Your Frame – Your Future

We frame pictures. This limits and draws our attention to focus on what is inside that frame. Logically this makes sense, it is what we are trying to achieve. Framing our future is critical for our focus and ultimately for our success. The bad news is that if the frame that we place around our future is too small, we will never discover or accomplish the highest level of success.

Here is the good news – we control the size of our frame. Successful people in business, top performing athletes, and even rock stars never allow their frame to be too narrow. When their current picture is nearing capacity of the frame, they reach for more, they expand the frame. Many top performers develop the attitude that they are most comfortable when they are expanding the frame and feel discomfort when they are operating in the status quo.

Is the size of your frame fluid? Does it flow and expand, or do you get delayed (achieve less) with finding comfort in the status quo? 

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?

When Wishing Isn’t Enough

People sometimes wish, spiritual people sometimes pray, but successful people will find their path regardless of the obstacle. There is nothing wrong with extending a good wish, nothing wrong with prayer, but at the same time there are often forces that are both unknown and uncontrollable that leads you to a different outcome.

Most likely you will not find success in the status quo. There are no secret formulas and no magic potions. When the path develops into something unexpected successful people may wish, and they may pray, but they will definitely face the obstacles head on, take risks, and make the best possible choices.

When your path takes an unexpected turn – what will you do?

 

- DEG

Discipline Delivers

Achieving success requires discipline. People often start off great, they are dedicated, enthusiastic and goal oriented. Along the way things sometimes start to change, they get off track, accomplishments fail to reach expectations, they become discouraged and even the smallest success starts to wane and ultimately they give up.

Here is the good news, you can discover more discipline and persevere through five simple steps:

1. Recognize and accept the gap between where you are now and where you want to be
2. Assess the steps required to close the gap
3. Visualize accomplishing each step
4. Evaluate progress by measuring accomplishments not short comings
5. Be flexible in your approach – make changes as necessary to keep moving forward

Desire to achieve the goal is critical for discipline. If you want something you have to reach for it, often pushing beyond your comfort zone in order to achieve it.

Success is knocking at your door, it arrives via delivery, the driver is discipline.

 

- DEG

Discovering Worth

Do you want a pay raise, job promotion, or better personal (or professional) relationships? How do you know if you are worth it?

Discovering worth is not that difficult, the real challenge exists in the risk. You will never achieve the success you are seeking without risk. Play it safe or stick with the status quo and nothing will change.

You can discover your worth through three easy steps:

1. Honestly assess your goals. Your goals should be a stretch but realistic, they should represent the gap between your current worth and where you (realistically) see yourself in the future.
2. Seek and LISTEN to feedback (coaching) from people you trust and respect.
3. Recognize that every opportunity doesn’t mean it is “the” opportunity. Practice patience.

Overstating or understating your worth, dishonesty about who you are, and unrealistic expectations are often a problem. Stretching is good, but fraudulent representations by you, about you, or by someone else on your behalf will likely result in disaster. Properly managed your worth will continue to grow.

Remember you are worth it!

 

- DEG