14 Jan Stop Stopping Yourself
Every one of us has gotten in our own way. The biggest challenge to our own success is often that person in the mirror.
We have all made decisions that screwed up our chances of success. It could be because we were scared of the opportunity and what would happen if we succeeded or if we didn’t.
However, a lot of times we get in our own way because we lack intentionality with some of our choices.
Here are six choices that we can make every single week to help us get out of our own way. That way we can start getting after the goals we want and succeeding at a whole different level.
1. Plan your day the night before.
Commitments are found in calendars. Regardless of how well we manage our time, let’s be honest, we all wish we had more of it.
The problem is that most people hope they find more time to work on their goals. But they’re not going to.
We have to make the time to put things on our calendars. Even if you just take 15 minutes to plan out your day and your goals the night before. That way we can start honoring our commitments and going after our goals. We can start being more consistent with our progress.
2. Make time to watch the game tape.
Just like athletes watch videos of their previous games so they know what to improve on next time; how do you know where to get better if you don’t take the time to look for it?
All of us are busy, but if we aren’t investing time into reviewing every day, what we did well and where we need to improve, how do we expect to get better?
Whatever you absorb on a daily basis, from the songs you listened to, to what you saw on social media, is ultimately going to push out that one thing you said you wanted to get better at. It’s hard to keep track of everything we want to get done if we’re not writing it down.
Investing five minutes at the end of every day for a quick recap gives us an opportunity for growth.
3. Find Accountability.
No one in life wins alone. Every one of us has had people who have helped us. Whether directly from mentoring or coaching, or indirectly because you read their books or listened to their podcast.
You still have to do the work, but you also need people around you to help and keep you accountable.
The more accountability we have in our lives, the less likely we’re going to be unaccountable to ourselves and gives us less chances to opt-out.
We all know what it’s like to hear excuses in your head or to have those days when you start leaning into comfort and complacency. So we have to surround ourselves with the people who will encourage us on those bad days and make sure we don’t quit on ourselves.
4. Be intentional with your social media.
This starts with why we get on it and how we use it.
Are we getting on to make a post or comment or are we just getting on to scroll? If you don’t have a plan for how you use social media, it’s not a service to you, you’re just a product of it. If you’re not using it to get better, stay motivated, or stay connected, then it’s using you.
A lot of us struggle with comparison and don’t understand why. Look at your feed.
A lot of us struggle to consume productive, positive, and optimistic content, but we’re not putting it on our own feed.
It can also be demotivating when all we see people post are highlight reels instead of full journeys. When you only look at the highlight reels, you start to think that your messy, sloppy, ugly journey is wrong or that something’s wrong with you.
Instead of understanding, you’re only seeing a snapshot of someone else instead of the whole picture.
5. Be intentional with what you consume.
We all know that what goes in must come out. If you want to perform better, start evaluating what you’re consuming.
Great athletes know that they can’t eat McDonald’s every day and still perform at an elite level. Our minds work the same way. Are we watching the news, listening to gossip, or scrolling through Twitter every single day?
Winners set key boundaries in what they watch, listen to, talk about, and read, just as much as what they eat. They understand that their most important asset is not their body, it’s their mindset.
Their body’s an incredibly important asset, but without a strong mindset, it’s no good. We have to be intentional with what we consume every day if we want great things to come out.
6. Treat all of your choices independently.
It’s human nature for us to let a past choice determine the next one. Instead of resetting after a cheat meal and getting back on our nutrition plan, we just start binging because we messed up once.
However, the sooner we start realizing that what we did then doesn’t determine what we to do next, the sooner we can reset after a mistake. The easiest way to do this is to ask yourself W.I.N.
What’s
Important
Next
In other words, what’s the next best move I can make? Where should my focus go? All of our choices are independent. Just because you had a bad morning doesn’t mean you have to have a bad night.
How are you going to change your choices? Not how did I show up then, but how do I want to show up now going forward?
How Will You Stop Stopping Yourself?
When we start consistently taking these 6 action steps, the more opportunities we’re going to have for success. And the less likely that the person stopping us will be the one we see in the mirror.
Get out of your own way so you can get after your goals.
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