Getting What You Want 

What would you like to do or accomplish? Run your own business, make a million dollars, get a job in a particular industry,  have a relationship or get married, how about build muscle or lose weight?

Whatever it is that you want to do or accomplish can be done if you simply know what to do. In today’s fast paced and sophisticated world we tend to over complicate things. We think the path to success is some sort of mystery only to be unlocked by the lucky few, or those willing to sacrifice all else in their life. Or, we believe the path must take many years of failure before we can arrive at the promised land.

This is not the case at all. Rather, You simply need to know what to do and do it. Can it really that simple?  Well, yes and no. This is one of those “simple but not easy” things. Just about anything you want to do or accomplish has most likely already been done or accomplished.  Why not study up on what others have done and follow in their footsteps. Do what they did that worked and avoid what they did that failed. Do not fall prey to the trap that you have to be a trail blazer. That will only cost you time and mental anguish. Do not be so arrogant as to believe you already know what to do, or worse, to believe you can do it better. All you have to do, is do what others have done, and you to will have success. 

If you want to run a business, who else is already running that type of business.  If you want to make a million dollars- study who has made a million dollars (or more!). If you want a particular job, seek out who has that type of job. If you want to have a relationship or get married, look to those who have a relationship like you want. Want health and fitness, go find healthy people. Those people know exactly what you need to know.  Those people did exactly what you need to do. Why make it harder than it needs to be. Follow the trail, it is the most efficient and effective way to your destination!

Here are five ways to follow the trail and to know what to do. I encourage you to pick one or more, or even all of them, and go make your dreams come true.

1.  WATCH – Carefully observe those people that have done what you want to do or have what you want and then do what they do. Copy what works. Do not be a trailblazer, follow the proven path. Be careful here, the idea is not to watch and not do. It is to watch and then do!

2.  ASK – Why guess when you can know?  Ask the people that have done what you want to do and have what you want to have, how they did it. What exactly are they doing and then do it. (I repeat that last part so you don’t skip past it– then do it!)  From my personal experience, 8 out of 10 people will happily share more than you can ever imagine. I find the more successful people are, the more they share. Helpful tip- flattery goes a long long way!

3. LEARN– Hire a consultant or trainer to show you how to do it. Take a class. Then, do what they teach you. (Again, I repeat- do what they teach you!) Today there are numerous opportunities to learn. From formal schooling, online courses, and webinars to a massive consulting industry of experts that can teach you.
4. READ– Read a how-to book. Then do what you read. There are close to 130 million books in the world. There are likely many books, that can show you exactly what you need to do to get exactly what you want. Said another way- read it and do it!

   5.  PAY – Hire someone to do it for you. There are some things you may want to accomplish that you can simply hire someone to do it for you. This is particularly true in business, where many key activities can be delegated to experts. It’s a little harder in other areas, like health and fitness. Hiring someone to work out for you might not be your best move.

When you know what to do to accomplish your dreams, all you have to do is to follow the words from the old Nike commercials and just do it! If you’re not doing what you know will get you what you want, ask yourself why?  Perhaps it’s not what you really want. Or perhaps you might have to go to work on yourself before you’re ready to work on your dreams.

The first step in determining your daily routine is figuring out what really matters to you. You can’t prioritize if you don’t know your priorities. If you’re not certain of yours, you can look at mine below and use them as a starting point:

1. Attitude: I will display the right outlook daily.
2. Priorities: I will act on the things most important to me daily.
3. Health: I will follow healthy guidelines daily.
4. Family: I will communicate with and care for my loved ones daily.
5. Thinking: I will practice good thoughts daily.
6. Commitment: I will make and keep proper promises daily.
7. Finances: I will properly manage dollars daily.
8. Faith: I will deepen and live out my faith daily.
9. Relationships: I will initiate and invest in solid relationships daily.
10. Generosity: I will model kindness daily.
11. Values: I will embrace good standards daily.
12. Growth: I will seek improvements daily.

For more on routines, check out this article from INC Magazine. it’s useful and interesting.

The Daily Routines of Super Successful People All Share These 5 Characteristics
Details may vary, but the fundamentals of a great daily routine are remarkably consistent.

…We Get What we have to have! 

RAISE YOUR STANDARDS!

 I have been trying to reach these habits for this for years– many more than three, and I continue to try– yet I fail regularly. No matter, like all things in life, the only real failure is in a failure to keep trying.  Do the best you can and stick with it.  I have found that slowly more and more habits are sticking with me.

Who Are You Learning From?
 

Can you imagine how valuable it is to learn from the best? Think about those lucky enough to learn from the most successful people ever– what an advantage they must have over the rest of us.  

Well– thanks to the powers of the the internet you can probably find training’s, speeches, books, and advice from just about any great achiever ever–  even those who have passed on (Socrates, Plato, Einstein, Edison, Steve Jobs… all available to you).  I consider Jim Rohn, one of the trailblazers in personal development and coaching, to be my top mentor.  I ‘meet’ with Jim over an hour each and every month. Yet, I have never met Mr. Rohn, and he had had passed on in 2009. What I do is absorb his recorded speeches, both on CD’s and video over and over. His wisdom has proven so very beneficial to countless of super successful people, including Tony Robbins. I encourage you to google his name and read and watch what you find. If you do, I am certain you will find more success at whatever is important to you.

I share a story Jim shared with me about a lesson he learned from his mentor:

One day my mentor, Mr. Earl Shoaff, said to me, “Jim, if you want to be wealthy and happy, learn this lesson well: Learn to work harder on yourself than you do on your job.”

I must admit that this was a most challenging assignment. This idea of personal improvement and development was new to me. You see, Mr Shoaff said, “What you become is far more important than what you get.”  He continued, “The important question to ask on the job is not, What am I getting?– Instead, you should ask, What am I becoming?”

What you become directly influences what you get.  Think of it this way: Most of what you have today, you have attracted by becoming the person you are today.  Jim explained that he has found that income rarely exceeds personal improvement and development. Sometimes income takes a lucky jump up, but unless you learn to handle the responsibilities that come with it, it will usually shrink back to the amount you can handle. It is hard to keep that which has not been obtained through personal improvement and development. So here’s the great axiom of life from Jim and from Jim’s mentor:
 

“To have more than you’ve got…  become more than you are.”
 

I suggest you google successful people in areas you have an interest in. I further suggest you google ‘Success Coaches’ and learn from the accumulated wisdom of the ages. Check out a few of these links for some great wisdom from my Coach and Mentor Mr, Jim Rohn:

Jim Rohn – 10 Steps to Achieving Anything You Want 

Jim Rohn – Why Your Attitude is Everything

Jim Rohn – Habits To Build A Better You 

What we think affects how we feel.
How we feel affects how we act.
How we act creates our results. 
Our results create our life.

This is the core of my self coaching system. Everything flows from how we think. Yet most people have no idea about how and why they are thinking what they are thinking. They simply accept that a thought in their head is in control. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Thoughts are just passing opinions that we can choose to empower or that we can choose to dismiss. Ask yourself if a thought, or even better, if a belief, is useful.  Ask yourself if that thought is making you better off, or if you’d be better off without that thought. This is the beginning point of creating everything you could ever want. Just because a thought happens to spontaneously appear does not make it true, regardless of how convincing the sensation of its emotion may feel — we must realize that our thoughts can mislead us. 

Ask yourself if that thought is making you better off, or if you’d be better off without that thought.

I read a lot of completely inaccurate articles that suggest that it is hard, if not impossible, to change our thinking.I struggled with understanding how easy it is to control our thoughts and beliefs. It took a lot of practice to understand that I can program useful thoughts into my head and that I can let go of non-useful thoughts. The first step in this process is to actually observe your thoughts.  Pay attention to what is going on inside your mind. Try this game that I recently learned from the great trading coach Van K. Tharp. Mr. Tharp has developed principals to obtain a mental edge. What he calls “Tharp Think”.  He teaches this mental edge thinking to some of the most successful traders and hedge fund managers around.

Go somewhere that is comfortable and quite and close your eyes. I have done this before falling asleep, others do it as a part of meditation. Begin to notice each thought that comes to you.  Pretend you are on the outside, actually watching each thought come into you.  Do not judge the thought, just notice it. One thought after another… some happy, some stressful, some odd… just observe how thoughts move into your mind. Do not act on them. The more you do this the easier it is. What you are actually doing is called mindfulness, or as I prefer, awareness. Begin to be aware of the thoughts that pass through. Later we will explore where these thoughts might have come from, if they are useful, and how to program useful thoughts in.

 For now, be sure to understand that just because a thought happens to spontaneously appear does not make it true, regardless of how convincing the sensation of its emotion may feel and that our thoughts can mislead us. 

Iron Mike Stone 3.1.18

I recently heard about an author who writes three books in just nine months every year. How exactly does he accomplish this incredible task? Surely he must possess some extraordinary amount of motivation and passion. 

That is not the case at all. He does it by writing 1,000 words per day for 253 straight days. Compare that to the alternative approach of locking yourself away (for me, it’s a hotel room) and trying to jam out 25 pages a day for as long as you can, until you crack. As you can well surmise, the consistent and daily habit of writing 1000 words a day results in getting things accomplished. Whereas the approach of mustering up a burst of motivation to put in some sort of monumental effort will, more often than not, result in things not getting done. 

This lesson extends far beyond writing. It holds true for your work habits, your eating habits, your relationship habits, and virtually every other area of your life.

Most of us repeat this mistake over and over. We often approach a goal or task by getting motivated and pushing for a short period of time. Often it seems easier and faster than maintaining a consistent effort every day or week for a long period of time. However, it is these consistent daily habits that will lead to incredible accomplishments in any area of your life.

What I want you to remember is that great accomplishments and results do not take a massive effort to achieve — just a consistent one.

Iron Mike Stone 2.23.2018

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth!

 If you never feel uncomfortable, that’s not a good sign.  Life is a journey, not a destination.  Comfort zones are      not always pleasant places to be; they are  just familiar. Your comfort zone may be a job that pays  the bills to keep you in a life that you hate; it may be a  relationship that is going nowhere but is too safe to  leave;  it may be physical place, a hometown that you  won’t leave because of family and friends even though  your dreams won’t ever happen if you stay. Take some time to consider where your life is, and if it’s on the right path to the life you desire. Awareness is always the first step. However, it’s not an easy step. Be brutally honest and carefully examine everything in your life. It may be time to get out of the rut before the rut becomes your grave!

 So if you’ve lost the way, how do you find your way  back?  Check out this blog on: 8 Signs You’re Not  Following Your True Path It’s both useful and interesting.

So, you’ve gone ahead and set big ambitious goals for yourself. Perhaps in your business, your health and fitness, your family, or community. Congratulations! Setting goals and starting a plan of action are critical. However, I’m going to talk about what I call “staying in the moment”. This means not over focusing on the end result during your day to day activities. This will only causes stress and anxiety. The goal may appear too far out. You may get fatigued, stressed and discourage if you concentrate on how far you have to go too often. Rather the trick is to have confidence in your plan and then focus on the simple, achievable every day activities.
 

What do I mean by this? For example on your business– perhaps you’ve got a goal to double your income this year. You’ve set about a proven plan that you believe can accomplish this goal and you’ve broke it down into smaller tasks. Key in on what you need to do today to move down the right path. Maybe that means making three sales calls today? Focus on just that activity. Do it and log it. Develop “daily habits” of the activity. Do not focus everyday on doubling your income, that can cause you to feel overwhelmed and discouraged. Have faith that executing the small details will result in the successful completion of your goal. You almost have to block out the bigger goal as you go down the path. Develop a dual mind set- intensive focus on the task at hand or daily work, while reserving focus on the bigger picture for later.

As another example, perhaps your goal for health and fitness is to lose 30 pounds or more this year. What is your plan to get there? What can you do in small increments to ensure success of the plan. Focus on eating a healthy breakfast. Eating a low calorie light lunch. Counting your calories and going for a walk. Then log this every day. Do not focus on how far you have to go or how slowly it seems to be progressing. Have faith that your small daily habits repeated day in and day out will dictate your success. Of course there will be a time to evaluate your progress and adjust the plan if needed. “Staying in the moment” will energize you day in and day out, and you will develop the daily habits that cause your successful accomplishment of your goals.

Check out this article I discovered in Psychology Today. It’s useful and interesting:

The Secret to Achieving a Big Goal Is… Daily habits that keep you productive lead to long-term success and happiness

Iron Mike Stone 2.2.2018