Your ability to move into action and to achieve bottom line results rests in the power of your thinking. These ten strategies will support you in transforming your desires into concrete action.
1. Expose your fears.
Fear is a gift that was given to us at birth as a means of protection and to provide us with safety from harm. This innate fear often becomes distorted, and as adults, we begin to react with anxiety, sabotage, and self-defeating behaviors. Ask yourself this question: "What is my main fear? Is it fear of rejection, commitment, loss, change, or of growing up?" Once you have identified this fear, speak it out loud to one person and write it down on paper. Once you expose your fear, it is very possible to break through its control over your life.
2. Identify Your Beliefs.
Our belief system is formulated in numerous ways through our environment, family, friends, society, religion, the media, politics, and cultural influences. Quite often, negative beliefs can cause us to act in ways that actually repel success. Do you believe that "Money is evil" or "To be successful, you have to work way too hard," or "Girls should be seen and not heard?" If so, you may be pushing away the thing that you most want in life. By identifying your negative beliefs and replacing them with beliefs that empower you, you will begin moving in a direction of lifelong success.
3. Assess your communication style using the DISC.
The DISC is a fantastic assessment tool which provides individuals with a nonjudgmental language for exploring behavior. One of the key foundations of personal and professional success lies in understanding yourself and realizing the impact that your behavior has on your life and the lives of others. This one instrument can help you be more productive, improve your communication with others, and ease conflict and frustration in all life areas.
4. NOW! Discover Your Strengths.
The strengths profile finder from the book NOW! Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D. is a revolutionary program which can show you how to discover and then develop your unique talents and gifts. One of the secrets to achieving big results and for feeling more fulfilled lies in exercising your strengths, not in dwelling on your weaknesses. This tool by Buckingham and Clifton can guide you to becoming a high performing and empowered individual.
5. Tap into your creativity.
Many adults move through life thinking "I am not creative," and wondering "What if?" As humans, we all have the ability to be wildly creative, and sometimes, this requires practice. Through the support of tools such as "Five Star Mind" by Tom Wujec, you can begin to unlock and expand the creative potential that lies deep within you. Using puzzles, mind-mapping, word association, and the power of curiosity, you can stimulate your intuition, innovation, and creative expression. As Napoleon Hill stated "All the 'breaks' you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind-energy into accomplishment and wealth."
6. Focus!
A good idea can become a fantastic and profitable idea when it is given true focus. Your ability to concentrate begins with removing external (phone, interruptions, and noise,) and internal (fear, worry, and doubt) distractions. Creating a brain dump is a first step in the direction of focus. By purging all that is in your mind onto paper, you will create the room you need to begin focused thinking. From here, finding a time and place to focus and choosing one priority to concentrate on will make you more productive and will start your walk to greatness.
7. Join or Start a Mastermind Group.
Did you know that Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone were all members of a Mastermind Group? This group of Leaders knew something many of us do not know. They knew that the key to their success was in their ability to rely on each other for feedback, ideas, accountability, and above all...support! These men controlled much of the industry of the United States during the height of their careers. Innovation and expansion in human thought often result from teams that mentally capitalize on the principle of collaborative thinking. With spontaneous expression and interchange of thoughts with folks who are up to big things in life, a mastermind group can shift your awareness, expand your thinking, and can take you to unprecedented levels of inspiration.
8. Be devoted to extreme self-care.
You have heard it hundreds of times, but are you living it? Be devoted to a life of great sleep, daily exercise, a balanced diet, meditation, and luxuries such as massage. Begin today to formulate a plan for self care that will give you the energy to not only tackle life's challenges but to one that will inspire you to greatness.
9. Teach what you most want to achieve.
Teaching is about sharing and using your own experiences in order that others may learn from your learning. The teaching process can also support you in developing yourself and is all about learning from other people. When we teach, we are developing, both personally and professionally, as we learn from our students, and most significantly, we are more likely to put our knowledge into action. By teaching what you most want to achieve, you will develop the knowledge and skills to take you where you most want to go in life.
10. Strive for mastery.
Mastery is defined as a possession or display of great skill or technique. By going for mastery with your goal, you will be playing a much bigger game in life, calling you to set your sights much higher. When your goal is mastery, you will be devoted to finding better ways to deliver what you offer, you will be expanding your knowledge, and you will find yourself achieving much more than you ever thought was possible.
About The Author
Bea Fields, Southern Pines, NC, USA
Bea Fields is an Executive Coach and a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach. She is also a Consultant, Trainer, Public Speaker and author of the Five Star Leader e-course. Her area of expertise is that of Leadership Development and Marketing for Executives, Managers, Small Business Owners, and Political Leaders.