This is an abridged version of the things I did to transform my life in less than 3 years:
1) Take inventory of yourself — your strengths, weaknesses — your personality, what are they? Who are you?
There are two very meaningful activities you can do to discover the joy hidden inside of you. 1) Write a letter to your younger self — forgive them and give them advice. 2) Write a letter to your future self — tell them how far they’ve come! By doing these two things, you start to recall the things you used to dream about, the things you were once good at that need to be brought to the surface again — things you may have pushed aside or abandoned to fit into someone else’s definition of success.
2) Absolutely reject negative talk — in the news, on social media, from others and from yourself — every time you doubt yourself or a situation, ask could the opposite be true?
I’ve heard it said that your life is the totality, the cumulation of all the thoughts you’ve ever had. Assuming this is true (and I believe it is) then you are completely responsible for your own happiness. The only way to take charge of this, is to be so incredibly diligent with the weeds, that nothing, nada, none can plant a seed of doubt. Ask yourself, what good is it doing me to see violent content? Scary content? Offensive content? Insensitive content? Thoughts become things, so choose the good ones!
3) Choose a few things and abandon the rest – no more chasing shiny objects (example mine are: I’m a focus coach, and I deploy mindset and tactical strategies to gain momentum and consistency — I use FB closed groups, zoom/video, and email to communicate)
In a world of unlimited options for food, entertainment, education, and consumerism, ask yourself — what is it that I want? How do I want to show up? If I were a fly on the wall and overheard others talking about me, what would I hope they would say? How do I want to be remembered? then go out there and BE Do HAVE! Be that person you want to hear them say — ‘she/he’s amazing, thoughtful, smart, talented, funny, helpful, loving, cool, inspiring, hard-working, compassionate!’ Be. The. Change!
4) Be consistent no matter what — brick by brick a wall is built — consistency over intensity is the theme this week!
Gary Keller (author of MREA/SHIFT/The One Thing) once said — and I paraphrase: Extreme reward is right on the other side of extreme boredom. Start with little habits, build them over time and develop the muscle of tolerance and delayed gratification and WATCH how your successes begin to compound because you strengthened the focus muscle. The ability to show up as consistent is the win — as they say…90% of success is just showing up!
5) Learn how to find the domino and tip it by deploying just enough discipline to get into building a habit!
Decide an area of your life you want to improve. Choose a goal. Reverse engineer the goal by beginning with the end in mind. Reduce it to the ridiculous by breaking it down into 12-week increments (think Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4) Example 120GCI @ Dec 31st = 60GCI @ June 30th = 30GCI @ March 31st = 10k per month Jan/Feb/Mar = 2.5k per week = 357 per day = 45 per hour (your hourly wage) — Now that you know your hourly wage, look at your outbound lead gen numbers, your conversion ratios and engineer your plan accordingly. Look at where you had past success and do more of that. You know for a FACT that doing your own paperwork is not a 45 dollar an hour task, so leverage it! Leverage everything else that isn’t in that 45 pr hr. ROI.
6) Assume the answer is out there — don’t assume an issue can’t be untangled, it’s just a matter of solving the puzzle!
I’ve come up against some massive puzzles in my life and I KNOW for a fact that there is a solution for EVERY challenge. I’ve expunged (an unfair) felony for a loved one (acting as the attorney) I’ve reversed a -75k debt to the government (same loved one) I’ve figured out how to override human biology when I learned my adopted daughter would reach a maximum height of 36″ if I didn’t push to have the only (80 yr. old, semi-retired) endocrinologist take her as a patient…this is just a few of the BIG ones I can think of. I ALWAYS assumed the win. I never backed down until the problem was solved, you too must adopt this fierce CAN-DO attitude. A huge key to this is NOT asking for advice, keep your own counsel Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich)
7) Eat your frog eat day…. what big thing do you need to get done and is there a WHO attached to it where you can leverage it off?
Procrastination is the result of moving away from the pain. The problem is, by moving away from necessary things, you hurt your own self confidence because you are breaking promises to yourself when you procrastinate. Make it your own game, locate the frog — sometimes you only get as far as hearing it croak. Sometimes you throw a bucket over it and run! As you do it more and more, you will become a fierce warrior! You will slay the frog, cook it, and serve the legs for dinner (sorry vegans)
8) Play games with your goals — define what is satisfactory for you and then use creative ways to get to that result
A long time ago, I realized that my competitive spirit requires games. Think of limbo — how low can you go? When a task seems daunting, I decide my own low bar for satisfaction. Much like inspectors use a rank of either satisfactory or unsatisfactory, if for example I need to connect with 100 people, I tell myself OK: let’s do the hardest first (30 outbound calls via sly broadcast — next 20 emails, then 20 FB DM and 20 texts and 10 handwritten notes — create just one and use it over and over in sendoutcards
9) Be authentic — don’t compare yourself to others — the authentic you is different from the authentic them and that’s AOK!
Lately, I’ve heard the word authentic used about as much as the words, dog rescue, vegan and woke. The word authentic means ‘of undisputed origin’ — so HOWEVER you feel most comfortable is YOUR authentic. Some people feel good with polished pearly whites in a navy-blue suit. Some feel good in a plaid flannel shirt with a man bun. In the end, it’s not about comparing who is more authentic or who is trending ‘right’ — it’s more about a respect for yourself and the people you serve. If I’m meeting with (2) 80-year-old sellers at a listing appointment, I may choose to wear long sleeves to cover my tattoos out of respect for them, if I think it will bother them. I’m there to be the best advocate for their needs and be the consummate professional representing my industry, I’m not there to make a statement about myself; authenticity isn’t about being rigid and unbending to prove a point about personal expression. Being considerate and thoughtful is to embrace genuine authenticity.
10) Be playful and fun. If you see a stranger smiling, smile back! If you see something cool, crazy, or fun take a picture and send it to a loved one or friend — don’t ever forget the child in you!
Play is a huge part of my life. The first time I heard that we live our lives in sections, I started to inspect my life. I heard childhood is for play, youth is for education, adulthood is for work. What if you always sought to strike a balance between the (3) areas? Most people work themselves into sickness and exhaustion and then at 65 years old, when they retire, they don’t have the energy, the health, or the physical body to do the things they once loved. I love swimming, and I do it often. If I swam from 0-25 and then tried to pick it up again at 65 — a full 40 years later, do you think I would be strong enough to swim in the ocean? To go surfing, snorkeling and scuba diving? Laugh, sing, move!
Namaste!
Lisa