If you feel that you’re not living up to your fullest potential, you only need to follow ten key steps to get you where you need to go and operate at the highest level you’re capable of operating at. Whether you want to get in better physical shape, earn more money, achieve greater emotional fulfillment or improve your mental sharpness, the steps below can help you get the job done.
These steps provide a framework you can use to fill in based on your specific situation or circumstances. The key is to start taking these steps today. Get on the road to a better life starting now!
Step 1: Get a clear idea of what you want to achieve and why
Too many people are unhappy, lack contentment, or feel frustrated because they don’t have a clear idea of what they want. In many cases, they ‘want’ something simply because other people want it. This is a sure recipe for personal unhappiness.
For example, if you want to make $250,000 a year or lose 30 pounds because that’s what other people want, you might have a tough time reaching these objectives. Why? They aren’t your own. You are simply living up to others’ expectations or simply following the crowd.
Instead, pick objectives that make sense personally. You can still aim to make $250,000 a year or lose weight because of personal reasons like exercising a high level of personal discipline and focus or some other personal reason. The key is take ownership of your objectives.
Step 2: Determine what you need to do to achieve your objectives
Now that you have set your sights on an objective due to truly personal reasons, your next step is to get a clear idea of what you need to do to reach those objectives. Be as brutally realistic as possible. Don’t expect your wished for results to simply happen by accident.
You’re not going to lose weight by random just as you won’t make a lot of money by simply wishing for it. You have to list the precise set of realistic steps you need to make your objectives become reality.
Focus on the following questions:
What do I have to sacrifice?
How hard will I have to work?
What kind of changes do I have to make?
Step 3: Set realistic, achievable goals with timelines
Now that you have set your objectives and gotten a clear idea of what you need to do to attain them, your next step is to convert your objectives into concrete goals. Keep in mind that objectives are results. Goals are specific things that have to happen for your objectives to become reality.
Example: if your objective is to be emotionally balanced at all time, your goal should be to be more patient, even-tempered, and mellow. These are measurable. It is easy to compare your ‘old self’ to your ‘new self’ with these goals.
Set a timeline so you can measure your progress. There is no such thing as an unrealistic goal. Even the biggest, most seemingly impossible goals can be reached if you break them down into enough sub-goals with a matching timeline.
Don’t set impossible deadlines. Don’t set deadlines you know you won’t meet. Instead, set deadlines which are challenging. These are designed to push you to take action.
Step 4: Be clear as to what holds you back
Be aware of the arrangements, situations, obligations, and other external factors that are holding you back from operating at peak levels. By clearly identifying them, you can start working to remove them, replace them, or push them out of the way as you work towards your goals.
For example: if your goal is to lose 25 pounds, one key factor holding you back is the fact that you eat late at night. Be clear as to why this prevents you from reaching your goal. Understand that when you eat lots of calories at precisely the period of time your metabolic system is slowing down, a lot of those calories will be stored instead of burned for energy. The more calories your body stores, the fatter you get.
Step 5: Get rid of limiting beliefs
While Step 4 is crucial, you have to understand the beliefs that undergird the things that hold you back. You engage in limiting behavior or find yourself in limiting arrangements and relationships because you have certain mindsets. You need to identify the core mindsets that lie beneath these limitations and get rid of them.
For example: if one of the limiting habits that get in the way of you reaching your ideal weight is the fact you eat for ‘comfort,’ you need to change your eating mindset. You believe that eating certain foods give you emotional balance and comfort. You believe there’s a link between a certain emotional state and eating certain food. Breaking this linking belief leads to reduced calorie intake because you stop eating fatty or sugary foods when you feel stressed or depressed.
Step 6: Learn to enjoy the process
Understand that reaching your personal peak is not a destination. Instead, it is a process where you learn more about yourself. Enjoy the process. Don’t obsess about the destination but enjoy the journey.
Step 7: Measure success the right way
If you measure your success the wrong way, you will only surely feel discouraged, depressed, and defeated. For example, if your objective is to learn how to spot and turn opportunities into solid financial rewards, you will feel depressed when you don’t reach your goal of making $25,000 a month.
Learn to measure your success the right way by using success metrics based on where you are in your journey. Taking the same example above, measure your success based on whether you have identified a set of money making opportunities and whether you have picked the most promising one and started taking steps to take advantage of such opportunities. See the difference? You measure your success not in terms of final outcomes but based on the steps you need to take to get to your goal.
Step 8: Recognize momentum
Let’s face it, the road to operating at peak levels can be rough especially if you have unproductive habits that get in the way. It is too easy to feel that the more you try, the more distant your objective seems to be. Eventually, you start thinking it is all pointless and you give up.
To short-circuit this very common problem, focus on identifying momentum. The good news is that whenever you start working towards a goal, you eventually get used to the work involved and it takes less and less effort to do what you need to do to get to the goal. Learn to recognize when you’ve hit momentum and get a large amount of satisfaction from that. This will help you avoid feeling impatient and frustrated.
Step 9: Lose yourself in the moment
As you work to change your mindset, your habits, and your daily activities so you can reach peak levels of performance in certain areas of your life, always remember that every single day you stick to your plan and take action is a victory. Understand this. Savor it. Lose yourself in the satisfaction of getting one step, even if it just an inch, closer to the peak levels you desire.
Losing yourself in the moment goes a long way in giving you the inner resolve, sustained will power, and strength of character you need to reach peak levels and stay there.
Step 10: Keep challenging yourself
If you follow the steps above, you’d be surprised as to how quickly you can reach peak levels. Once you reach peak levels, the key to sustaining them is to continuously challenge yourself. For example: if you can make $100 a day, you can make $200 a day. If you can make $200 a day, you can make $300 a day, so on and so forth. Don’t get complacent.
Never settle. Keep pushing yourself. Keep challenging yourself to go higher and higher.
Follow the steps above to reach your peak level of performance. Regardless of which aspect of your life you wish to improve these steps help you aim higher and push farther than ever before. Success is not just learned behavior. It is a habit. Develop a sustainable success habit today by following the steps above.