Achieving Goals by Improving Your Character. Often a change in character is a crucial part of shifting your identity to become more congruent with your goals and intentions. For example, suppose you want to become more successful in your career, and you set a goal to reach a certain position. Maybe the main reason you haven’t yet reached that position is that your character attributes are out of sync with it. Perhaps you aren’t disciplined enough, confident enough, or resourceful enough to get there.
Once you can identify the character qualities you’re missing, you can consciously develop them. But as long as you remain in the dark about these deficiencies, it will be tough to reach your goal because you won’t yet be the kind of person who can achieve it. Select one of your goals or intentions, especially one where your progress has been disappointing. Ask yourself the following questions: What would a person with more self-esteem do in my situation? Feel free to scan this list of values for more ideas. Cause-Effect vs. Intention-Manifestation. One of the key models for goal achievement is that of cause and effect.
This model says that your goal is an effect to be achieved, and your task is to identify and then create the cause that will produce the desired effect, thereby achieving your goal. Sounds simple enough, right? However, the main problem with this model is that nearly everyone seriously misunderstands it. And that misunderstanding comes from not knowing what a “cause” really is. You might assume that the cause of an effect would be a series of physical and mental actions leading up to that effect. To an outside observer, that certainly appears to be the case. However, within your own consciousness, you know that the series of action steps is not the real cause. What’s the real cause? Where does that decision arise from? Missing this very simple distinction has contributed to quite a number of failed goals. If you want to achieve a goal you’ve set, the most crucial part is to DECIDE to manifest it.
So what is your goal? Setting Your Primary Focus. At the start of each new year, in lieu of creating a New Year’s resolution, my tradition is to select an area of primary focus for the coming year. Whereas a New Year’s resolution may succeed or fail, the choice of primary focus endures throughout the year. Usually the choice is obvious enough that remembering it is a no-brainer.
How to choose an area of primary focus To choose your area of primary focus, ask yourself this question: If I were to focus on improving one area of my life this year (health, finances, relationships, etc.), what single area would have the greatest overall impact? Most of the time, you’ll find one area of your life lagging behind the others. From a purely objective sense, the area may not be horrible, but relative to the other parts of your life, it’s the weakest link. What part of your life do you find most lacking? Here’s a sample list of areas from which you might select your primary focus. If your life is weak in many areas, where should you begin? Share it. Ask Steve – Where to Begin Your Path of Personal Growth. There are so many areas I feel I need to work on in terms of my personal growth that I don’t know where to begin. When I look at all the articles you’ve written as well as all the books, CDs, and seminars out there, it’s overwhelming.
Where do I even begin? If you’d asked me this question in 2004, I’d have recommended you begin with goal setting, organizing, and time management. If you’d asked me this question in 2005, I’d have recommended you begin with discovering your purpose. If you ask me this question today, I’ll recommend you ask me in 2007. Seriously though, here are some suggestions. Method #1 works well for all experience levels. #2 is great for beginners. Method 1: Start with your weakest area As a general rule, I recommend you start with whatever area you think is weakest. As the podcast suggests, give each part of your life a rating on a scale of 1-10 for where you feel you are right now (1 = worst, 10 = best imaginable). Method 2: Start with your physical body.
Goals Into Habits. Whenever you set a new goal, you’re unlikely to achieve it unless your habits already support it. If your goal runs afoul of your current habits, you’ll need to change your habits in order to achieve your goal. Suppose you set a goal to write a book, but you aren’t already in the habit of writing on a regular basis (ideally daily). Most likely you’ll never complete the book. That goal will just sit on your to-do list for years. Suppose you set a goal to quit your job and run your own Internet business, but you aren’t in the habit of developing websites. That goal is also unlikely to be achieved. Identify Habits to Support Your Goals When you set a new goal, think about what habits would enable you to put that goal on autopilot, thereby making it a done deal.
It’s usually best to think in terms of daily habits, especially for big goals. It’s also wise to think in terms of simple habits, not incredibly complicated ones. Be Specific Make your habits specific. Start With a 30-Day Trial. Journaling as a Problem-Solving Tool. One the most powerful personal development tools is simply to keep a personal journal. I’ve been keeping paper journals since 1996, and two years ago I converted to journaling software, which I find much faster and more convenient. The program I use is called The Journal. It comes with a fully functional 45-day trial and sells for $39.95, but honestly I think that price is too low compared to the value I receive from it.
I think $79-99 would be a fairer price. What do I do with my journal? I find these kinds of exercises very valuable. By exploring problems on paper, I avoid circular thinking, and it’s also easier to identify gaps in the possible solution space that have yet to be considered. Some problems are by their very nature just too big to fully understand in our thoughts alone. Life is full of these kinds of choices. Steve RecommendsHere are my recommendations for products and services I've reviewed that can improve your results. How to Create a Personal Productivity Scaffold. A scaffold is a temporary structure that supports tools, materials, and people while erecting or repairing a building.
A similar construct can be used to improve your personal productivity. Much like wearing braces to reposition crooked teeth, a personal productivity scaffold is something you temporarily insert into your daily routine to help create and establish new habits. Once those habits are conditioned, the scaffolding can be removed. Suppose you’re having trouble staying focused at work. Your days keep getting away from you. If you don’t break such bad habits, before you know it, you’ll have wasted years of your life. When you find yourself stuck in the undesirable pattern of wasting time, it’s similar to having crooked teeth. A personal productivity scaffold is like wearing braces. Perhaps the most important function your scaffolding must perform is keeping your attention focused on what you want and off of what you don’t want.
A sample scaffold Scaffolding and 30-day trials. 30-Day Supertrials. For years I’ve been recommending the 30-day trial as a way to install a new habit or replace a bad habit. Many people, myself included, have used this practice to successfully make behavioral changes — and have them stick. Now it’s time for the advanced version: The 30-Day Supertrial.
[cue trumpets] A Quick Review When conducting a 30-day trial, you pick one habit or behavior you’d like to change, and you commit yourself to sticking with it for 30 days straight. It can be very difficult to change a habit for life, but if you use the psychological trick of telling yourself that it’s only for 30 days, your odds of success increase substantially. Some examples: Get up at 5am every morning. A 30-day trial is partly an experiment and partly an exercise in self-discipline. The more 30-day trials you successfully complete, the stronger your self-discipline muscle becomes. Your level of self-discipline will have a strong impact on your self-esteem. Yes, Dr. I love this plan! Yes, it’s possible. 30 Days to Success. A powerful personal growth tool is the 30-day trial.
This is a concept I borrowed from the shareware industry, where you can download a trial version of a piece of software and try it out risk-free for 30 days before you’re required to buy the full version. It’s also a great way to develop new habits, and best of all, it’s brain-dead simple. Let’s say you want to start a new habit like an exercise program or quit a bad habit like sucking on cancer sticks. We all know that getting started and sticking with the new habit for a few weeks is the hard part. Once you’ve overcome inertia, it’s much easier to keep going. Yet we often psyche ourselves out of getting started by mentally thinking about the change as something permanent — before we’ve even begun. It seems too overwhelming to think about making a big change and sticking with it every day for the rest of your life when you’re still habituated to doing the opposite.
Could you do it? 4) More diet stuff…. Give up TV. Give trials a try.