At the beginning of the month, we looked at three tools to make achieving your goals inevitable. Last week we went into depth on the idea of living from your future self. This week let’s talk about how to keep the commitments you put on your calendar. We’ll figure out what motivates you to accomplish a goal and how to create that for yourself.
You’ve chosen your goal – the result you want. You went through your “future me” scenarios last week and decided which future you want.
How do you make it happen? Action. Actions produce results.
What motivates us to take action? There are times we think we want something, but we never do anything about it. There are times we do things that directly sabotage what we say we want.
Even when we think we want something, the way we feel may not lead us to action. It’s our feelings that motivate us to take action.
When you set a new goal, at first, your feelings won’t be what they need to be to accomplish your goal – if they were you’d already be doing or have done the goal.
With that in mind, what are your initial feeling about your goal? Inspired? Motivated? Committed? Fearful? Hesitant? Apathetic? Terrified?
Whatever your feeling is – choose just one to focus on – it comes from something you are thinking.
So, what are you thinking? Why don’t you already have this goal? The answer to that question will give you the “reason” or the thought that is NOT creating the goal for you.
Here’s an example to illustrate. My goal is to do a Facebook Live every week. Initially, I feel hesitant about that. Why don’t I already have this goal? Because I don’t know if I can be reliable enough to get quality content out every week. There it is – the thought that won’t create the goal for me.
Thinking, “I don’t know if I can be reliable enough to get quality content out every week,” and feeling hesitant are NOT going to allow me to achieve my goal.
To show up for a Facebook Live every week, I need to feel something different than hesitant.
What do you want or need to feel to fuel the realization of your goal? Motivation?Excitement? Commitment? Determination? Love? Discipline? Willingness?
Choose one that feels right to you for achieving your goal.
For me to show up for a Facebook Live every week, I need to feel committed. To feel committed, I need to think a new thought. My brain likes to go to flowery thoughts that sound like affirmations. The first thing that I came up with was, “I create quality content and show up for myself and my audience every week.” While that sentence is correct and what I want to create, it’s not really how I naturally think. Often the thought is much simpler than we expect. For example, when you eat a cookie as you pass through the kitchen, the thought is usually something simple like, “I want that.” For me, the thought that really creates the feeling of commitment is simply, “I AM doing a Facebook Live each week.”
What thought creates the emotion you chose? Your thought doesn’t have to be complicated. Make it simple and something that you naturally would think. Once you choose a thought – recheck it and verify that it produces the desired emotion. If it does, hold on to that thought to create your goal.
The thought creates your feeling, which motivates your action, which creates your result. It all traces back to the thoughts you are thinking.
The new thought that you are committed to will be your anchor for achieving your goal. When you don’t want to keep the commitment on the calendar, remember your thought.
Your call to action this week is to practice your new thought hundreds of times per day. Say it in your head in a loop. Write it down 20 times in the morning and evening. Say it out loud while you are driving.
(I’d love for you to share with me more creative ideas for practicing a new thought.)
When we examine our thoughts – or uncover what they are in the first place – we can change our experience of life. We can reach new goals by changing our thoughts. We can change our attitude about a situation or relationship by changing our thoughts.
We can control our thoughts; therefore, we can control our results.
If you’d like to reach your results more quickly and more often, let’s talk. I can help you see and recognize thoughts that are holding you back and help you create a personalized plan to help you achieve your fondest dreams.