A weekly column by Peter Lawless; Business Growth Specialist and Coach to Entrepreneurs. peter@3r.ie
Did you ever think about your day, before you go to sleep, and know that you just had a great day? Do you remember what that felt like? Hopefully you felt pretty good.
In sports, when the players are performing particularly well, they are said to be in the zone. They can do no wrong; everything seems to go their way.
When asked about their performance and as to what it was that they were thinking about very few people can actually remember what they were thinking at the time other than, a feeling that everything was working out. They would not be able to tell you how they were doing it; in fact their conscious mind had got completely out of the way.
They were playing from instinct.
But how did they get to that stage, what made them so good and so confident that they did not even have to think about what they were doing?
Practice and discipline! They knew what they wanted to achieve and they spent years honing their skills to perfection. They would be working out, eating sensibly and going to bed early, while most people were out in the pub, downing pints.
The truth of the matter is that people who come home every evening, tired from their day, go to the fridge, take out a drink and settle down on the couch, to relax for few hours, watching TV, often wonder why their life is so tough. They feel stuck in a rut, and that everything that happens to them is not their fault.
To paraphrase what is said at the end of all commercials for financial products past performance is actually an accurate indicator of future performance, if you don't change anything!
Ok, so you have made the move to come over to Ireland , to start a new life. Why did you do it? Was it just because things were not great at home? Did you want to earn enough money over here so that you could send money back home?
Or did you want to be a success?
If you really want to make something special of your life, if you want to create a masterpiece of your life, that you will be remembered by, then read on.
Returning to our successful sportspeople and athletes, who train hard physically and mentally. The reality is that successful business people, sales people and entrepreneurs are no different.
They create goals for themselves, and take massive action, each and every day, in order to get closer to achieving those goals. Each step they take along the way is a lesson. It is a lesson in life, from which they learn, how their actions will actually improve their life.
They also learn which actions will lead them further away from their goals, and they will attempt to avoid those actions in the future.
It is important to realise that a mistake, may only be deemed a failure, if you fail to learn from the outcome. Life should be a continuous learning exercise, a lesson in what to do, and what to avoid.
The other key similarity between successful athletes and entrepreneurs is that they delay gratification. What this means is that they realise it is better to get the hard things done first, and then to enjoy the fruits of their labour at the appropriate time.
They prepare their lives for success, and work hard, sowing the seeds of crops they wish to harvest. They then nurture those seeds, watering them to help them to grow. They eliminate the weeds, like time wasting activities, so that energy required for success is not choked off by foolishness.
As they reap their success, then and only then do they take time to reflect, take time to review the fruits of their labours. As their success, is stored, in the larder of their self fulfilment, they do not pause for too long. With renewed energy, they embark upon their next goal or enterprise, and win again, and again.
The secret of these people's success is a burning desire to succeed and the ability to put off until tomorrow, what does not need to be done today.
Action Exercise - If you have not already done so, write down your short term and long term goals.
- Spend the next week cataloguing your time, and what you actually do, hour by hour. Be honest, and write down everything.
- Review what you did, and ask your self if your actions brought you closer to or further away from your goals.
- Now make a list of the actions you will eliminate from next week, and decide which positive actions you will do more of, to replace those that you have discarded.
- At the end of the 2nd week, see how much better you feel, and repeat the exercise.
- You have taken a massive step towards becoming a true success well done!
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