Shortcuts and Quick Fixes

It often seems that everyone is looking for a shortcut or a quick fix. Your future success probably will not come to fruition through a shortcut or a quick fix. That is the bad news.

Here is the good news. Having an appropriate focus can help you achieve the next step on your path. You can develop a better focus through three simple steps:

1. What has been successful for you up to this point? Do more of that!
2. What haven’t you tried because it feels too risky? Explore more of that!
3. Use these two questions to hone your focus and stay the course, be persistent!

Typically there are no shortcuts or quick fixes. Persistence will get you through the next step and beyond!

 

- DEG

What You Expect

Do you get what you expect? Sometimes we get exactly what we expect.

Consider the outcomes for persons who may make one of the following statements:

• I just want to pass the test.
• I don’t care what I do as long as I have a job.
• I can’t lose any weight.

Certainly not everyone wants to, or will be, the top performer in any particular situation, but those who strive for more often get more. Their expectations are supported by their efforts, they achieve more or reach a higher standard because they expect more. It is easy to say we want more, or wish we had done better, but often our own expectations guide the level of result that we achieve.

Another look:

• If I complete all the assigned work and study hard I will get an “A” on the test.
• If I learn more, work hard, and gain additional experience I will advance to a higher position at work.
• If I exercise more and avoid my cravings for apple pie I will lose at least 3 pounds this month.

Our expectations condition the outcomes. Positive and results driven thoughts are what make the difference between those who dream of more, and those who achieve more.

Are you getting what you expect?

 

- DEG

Expect to be Tested

Learning new behaviors or replacing bad habits with good isn’t necessarily that difficult. Making them stick sometimes can be.

Depending on your tolerance for relapse or your level of confidence sometimes small setbacks can feel like change failure. Nearly everyone exploring something new or reaching for higher levels of achievement will face unexpected setbacks.

The good news is that just like reaching for more you can also condition your response to the unexpected. Expect the unexpected. Expect to face some relapse or setbacks. Expect to be tested. When you expect to face challenges and you are prepared to push through them suddenly it seems to feel like part of your fate, your destiny.  These “tests” prepare you for the next phase of your journey.

Will you pass the test?

Stay Focused

Unexpected things happen. Circumstances and situations may sometimes anger us. Staying focused is the key to achieving your success.

When we replay thoughts from past negative experiences or are preoccupied with finding evidence to support negativity we tend to find what we are looking for – negativity. In this scenario our view shifts from seeking the positive to discovering reinforcement for new negative experiences.

The good news is that you can control what you see through your lens. If you stay focused by looking for positive situations and outcomes you can find them. You can resist anger and irritation and replace any negative thoughts with positive thoughts that support forward motion on your path to achieving your goals.

Take control of your state of mind – stay focused. 

What do you see?

 

- DEG

Confidence Required

This may seem very apparent but have you ever noticed that successful people have higher levels of self-confidence? In many cases they may analyze choices, options, and strategy in a completely obsessive manner but regardless they still have confidence.

Is this a chicken and the egg scenario? Which comes first?

Self-confidence is typically considered to be made up of two primary factors, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Lower levels of one or both factors will result in a lower level of confidence. Here is the good news – both factors can be developed. You are not born with a fixed or predetermined level of self-confidence.

Do you want to improve your self-confidence? Here are two easy ways to get you on the right track:

1. Visualize your future, plan, prepare, be realistic and think about small wins on your way to your goal
2. Defeat negative self-talk, promise yourself you are committed to your success, surround yourself with positive people and thoughts

Successful people are confident. They have healthy amounts of both self-efficacy and self-esteem. They are balanced.

Do you have the confidence required?

Don’t think it - know it, get it, grow it!

 

- DEG

Take the Stairs

It’s sadly amazing the number of people that I talk with who tell me they want more, they want a better job and more success, yet they feel they are not worthy of achieving it. I hear every excuse about what “might happen” or “what if this happens” and I hear very little “I’m going to make it happen.”

Here is the good news, these are normal thoughts for many people and success is just a few steps away. If you can dream it, if you can see it, you can start on the path to getting there. Here are five simple steps to help you get there:

1. discover your dream
2. plan the steps to get there
3. start taking steps, reasonable risks 
4. constantly exceed your expectations
5. reflect on accomplishments and push for more

Like a ladder or stairs, the steps should be reasonably separated allowing you to move from one step to the next without a big jump. In contrast to this analogy, life or your career may not always present opportunities in equal increments. Some steps may be more of a stretch then others. This is where risk and reflection will be important factors in your success.

I like taking the stairs – do you?

- DEG

The Grocery Store and Success

One of the chores I dislike the most is grocery shopping. A failure for planning what to buy and what meals to prepare leaves me open for a disastrous shopping experience. My dislike to for the experience positions me to want to move fast and make quick choices. My lack of planning often opens me up to be forgetful and leave the store without something I desperately needed. I know the solution to this problem. It is better planning and an appropriate pace, it is the discipline to want to overcome the negative outcomes and have a positive shopping experience.

Success in our personal or professional careers may be an analogy to the grocery store experience. The good news is that there is a solution to achieving success. It requires planning and an appropriate pace. Knowing the desired end result and creating a plan for a path to get there is important. Pursuing that path at an appropriate pace is also critical. Going too fast we may burn out early. Going too slow may limit our options, or we may find the doors closed as we approach a desired milestone.

Approaching your life and career unprepared and without a plan could limit your success.

What is your plan?

 

- DEG

Growing or Shrinking?

Some people change and grow. They get more mature, have better thoughts, healthier habits, and improved social skills.

Some people change and regress. They go back to poor habits, they lose faith in their ability to achieve, they lose hope, and they get worse as a person.

Are you growing or shrinking? There are three simple steps to keep you focusing on growth, they are:

1. Accurately self-assess
2. Focus on positive past accomplishments and outcomes
3. Be self-disciplined and commit to role modeling positive behaviors

There is a distinct difference between those who achieve more through growth, and those who regress and revert back to poorer performance or regressed habits.

Are you growing?

 

- DEG

Success and Abundance

Success and abundance have something in common. What one person considers success another may not. Creating abundance may not be different than creating success, it may simply mean creating an oversupply.

Our mind is a powerful tool. As a society many people thrive on the drama, the negativity, and all that is wrong instead of focusing on all that is positive and good. We turn on the news, we check our social media applications, and we listen to friends. Often we hear bad news and we read and hear negative and energy zapping complaints.

Can we train our brain? I believe the answer is yes. Chemical reactions in our brain play a role in how we respond to situations, especially in the areas of happiness and stress. Flood your brain with what you have accomplished, think about it often, refresh and wipe out negatives with positives.

Success, you define it, abundance you create it!

- DEG

Unstoppable Success

Some people are having unstoppable success. Some people are having unstoppable failures. Some people are just rolling through life, not exceedingly successful and not an absolute failure.

Many people take the easy road in life. They will let life happen to them, instead of making it work for them. This is the easy road because they accept little or no responsibility for their choices or actions. In their mind, what happens is what happens, it is an unchangeable fate.

There are at least two important points to consider:

1. You define what success means to you
2. You create it, but only if you choose to

What are you experiencing? Unstoppable success, unstoppable failure, or are you just rolling through life?

I know my choice – what is yours?

 

- DEG

The Good Fight

People are people. People exist, function, and build character based in-part on their emotionally triggered behaviors. People get frustrated with other people. Sadly, some people serve as road blocks, inhibiting others on their way to a better place.

People may fight you, not physically but emotionally, intellectually, or through the power they may have over you either in your job or other manifestations of your life. Fight the good fight; don’t let these temporary roadblocks inhibit your path to your greater destiny. Your ultimate destiny is in front of you, but you choose the path of greatness or mediocrity. Remember you are in-charge.

Nearly every successful person I come in contact with has a story, a story of the good fight.

What is your story?

- DEG

Backwards Energy

“Never look back” this and other mantra’s seem almost commonplace in our lives. Everyone who has had a rough day, a rough week, or some on-going difficulty has often heard this or similar advice. It’s good advice.

 

In some cases looking back can give us energy. We find comfort in things that are familiar; we fondly remember happy moments with friends and family, moments of inspiration and happiness. We draw energy from those positive moments of the past. Here are a few examples:

“It’s been a long time since I’ve heard that song, it was so great to hear it again.”

“I haven’t been here [a place] in years, I forgot how awesome it is here.”

“It’s been awhile since my last workout, wow that felt good.”

Reflecting on past successes, past moments of happiness and inspiration help us build positive hope for the future. Make today a day you look back, not at the moments that bring you down, but at the moments that brought you up. There are more of those in your future, you control your destiny and you can make it happen!

 What is your energizing memory?

- DEG

Dream of Homemade Ice Cream

It was special because we made it to celebrate. It was mysterious because it was concocted from a “secret” formula. It felt worth it because the anticipation was almost unbearable. 

Special, mysterious, and worth it – as we process through life’s ups and downs, career changes, successes, and even setbacks or failures we never forget how it felt. Some believe that we are driven by our emotions, and a passionate pursuit of life and success. Definitions of success vary considerably from person-to-person but everyday millions and millions of people awake to experience another day in the pursuit of everything from survival to chasing dreams.

I have a dream, it is special, mysterious, and worth it. I can almost taste it now.

What is your dream? 

 

- DEG

New Sneakers

The other kid on the playground, your brother or sister, or the kid down the street; I remember whenever I got a new pair of sneakers that I was suddenly faster. I could challenge the other kids, run hard and run fast. I wouldn’t quit, I couldn’t give up, and often I could win. It probably wasn’t that I was exceptionally fast, and I did get beat, but it was because I was determined that I could do it.

A positive mindset, determination, and a never give up attitude. Many of us may have experienced “the sneakers make us faster” scenario. Do these childhood experiences carry on in our hearts forever? Desire, determination, and a positive mind set may make the difference for adults who want to create success.

It’s not too late, put on a new pair of sneakers!

- DEG

Don’t Hesitate

Disappointment, struggle, and stress, we face challenges every day. So often we allow ourselves to get caught up in the negative side of life. We don’t talk about that fantastic customer service experience; we talk about the two we hated the most. We don’t say how great we feel, we complain of the headache, backache, and arthritic pains.

Sometimes we take for granted the things that provide us with happiness, hope, and inspiration. We forget everything that we have accomplished, the challenges that we have faced, and the difficulties that we have overcome. Everyone has the ability to create their own destiny. Taking a positive approach to getting there may make the difference between those who achieve it and those only dream it.

Take a risk and make some positive changes. No regrets, be smart, work hard, and most of all don’t hesitate - take action.

Believe in Success

Many people believe in success, they have faith that their dreams of success will become reality. They understand the 3 P’s of success: practice, persistence, and patience are required. They are largely optimistic and are relentless.

Then there are those who envy others success, they claim to be unlucky and assign blame for their shortcomings. They are the haters of success. It is easier to cast hate and blame than to be responsible and take action. Often feeling that they are entitled to more they strike out at those they feel obtained, or from their viewpoint “were given” unjustified success.

Success is what you make. Success is different for everyone. Believe in what you are shooting for, don’t be a hater, exercise the 3 P’s and you will be on the road to making a difference.

Believe in success!

 

- DEG

Positive Duty

Nearly everyone would agree that starting your day with a positive mindset is helpful and productive. Often it doesn’t take long until we encounter someone who is not so positive. We then have three choices, convert them to our positive way of thinking, allow them to bring us down, or just walk away.

Many people consider it their civic or moral duty to help convert them to more positive thoughts. You try to cheer them up, you encourage them to “look on the bright side,” sometimes you even put your own dignity at risk by making excuses for them. Is that noble, caring, and considerate? Yes, but should that occur at the expense of your own attitude? No, never.

You should never go so far as to allow others to bring you down to their unhealthy place of existence. Many people have heard the negative mantra: “misery loves company.” Don’t become the company. Consider another mantra: “take care of you!”

Encourage the positive, sometimes walk away, but never let them bring you down!

 

- DEG

Love the Underdog

Rocky Balboa from the famous Rocky movie series was a tremendous success as the underdog. There was the 1969 Super Bowl where the New York Jets defeated the then Baltimore Colts. In the 1980 Winter Olympic Games it was team U.S.A. that defeated the heavily favored Russian team. People often rally behind the underdog and sometimes develop strong dislike for the “popular” champion.

What is it about the underdog that we admire? Our desires to do something different, a feeling of hope for equity, or could it be a hidden lust for growth of our own self-confidence?

Underdogs are fighters, they are persistent, they seem to develop confidence through small wins. They often represent the person or team who has not had great success or who appears clearly out matched. They develop belief in themselves, take risks, embrace change, and jump in to get things started. 

Underdogs create their success. What’s stopping you?

- DEG

Do Something Epic

Epic is a hot word. People have epic experiences, laugh at epic jokes, and achieve success through epic moments.

Epic is a great word because it can make us value something enjoyable, spring us into action, and appreciate those who achieve the extraordinary. People are sometimes looking for motivation, and many believe that motivation is a truly intrinsic process. Popular wisdom suggests that there is a large part of motivation that is intrinsic, but if we have role models for achieving higher performance we may also discover intrinsic motivation. Positive role models do epic things; they create a call to action through their success, overcome adverse situations, and are a positive influence on others.

Epic sells - what are you selling?

- DEG

Hope – Strength or Weakness

Many people dream of success, they dream of a specific job, a career, or sometimes for financial freedom. Hope keeps people moving along, it can motivate, and it can make us persistent in our pursuit.

Hope can be a strength making us tough, resistant, persistent, and courageous.

Hope can be a weakness, making us too trusting, blindly conforming, wasteful (time and effort), and vulnerable.

Hope is great, use it in moderation, capitalize on the strengths and be aware of the weaknesses. Always remember that you are in charge of your own destiny. Do not hope it will happen, make it happen!

- DEG