Whether it’s losing weight, quitting smoking, getting organized or climbing out of debt, everyone CAN reach their goals. People need to focus on their thoughts, beliefs, philosophies and attitudes – otherwise they are setting themselves up to fail before they even begin.
Here are a few tips for making the most of the last 100 days of 2011 and making good on those New Year’s resolutions:
- Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is. Many times the only thing that separates winners from losers is the thought process. Winners have a “whatever it takes” attitude. They’ve made the decision to pay any price and bear any burden in the name of victory.
- Expect to feel pain or suffer. Most people feel the pain or run into an obstacle and seek escape. Have a plan to push forward when this happens. If you’re not ready to suffer during adversity, you’re not going to be successful.
- Developing a world-class self-talk may be the most powerful mental toughness tool.
- Take risks. Don’t always have a “play it safe” or “stay below the radar” mentality. Without risk, there can be no progress.
- Avoid delusion and operate from objective reality.
- Feed your visions and starve your fears.
- Don’t focus on how to do it, but rather, why should I do it? Why do I want this goal to become a reality? The intensity of emotion with which this question is answered will determine whether the dream comes alive or dies.
- Embrace nonlinear thinking. Don’t give into the negative thoughts that the goal is impossible. Ask yourself how can it be done?
- Get really clear about what you want to change. Define what it is and then get totally committed to doing it.
- Compartmentalize your emotions and focus completely on the goal.
- Stop caring about what other people think about your dreams. Psychologists call it “approval addiction”, and once you overcome it to any significant degree, you are free of the psychological chains that bind most people from ever experiencing world-class success.
100 days is plenty of time to accomplish any goal you have. It’s time to get mentally tough and make a plan for long term success. While amateurs often live in the past, champions look toward the future. Focus on the present while creating your ultimate vision for, and landscape of the future. Future orientation allows you to dream of grand visions and unlimited possibilities. It will also keep you motivated and moving forward because it keeps the proverbial carrot out in front. It all begins with taking full responsibility for your life and your future.
Steve Siebold is one of the world’s most noted experts in the field of mental toughness training and is author of the international best-selling book 177 Mental Toughness Secrets of The World Class. His Fortune 500 clients include Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble, and Toyota. He began studying mental toughness training as a world-class junior tennis player in the 1970’s. He’s ranked in the top one-percent of income earners in the world in the professional speaking business. Visit www.speakerstevesiebold.com