How many times have you said to yourself, “this week/month/year I am going to…”, and somewhere along the way you got distracted, busy or convinced yourself that it won’t be that big a deal if you don't do whatever it is you originally knew you needed to do. Let me be the one to tell you that not only are you training yourself that it is OK to let yourself down but that it is OK to lie to yourself. Treating yourself like this should be unacceptable... especially if you knew that you can change this behavior in three simple steps.
THINK IT, SAY IT, THEN WRITE IT… and it can be so!
Writing down goals can be a powerful thing. Saying them out loud, even to yourself, can begin to tell your mind that they are real. But before you can say them, you must train yourself to consistently think that that you can achieve what you want to be, what you want to do or where you need to be in order to be the best version of yourself.
Do you know who you want to become? Or do you know what it is you want? Once you figure that out… you must think that you can do it. Henry Ford once said, "whether you think you can or you think you can't... you're right!" You must visualize what the life you desire looks like. You must see in your mind what that future state looks like and see yourself there. Then every morning as soon as you get up, every night before you go to bed and often throughout the day you must say to yourself, (in the words so well spoken by Eric Thomas) “I can, I will, I must”. Sounds super hard right??? (Insert feeling of sarcasm here). The first thing you need to do is set in your mind that you can, you will and you must.
Then, step it up a notch from thinking it and begin to say it aloud to yourself. I bet you’re thinking, “this guy is crazy, he wants me to talk to myself”. Well, if you are unwilling or unable to say it to yourself standing in front of the mirror, then how can you possibly expect it to be possible? Saying it out loud helps yourself begin to truly believe that what you are thinking is real. Keep in mind though, the inverse is also true; if you are constantly saying negative things about yourself, it will likely be so. You cannot be successful if you are always saying, “I can’t do this or that”, or “I won’t be able to...”, etc. You must prophesize your future!
Then… to bring it home, take the final step and put pen to paper. Write down want you want to achieve. Make it a real statement! Now every morning read it aloud to yourself. Then, you will be able to say it out loud to everyone else. Share it with those around you. Those who support you need to know what it is you aspire to do. They will encourage you. They will push you. They will also hold you accountable to do it! It’s one thing to let yourself down… but it is quite another to let everyone else down, right?
But you already know you can do whatever it is that you are about to write down because you have already been thinking in your mind that you can, and you have been telling yourself that you can. Three simple steps… what are YOU going to achieve with them?