Let’s face it, we’ve all started something new at some point in our lives—a habit, a creative project, a big ass goal—and we’ve all found ourselves procrastinating, forgetting, or “changing our mind.” We don’t get to that point because our idea sucked, or we experienced a degree of failure; if we’re honest with ourselves, chances are we didn’t give ourselves an opportunity to succeed. It’s not time, money, kids, our current job, our social life, or any other circumstance we’ve tried to blame before. The real reason we sometimes don’t succeed at new projects is that we are not willing to succeed.
#MicDrop
Succeeding at something new takes transformation. If we want to succeed at something new, we must transform ourselves. We must level-up our commitment, our focused energy, and our will. Let’s expand our ability to be afraid and not let it stop us or slow us down. We must grow.
COMMITMENT– noun
- the act of pledging or undertaking
- the state of being loyal to a purpose or a cause
Commitment takes a brave moment to say YES and get started. Follow through is two-fold: ACTION and BEING. We not only have to ACT toward that commitment, but we must take responsibility for BEING committed. If we don’t embody our commitment to a new project, we will not follow through adequately and we will likely forget, give up, or fail.
FOCUSED ENERGY
Think of focus without energy as swimming in the middle of a vast, stagnant sea—our idea is there, surrounding us, and although we remain afloat, we aren’t compelled to move in any direction. Energy without focus, on the other hand, is like being stuck in a hamster wheel—there is an appearance that we’re moving forward, but we’re getting nowhere.
To succeed at something new we must have both.
Focus + Energy = Momentum & Results.
Envisioning our creation/desired outcome will give us the focus we need. Let’s imagine the opportunities, growth, and results our endeavors will bring. Looking beyond the obvious results, let’s consider what will change in our family, our home, our social life, our finances, and even our sex life when we succeed at this? What does success in this area smell like, taste like, sound like, feel like? Get all the senses involved! How will this new project transform us for good? If we choose to, using this vision will keep us focused and committed.
Dictionary.com defines energy as the capacity for vigorous activity; available power. To create success, we must harness our capacity for vigorous activity and surrender to our own power. Simply said, we must take MASSIVE ACTION aligned with our commitment and our vision. And be a badass along the way.
WILL: decision, desire, determination
For our new projects to succeed we must DECIDE that they will. We must DESIRE it enough to launch us outside of our comfort zones, and stay committed to being there for awhile. And we must be DETERMINED in the face of obstacles.
For the most part. anything that is new is typically outside our comfort zone. Which means there will be a fear, resistance, and whole lot of other bullshit in the way. This is normal. You know what else? This fear, resistance, and bullshit won’t stop after we commit and set out on this journey. It can, and likely will, show up along the way on every bump, twist, and turn. The key is to continue leveling-up our commitment, focused energy, and will. It’s a choice, and I recommend making this choice early and often.
As a life and leadership coach, I work with people outside their comfort zones, creating new success and fulfillment in their life every day. Doing only what you know (and is comfortable to do) won’t get you where you want to go. I can safely say that half-assing it doesn’t work either. If starting something new is big enough, and important enough to your life, a transformation is essential. As we become willing to embrace this personal transformation, success will follow.