Burn the Ships
One of the keys to reaching your goals is to eliminate any escape routes. It is tempting to retreat to safety and comfort when challenges and difficulties arise. To avoid turning around and abandoning your goals, you must make going forward more compelling then going back.
When striving towards a goal, you must focus on what you want to obtain and avoid the impulse to go back to what you know and to what is comfortable. When Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico, one of his first orders to his men was to burn the ships. Cortez was committed to his mission and did not want to allow himself or his men the option of going back to Spain. By removing this option, Cortez and his men were forced to focus on how they could make the mission successful.
Eliminating an escape route creates a compelling reason to focus on the goal and to keep moving forward. However, it is important to keep in mind that although Cortez had his men burn the ships, he did not have them burn the food and supplies. Cutting off an escape route to increase motivation and create the desire to press on where you might otherwise give up is totally different from throwing caution to the wind and taking undue risks. Reaching your goals still requires prudent planning and managing. All goals contain a certain degree of risk, but it isn't necessary to create undue risk and stress by not properly planning and thus lacking the necessary tools and supplies to achieve your goal. Take risks, but don't be careless or foolish and simply hope that everything will be okay.
Before you decide to burn your ships, make sure you have the supplies and tools necessary to achieve the goal. Something like quitting your job might sound like a good way to close the escape route, but it might also be a fast way to bankruptcy if you don't have resources to carry you through. Creating a savings account balance or having a journey job (a job that is a stepping stone to what you really want) allows you to take the risk of leaving your current job without creating undue risk. I once took a six-month leave of absence from a job while I was deciding if I wanted to move to a different state. Although it was difficult making the transition as I was very homesick, once I found a job in my new location, I resigned from the job I had waiting for me because I knew it would be too tempting to go back.
Close off the escape routes and make sure that you have a compelling reason to move forward. However, at the same time, make sure that you plan for the risk and have the tools, supplies and resources you need to achieve your goals. You can't eliminate risk but you can plan for it. Don't just jump in without thinking through the process and having a solid plan for moving forward.
Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee, PhD, is the publisher of the award winning e-zine, 365 Days of Coaching. Her first book, 365 Days of Coaching – Because Life Happens Every Day (Universal Publisher, 2004) was named a finalist for Best Book 2004 by Publish.com and has a five star rating on Amazon.com. Visit Coach Lee at her websites coachlee.com and 365daysofcoaching.com. True Direction, Inc. Copyright
Start With A Baseline
Making changes in your life is great and it is the way we grow and develop as people. Change is a constant process and part of being human. When you embark on changing anything in your life you have to start from where you are. Until you know where that is it would be difficult to effectively make the change. You have to start with a baseline.
Starting with a baseline is about honestly figuring out where you are and what you are doing so that you know exactly what needs to be changed. It may sound odd, but many of us are unaware of what we do. When my clients tell me they want to lose weight the first thing I do is have them keep a food journal for a week just to get a baseline. The next week they share how shocked they were to see not only how much they were eating, but also what they were eating. Many of us are on autopilot and we simply are not aware of what we are doing. When you track it - and this works with anything - you have a real picture of where you are and what needs to change.
I read a statistic once that said most people consistently spend about 10% more than they make. I believe that is true, and it is because what is being spent, especially on a credit card, is not tracked. I once had a client that just didn't have enough time to accomplish everything she needed to do. When she tracked her time for a week she was made painfully aware that she was spending hours in front of the television. The first step in change is awareness. You have to become aware of what you are doing and exactly where you are before you can proceed forward. Keeping track for a week or two will provide you with valuable information that will support your change effort.
Before you embark on any type of change effort you have to know where you are. I liken it to those travel maps that have an X printed next to "You are here." Until you are aware of exactly where you are - and many of us don't have a clue - it will be impossible to make the needed change.
The first step in your change effort is to determine where you are. Keep a log for a week or two. This will give you a realistic idea of what you are doing. You can track anything from how much money you spend to how many hours of sleep you get. Once you know the truth about where you are you can proceed.
Coach Rachelle Disbennett-Lee, PhD, is the publisher of the award winning e-zine, 365 Days of Coaching. Her first book, 365 Days of Coaching – Because Life Happens Every Day (Universal Publisher, 2004) was named a finalist for Best Book 2004 by Publish.com and has a five star rating on Amazon.com. Visit Coach Lee at her websites coachlee.com and 365daysofcoaching.com. True Direction, Inc. Copyright
Adopting a New Creed to Turn Your Life Around.
Copyright 2006 Emmanuel Segui
How many times in your life have you signed your name to an agreement that bound you to do something?
Even though you put great value on your personal freedom, and you would be wary of agreeing to do anything that would jeopardize it, you have committed yourself to certain things where a penalty was involved if you did not do them.
Even when you opened your bank account, and applied for your insurance, you agreed to be bound by certain specific conditions. Probably right now much of your use of money, and your personal and vocational life, is influenced by such agreements. You signed your name to such binding agreements because it was the only way you could have or do what you considered necessary in your life
Sign your life away!
These are all agreements you have made with other people. But what about yourself?
Have you ever made an agreement with yourself, to do something for yourself? This is the most important kind of an agreement you can make, and I propose that you make one right now. This agreement involves not parts of your life, but rather your whole life, and I believe that you are ready for it.
You are ready now to understand a new creed of living. And you are ready to accept and adopt this creed.
This is the creed of "do," the positive creed of action, performance, production and accomplishment. It is the opposite of the creed of "do not," the negative creed of rejection, procrastination, fear and failure.
This positive creed says "do, rather than do not"; "do, rather than talk about it"; "do, rather than wish"; "do, rather than wait."
Are you willing to embrace this creed? I am sure that it wouldn't take more than a little self-influence for you to do so. And I am sure that you are willing to say that your attitude toward it is that it is a good creed, and a right creed, for you.
But like any creed, this one says a lot in a few words, so I want you to consider the "fine print" that is in back of those words before you go all the way and say it is your creed.
Furthermore, I am sure you will agree with me when I say the acceptance of the creed should make a "noteworthy" impression on your subconscious mind. You will start out with a good attitude, of course, but the objective agreed upon should be to make this creed a good habit. So let's consider what is implied in the "fine print."
You will be a person who has veered away from the normal track and from living the typical, ultra-conventional life.
You will be a person who is always on the productive, progressive track, and that is abnormal!
This "do" creed, then, means that you will live abnormally, or above the normal. You will travel only on the positive side of the road of life. You will live immoderately, by going "all the way." Knowing the true significance of this creed, are you now willing to ally yourself with it?
You have not the slightest reason to be hesitant about your decision. This is the creed of a person who has established his own importance to himself. But there is still another vital reason for its being your creed. The creed of "do" is made up of the kind of stuff that makes subconscious self-influence clear and certain. You will have the highest score of "noteworthy" impressions on your subconscious by acting according to the creed. The creed will make your subconscious the kind of a partner you want it to be.
Are you adopting the creed? You are, so say "yes"!
Say it aloud, so that conscious will of yours blinks a bit from the reverberations and so that your affirmation is recorded on that subconscious camera as the brightest impression ever!
This is the turning point.
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