I recently read ‘Your Best Year Ever’ by Michael Hyatt. If you’d like to have an awesome year ahead and aren’t sure how you can do this, here are some useful tips from his book…
Upgrade Limiting Beliefs
Do you ever have beliefs that hold you back? ‘I don’t deserve this’ or ‘I can’t sell’ are examples of messages we might give ourselves that have an effect on how we see our future. They are like wearing red sunglasses that colour our vision and distort what’s possible for us. We do it to ourselves, the world around us and others. It keeps us living in a restricted space of fear and scarcity instead of thriving abundance.
The good news is that upgrading your limiting beliefs is like choosing a different colour of sunglasses. ‘I don’t deserve this’ can become ‘I’ve worked hard for this’ and ‘I can’t sell’ can become ‘I love to share my products with the world.’
I used to have a limiting belief that key account buyers wouldn’t talk to me because they are too busy. My focus now is on how our products can help them grow their sales and make the world a better place.
It’s important to recognise the power limiting beliefs have over us, to face them head on and to create more powerful and inspiring possibilities for ourselves going forward.
Completing the Past
There are things we may have wanted to happen in our lives and they didn’t. For example, you may have wanted a long and happy marriage and it didn’t work out that way. We carry the story of our failures, rather than acknowledging what happened, learning from the experience, adjusting our behaviour and moving on. Such stories can hold us back from living our lives fully and they fuel our limiting beliefs.
Regrets can be a feedback loop for when we have steered off course. They can also create opportunities. Think of them like a road sign, rather than a road block. Pointing you in the right direction, rather than getting in your way.
Instead of wallowing in regret, anxiety or suffering, as my grandma used to say ‘count your blessings.’ Indian yogi, Sadhguru, reminds us that “over a million people don’t wake up each morning. So, if you wake up, is it not a great thing? If those dear to you also wake up, it’s a fantastic day.” I like this, because you don’t have to accomplish or do anything to feel grateful. It is a blessing to simply be alive.
Be Smarter
Hyatt has adapted the popular SMART goals strategy to make them even more achievable by being:
Specific
Measurable
Actionable
Risky
Time-keyed
Exciting
Relevant
I found this useful when creating the Rising Retail event for retailers. Being specific about the date (1st June 2020), location (The Shard), number of speakers (14), delegates (30) and subjects (10) made organising the whole event easier than if we’d just said let’s produce an event to support British High Street Retailers.
Choosing to be healthier, fitter, richer, better, doing less, doing more, etc are all too vague and don’t tick the boxes above. So don’t set goals like these for yourself. You’ll only be disappointed. Set SMARTER goals, take the first step towards their attainment immediately after setting them and then make further steps habitual.
Life Goals
It’s important that your goals aren’t all work related. They should ideally cover a range of areas that make up your life in addition to the usual physical, financial and vocational goals we often set ourselves. Design goals and habits for your spiritual, intellectual and emotional life. As well as those that nurture your relationships and hobbies.
You also need to make sure your achievement goals are supported by habits that are installed through winning streaks. Let me give you an example. Last year my son, Sam, set me a challenge of watching 104 great movies on a Gift Republic poster that he gave me as a gift. It was a fun goal.
I worked out that I needed to watch two movies a week for the entire year. Achievable, right? It’s important that goals have some discomfort in them, but aren’t delusional. It was a big ask of my time (100 hours+). It was also something I could share with my son to enhance our relationship and it was doing something I love. I am a Cinephile with two Humanities degrees in Film.
As with most of my goals I set off at a good pace and was on track at five months in. Then the Summer arrived and I fell off the wagon. I got to October and had sixty films still to watch. I spoke with my son about not making it and he said that I’d have to agree not to eat chocolate for six months if I failed. A fate worse than death for me! It helped me to knuckle down and nail a winning streak in ten days that made completing the list habitual. In fact, I got ahead and even had time to spare.
Your Why
That messy part in the middle is where we so often fall down with our goals isn’t it? Although I had good motivations for doing the challenge, I lost my way. We lose our way, when we lose our why.
Sam gave me a new ‘why’ in October, which helped massively. It was deeper than just chocolate for me. It included being true to my word, both to myself and to others. Being an example of this (and of determination) to my son is important to me too.
Getting back on track with my movie challenge also helped me become more organised and focussed in other areas of my life. I could see the benefits of being smarter about my goal setting and habit creation.
Having someone who cares for and supports me also made a big difference. It’s something I think I’ll need more of in certain areas with this year’s goals to help me grow, encourage me and hold me accountable for reaching them.
Plan your work and work your plan
Make first actions easy to gain momentum. You don’t have to do the hardest job first. Do something easier to get going and then work on the more difficult stuff.
Remember to chunk down seemingly daunting tasks into smaller more manageable actions. It’s much easier to break the mountain climb down into smaller sections. You can then celebrate achieving them as you head towards completing the whole.
Don’t rely on your willpower in the moment. Set triggers for yourself. Want to improve sleep? Leave your electronic devices in another room before going to bed. Set your gym clothes out the night before. Book gym appointments with friends or a trainer. Then take action according to your plan.
Do, or Do Not
In Star Wars, Yoda reprimands Luke Skywalker for saying he’ll give a task another try. “No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try,” he says. Ditching the word ‘try’ from your vocabulary reinforces your commitment to action and from there to achieving your goals. The difference between saying you’ll try and do something and saying you’ll do it is huge. Commit to steps that you can do, not try to do.
Review
Review your goals and motivations daily, weekly and quarterly. If they are written down, they are easier to track, adjust and maintain. Keeping these lists manageable is really helpful. For example, choose 3 key goal focussed tasks per day, 3 per week and 3 per quarter. Make sure they all help you move towards your overall goals. Review how it’s going and what needs doing next and remember why you are doing it. You can always change and adjust as you go.
I wish you all a very successful year ahead with making your dreams come true. Remember to write down where you want to go, make sure it’s ‘smarter’ and track your progress to adjust as you go. I hope that it’s your best year ever!
Jeremy is speaking on the Inspiring Retail stage at Spring Fair on Sunday 2nd February at 13:30 at Spring Fair on “How can you become a sustainable retailer?”
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