There is great value in being able to stand on your own two feet. There is nothing negative about self sufficiency. That said, there is also nothing wrong with asking for something if you need it. Often people are so adverse to asking for things, that opportunities can slip away!
This week we will start to get comfortable asking people for things that we want and/or need. This will be a huge step out of some people’s comfort zones!
One way to strengthen traits in ourselves is by “acting as if” we already have them. This is also a means of stepping back, looking at our usual behavior, and deciding how to act differently.
The topic for this week/month is the idea of acting as if.
If you haven’t heard this before, just let me explain exactly what we’re getting into here. If you have heard of it before, let this be a reminder to a very powerful lesson that you can and should be implementing on an ongoing basis.
A lot of people often worry about certain traits that they lack, and you may even obsess over them.
For example, maybe you don’t think of yourself as confident, and then you look outside of yourself at your immediate circle of friends or maybe some coworkers or colleagues and you see somebody who on the outside generally appears to be pretty confident.
You look at them and think, “Man, I really wish I could be confident like that. If only I was more confident, maybe I could have the success that they have.”
If you’ve done that, you need to stop and think about this for a second. Sometimes the best way to strengthen these kinds of traits in ourselves is to simply act as if we already have them.
What does that mean? Look at that confident person and you see they naturally have the confidence and you look inside of yourself and maybe you say, “I don’t have the confidence. How could I possibly act as though I have it?”
The truth is, you simply can. If you feel like it, try this. I’m sure you’ve been in a situation in a board room-style setting or classroom-style setting where all the students get a chance to give some input and everybody seems to be giving answers in a confident fashion, but you don’t really feel all that great about it. Maybe you even shy away from giving an answer.
What if in this case, instead you stood up and just pretended like you were confident and spoke as though you had a lot of confidence? Literally just pretending and acting, almost like you’re an actor on a stage.
You’re going to suspend disbelief and for the next minute or two you’re going to act as though you have an abundance of confidence and see what kind of answer comes out.
Here’s the thing. It doesn’t necessarily make you confident in that moment, it doesn’t necessarily cure all of your confidence issues, but it does portray a new era or new image of confidence that you didn’t have before.
A lot of people have reported when trying this that once they started acting that way, that they were able to continue it.
So maybe you try it once in this classroom environment, you stand up and act like you’re confident even though you don’t feel like it, and you realize nobody really caught on.
Well hey, next time they poll the room for a question or answer, try the same thing and see if it happens again, and sure enough it probably will happen again.
You’ll start to realize, “Is it really true that all I need to start acting like I have a certain level of confidence, portraying as though I have this level of confidence and I’ll actually develop that confidence?”
It seems simplistic at a root level, but ultimately this can work for you if you give it a shot.
And this can work beyond just confidence. That’s just an example I’m giving right now, but this can really work in any area of your life.
This week you’re going to concentrate on traits you want to cultivate in yourself, pick some people you admire for their success, and act the way you think they would act.
Do you want a GREAT tip? OK, let me ask you a question, “Why is facing fear just the opposite of building muscle?” Because the more you face your fears, the smaller they get. The more you work on building your muscles, the bigger they get.
Each time you face something that frightens you, it gets easier and easier. Fear will always be with all of us, but it becomes manageable with practice, and it becomes easier to do each time. It’s when we don’t face our fears that they become bigger and bigger until they overwhelm us or even paralyze us. A true and priceless tip, especially if you want to be successful!
This week we’ll explore the nature of fear in general, your fears in particular, and techniques we can use to combat them.
Nothing has more power in achieving success than persistence. It’s obvious, isn’t it? If you don’t persist, you quit. And if you quit, you don’t finish = you don’t succeed.
The good news is that persistence is actually a skill that you can learn and train. The ability to bounce back from failure, and to power through obstacles can be strengthened through use. Persistence is intimately linked to motivation.
Are you bad about starting a big project and then giving up part way through it unless someone is pushing you hard to finish it? It happens to the best of us and it’s not a good feeling to give up. If you’re ready to stop giving up, I have a great little tip for you.
It sounds deceptively simple, but don’t disregard it until you try it. It has gotten me to finish quite a few projects that seemed to take ages. Here it is: Break it down into baby steps.
It doesn’t matter if you’re working your way through a large project at work or are finally tackling that kitchen remodel. Just about anything big you need to get done can be broken into smaller steps. One step in the kitchen remodel might be to pick out a new sink, another would be to tear out the old kitchen floor. You get the idea.
This also works really well when your goal is a little more elusive. Maybe you want to lose 50 pounds, or get yourself into shape to go on a big hike this summer. For those scenarios you may want to break things up into 5 pound weight loss steps, or set up a training schedule that will have you walk 15 miles each week.
As you complete each baby step you’ll feel like you’re moving forward. Seeing progress is a powerful tool to help you continue and stick with it. .
A big project or goal can seem pretty daunting when you look at it and think about it as a whole. Breaking it into smaller steps allows you to focus on just one small attainable goal at a time. Have you heard of the saying “How do you eat an elephant – One bite at a time”? That’s exactly what we’re doing when we’re breaking things down into baby steps. We’re bringing it down to bite-size. Something we can sink our teeth in and not worry about choking on it.
Quick Tip- It’s helpful to write the baby steps or mini-milestones down and keep them in plain view. This helps you focus on the next step and being able to cross it off the list gives you a feeling of accomplishment.
This week will be all about making ourselves more aware about the concept of persistence.
What does accountability have to do with success? Everything. You see, if you’re not accountable for something, you’re not accountable for fixing it. No one can have it both ways. Either you’re pitiful (a victim, everyone else is to blame) or you’re powerful (a victor, you are responsible). You can’t be both. Most people are afraid of taking very much responsibility — they might make a mistake, be embarrassed, suffer a loss, etc. But if they won’t risk taking responsibility, they won’t earn or be entitled to any rewards and they certainly will never achieve the success of their dreams.
This week we will explore accountability, taking responsibility and the best way we can boost accountability – an accountability partner!
Success has everything to do with motivation. One of the most important things anyone can do is find out what truly motivates them. If you remain motivated, you can achieve almost anything you want. It’s no mystery. Achieving your dreams takes more than dreaming; it takes commitment and consistent hard work. Motivation is the key to day in and day out commitment and consistent hard work.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could turn a switch and you’d be fully motivated to do whatever you’re setting out to get accomplished? While there isn’t an easy button, there is a simple little hack or strategy that works just as well. The secret is to figure out your “why”.
Pick something you would like to do, but you’re lacking motivation. Let’s say it’s heading out for a run every morning before work. You have the best intentions, but then the alarm goes off, it’s stll dark outside and all that motivation is out the door instead of you.
This is when it’s time to dig deep. Why do you want to go jogging? Is it to clear your head and get ready for a busy day? Is it to stay in shape so you can have a full and active life for years and years to come? Is it to get healthy so you can be around for your loved ones? Or do you want to get in shape so you can play catch with your kids at the park.
Spend some time to find out what your why is. Once you have that figured out, it really is easy. You just need to constantly remind yourself of your reason why to stay motivated.
Stick a picture or a sticky note on your bathroom mirror to remind you first thing in the morning and last thing at night. If you’re lying in bed contemplating hitting the snooze button a few times instead of going for that run, have a little chat with yourself about your “why”.
Set those running shoes next to the front door before you go to bed and lay out your clothes the night before. Not only are they visual reminders, they also make it a little easier to jump up, get dressed, lace up the shoes and head out the door for that jog.
When your thoughts, feelings, and actions are congruent or focused toward one purpose, you will be motivated to achieve that purpose. In week 2, we’ll discuss several techniques for developing and maintaining motivation.
Imagine yourself a year from now. What do you see? Are things about the same in your life as it is today?
If it hasn’t changed, to be absolutely honest with you, it’s because of you. You didn’t put the things in place to make it change. But you already know that, don’t you?
This week we’re exploring your best vision for your life and the goals that will determine your success in achieving that vision. Take the time to really search your thoughts and feelings to figure out what your ideal life would be.
Please don’t put down what you “think” you should want or what someone else might want for you. If you do, you’ll end up being successful at living someone else’s life! That’s not what you want, right? I thought so. Uncovering your unique vision will lead to you setting up the right goals to bring your vision of your successful self to life.
What is the best version of yourself that you can possibly imagine? Some people are a little shy or embarrassed to say out loud or even think to themselves about their dreams. Please don’t be. You have a birthright to dream your dreams. It’s why you’re here. This is your chance to grab the best life you can imagine. It starts now. My suggestion is to take this week seriously. It might be the most important week of all.
Goals are key the key to success. Writing your goals down and actively pursuing them with thought and zeal, is the simplest way to propel yourself towards success.
Reach enough of your goals and success won’t just be a dream, it will be a by-product.
Motivation is another key ingredient to the success recipe. Identifying what motivates you to strive for excellence is vitally important to success.
Staying motivated is one of the best ways to stay focused on your goals/vision.
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What Is Spam?
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Our No Tolerance Anti-Spam Policy
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CHANGE NOTICE: As with any of our administrative and legal notice pages, the contents of this page can and will change over time. Accordingly, this page could read differently as of your very next visit. These changes are necessitated, and carried out by SuccessWave, in order to protect you and our SuccessWave website. If this page is important to you, you should check back frequently as no other notice of changed content will be provided either before or after the change takes effect.
COPYRIGHT WARNING: The legal notices and administrative pages on this website, including this one, have been diligently drafted by an attorney. We at SuccessWave have paid to license the use of these legal notices and administrative pages on SuccessWave for your protection and ours. This material may not be used in any way for any reason and unauthorized use is policed via Copyscape to detect violators.
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