The antidote to drifting into failure lies in doing three things consistently, namely to be deliberate, to be thorough and to be efficient. I am going to address each of these three in turn. Part one is about deliberateness. Please keep your eyes peeled for the others installments.
Deliberate can be summarized by the one line: “if it is to be it is up to me”. The idea and the road-map of my success need to be translated into something that will happen in the world which will result in my “success”. Unless my desire to be successful or be a peak performer gets translated into actions, into a “make it happen” thing, then the day I die will still be wishing for success.
Goals, outcomes, results and deliverables are all the fancy terminology which we go on courses to learn. We have to go on courses because they are presented is being very complex and complicated. But that is not all true. Simply put: outcomes, etc are ways of showing me where I need to take the first step towards my destiny. Imagine a journey to get you there (Where, you might ask? Your defined endpoint called “success” or peak performer) then an outcome defines the direction as well as the first stepping stone.
Now, if I do not take the first step, I stay where I am. Stepping the first step, any size of step, is the first movement to get me there. Procrastination is finding all the reasons not to take the first step. Any step is better than no step! The magic of the first step is twofold: I own the movement. Secondly, I am going to where I would really like to be.
Taking steps, picking up momentum and sometimes running like the wind, occasionally get impacted by obstacles. Some people consider this “the end.” In the extreme, an obstacle is even defined as “my living nightmare!” But, how do other people who are successful get through this? How do they think and behave when slowed down or stopped? It is in how you “frame” it. Consider the difference if you thought of an obstacle as a signal for making a course correction? It might be a signal that you need expert input from somebody who has already done this successfully and you can benefit from lessons they have already learned. It might simply be that you are doing good but you have to change your pace.
The worst thought virus to wipe out success is “if only I had the time.” We spend time and do things we consider important. The non-important things are the things we “don’t have time” for. The message by raising lack of time, the message is “priorities are not aligned with being successful.” If success is not important enough, accept it and sleep happily. If success is not important, and makes your heart add a few extra beats, then you are not ready for success. The deliberateness of success requires the internal charge to take the first step, and then to maintain course and be vigilant (like a soldier) for the enemies who steal your time or your focus. Stop, right there you might say to me. And, you would be right. People cannot steal my focus and priorities since I own it, and I give it away as I drift into failure. This reminds me:
If it is to be it is up to me.