to complete both projects.

Changing your mindset

Ask yourself, “what’s the worst that can happen?” Often, our decisions don’t boil down to life or death, so don’t make them out to be more than they are.

Default to saying, “why not?” Instead of being pessimistic and thinking, “why should I do X?” You should say, “why not?” If you default to yes and then look for a reason why you shouldn’t (primarily looking at health and safety), you open yourself up to the possibility of experiencing new things. But if you never try anything new, your life will become boring and stagnant.

Instead of saying, “I can’t” ask yourself “how can I?” Think outside of the box. If someone else has done something, you can too. But what will it take for you to get there? How can you achieve a specific goal?

Changing your mindset – being optimistic and believing in yourself – is the best path to unlocking your potential. There’s always bumps in the road. Things won’t go as planned. But as long as you know this going into your next endeavor, plan for the worst, and hope for the best, you’ll be alright. Just keep moving forward.

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with…Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” – Jim Rohn

Does your environment support your goals? Are you hanging out with success-minded people? Are they fair, open-minded, and a positive influence? Take a look at who you spend the most time with. Do their behaviors align with what you have in mind?

When trying to determine what path you and your friends/colleagues are on, you have to look at the big picture. Don’t only look at monetary successes. Money doesn’t make someone happy. It’s one part of the equation, but you also have to take into account family/social life, physical and mental health, etc. Are your friends on the same track as you or are they heading down a path you don’t want to go? If it’s the former, they may be further ahead or further behind you, but if you’re all working towards a common destination, you can all learn, grow, and get to your destination together. If it’s the latter, you should try to help them get back on track (if that’s what they want) or you may need to let that relationship go.

Lastly, don’t make this transactional. Life is about relationships. You should love hanging out with these people! If you don’t love talking with them and spending time with them, why are you doing it? Don’t abuse your relationships or try to “trade up” who you’re hanging out with just to get further ahead in life. Ideally, you will be hanging out with some people who are already where you want to be heading. They can almost serve as a mentor to you (but don’t call them that unless you want to freak them out). You should also help to guide those whom you are in front of, trying to pave a path for their future success. Being at both ends of the spectrum (being the mentee AND the mentor) will keep you motivated, inspired, and still focused on giving back rather than only trying to take from those ahead of you.

Having a team to go far

I’ve always enjoyed the quote, “if it is to be, it’s up to me.” This implies that if you want something done, you have to take action to put yourself in the position to get it. YOU have the power to change your life. It may take a while, and it may never come to fruition, but it will NEVER happen if you don’t do something about it. But this quote is very self-centered and, in my eyes, incomplete.

Recently, I read one of Gary Keller’s books and he modifies the quote slightly to, “If I want it to be, it starts with me.” At first, I didn’t think anything of it. It is changed a little from the initial quote, but I attributed the change more to an accidental misquote – almost like how the message always seems to change just a little from person-to-person when playing a game of telephone. But after giving it more thought, they really are different ideas. With Gary’s quote, it still says that if you want something to happen, you have to be the catalyst of change. I agree with this. But what Gary’s quote implies is that change only starts with you. If you have big enough goals, you’ll never be able to do everything by yourself. You’ll need to build a team around you.

This brings me to the last quote of the day, an African proverb, which states, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” You can move very quickly if you’re working alone because you don’t have to take time to try to influence others why your idea is best for the company. You can pivot at a moment’s notice when you’re working alone, not bogged down with bureaucracy. But you will eventually reach your capacity, whether it’s your time, financial, emotional, physical, mental, etc. We all have limits as individuals, but if you construct a team to “fill the gaps” where you are weak, you can prevail over those limitations! If you have a team of all stars to help overcome your capacities, you can achieve huge goals that you never could have by yourself.

So, instead of trying to be a superhero, doing everything yourself, work to build a team around you to reach the really lofty goals. It will eventually save you time and frustration, and if you enjoy their company, you will have some fun along the way.