To truly understand how to set yourself up for success, you must first understand how you set yourself up for failure.  Do you procrastinate? Make unrealistic deadlines? Stuff too much into a day? Try to do everything everyone else wants before you look at what you want?

You already know what you do to set yourself up to fail, but don’t yet know how to change that around. Why? Because you might believe there’s something noble in what you’re doing – it’s noble to “find your edge”, or do for others. Or it may be because there’s an inner conflict that you find overwhelming, leading to putting important stuff off for too long: that ‘thing’ you tell yourself you must do is really something you don’t want to do.

What is it for you? And is it really so noble? Do you really need to do that ‘thing’? Do you know the difference inside yourself between finding your edge and over-reaching? Or between helping others and spiritually starving yourself?

It is critical to do what makes you feel great, to do what lifts your spirit and is truly noble. The way to find that is to simplify. until you’re left with the bare essentials, then re-build on that.

How you do this is up to you, and here’s one of many ways:

–          Begin each morning with an intent for that day. I begin with a meditation, followed by an examination of what’s important to me that day and longer-term. That sets my intent.

–          Examine what you plan on doing that day – eliminate anything that doesn’t support your intent. For example, if my intent is to support my health, connect with a friend, and really be there for my clients, then going for a walk supports that intent, but surfing social media doesn’t.

–          For each item left on the list, ask yourself how you can make it happen – it might mean farming some of it out, or dividing the work up over several days. The idea is to make sure that what is on your list is actually doable, so that you end the day feeling like you did good for that day.

–          End by taking time to reflect on the day, focusing on what went well and why, and what you could challenge yourself to do better tomorrow.

This process isn’t gruelling, it isn’t punishing, but it is rewarding and inspiring, because it sets you up for living a beautiful, fulfilling, successful life. You decide every day what’s important to you, and then make it happen.

Richard St. John – 8 secrets of success

 

Quote of the Week 

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
― Winston S. Churchill

Announcements

If you like this article, and would like it delivered to your in-box every Monday morning, sign up here.

Maryanne