In this mini-episode, I explain how to build new habits to achieve big goals. The key points I expand upon are:

• Have a compelling reason why you want to achieve the goal. It should be emotional and really matter to you.
• Clarify your identity - who will you need to become to achieve this goal? Seeing yourself as that person will help drive your actions.
• Use structure and planning, not just willpower. Put actions to build the habit in your schedule as non-negotiable appointments.
• Make the habit obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. Ask how you can design the habit this way.

Show notes:

• A compelling reason needs energy and emotion. It should really hit you and feel important. [00:01:00]
• Identity is who you will be when you achieve the goal. It pulls you towards the actions needed. [00:06:00]
• Scheduling actions makes habits a non-negotiable part of your week. Rely on structure over willpower alone. [00:08:00]
• The four ways to build a habit are make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying. [00:09:00]
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Get in touch with Sal

If this episode has caught your attention and you wish to learn more, then please contact me. I offer a free 20 min call where we can discuss a challenge your facing and how I may be able to help you.

If you want to make significant change in your life, to do

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something really cool, really

big, sometimes that can feel like

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it's the most overwhelming task.

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how on earth do I do this?

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But actually, it's normally formed

of lots of micro steps along the way.

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And in this, short episode, I'm

going to talk about habits and the

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flow of habits to get to that big.

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Lovely changing goal.

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The thing that you might want.

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Now it's a time of year when a

lot of us think about changing and

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habits and growth and that is great.

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So the, impetus is there.

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What I often see is that there's

a lack of understanding of how

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to deploy and make that happen.

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And as with all things, a little

like the analogy of when someone

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says, Hey, let's, cook some food.

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You're like, Great!

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What, do we have a recipe?

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Do we have the ingredients?

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What are we doing?

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And then it all becomes

a very confusing idea.

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In this episode, I'm going to give

you some cool understandings around

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the clarity needed, some of the most

important steps which have been found to

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be effective, and how you might go about

making some audacious, exciting change.

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So the first step is this.

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You've got to have a compelling reason.

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Now James Clear, who's the author of

Atomic Habits, he wrote about this as

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well as I think Charles Duhigg before

him, but pretty much it goes like this.

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if you have or create a compelling reason.

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That is one of the biggest sources,

the groundwork you need to make the

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changes to get the thing you are after.

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So What does that mean

a compelling reason?

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Okay, so compelling

it's got to have energy.

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It's gonna have emotion

It's gonna hit you.

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You know, it's got to feel really

really important Otherwise, it's

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just you know, I'd like to change

like to grow my business a bit or

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I'd like to be fitter It's just

very ambiguous and it won't stick.

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So when you get compelling, it's

really like wow, that's important I

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really care So that's our first piece.

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And of course, the reason

is, why, the why do it?

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and I've coached numerous people

around the early stage of the year,

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but of course, many times, who are

growing something, they're doing

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something amazing in their, work,

or they want to go from where they

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are to really push that forward.

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And it's like, okay, we want the

growth and that's exciting, but why?

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We've got to get clear on the why.

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So spend some time looking

at your compelling reasons.

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And it wants to have clarity.

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So it doesn't want to be something

like I'm going to grow my business.

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It wants to be something like I

would like to put 25 percent gross

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margin on my business or I would

like to positively affect 1, 000

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people this year in a healthy way.

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Whatever your business is,

and of course there are many.

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Be really specific about that.

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So you've got the clarity.

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You've got to have emotion with it.

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So in my work, have the privilege

of seeing people overcome.

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years of anxiety or lack of self belief

or, you know, difficult backstory.

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I have a real privilege.

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It's not easy, but when I see

someone change, it's just wonderful.

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It really is wonderful.

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And I'm very lucky.

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And it's compelling.

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And why, do I coach a

person through change?

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It's because when I see them

become free of whatever's held

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them back, it's just magic.

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It's wonderful.

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And of course, for my client, it's

even better because it's their life.

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That's really compelling to me.

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That's why I love what I do.

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So find what's compelling

to you and the why.

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Why do this?

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So I'll cycle back to me.

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Why do I coach?

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Why do I do human performance?

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Well, ever since being a young

boy, I never had what I needed

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in this field around psychological

help, emotional support, mentorship,

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understanding how the mind works, the

body works, the nervous system, all

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the things I work with an individual.

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So I needed, I needed to make

sense of the world and the

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challenges that I found in life.

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So I know that that was something I was

really calling for and it's a human need.

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So now I've done the work, I'm old,

so I take all that years of experience

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and I now share that with others.

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So it's a very special thing for you.

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It could be something else, whatever it

is for you, it's relevant to each of us.

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So find your compelling reason.

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Once you've got that, right,

we have got gravity now.

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We've got something that's going

to pull you towards that goal,

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that big thing you're after.

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So spend a lot of time on this.

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It wants to have emotion.

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I would also say it could even

have emotion that upsets you

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and gets you a little angry.

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If we think about some of the things

in the world, the climate challenges

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and that, many people are really

angry about the situation and that

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anger is because it matters to them.

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So while I'm not saying you

should be angry in what you're

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doing, but if there's energy

around it and if there's something

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like, Oh, that's really annoying.

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I want to solve that problem.

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Great.

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That can be really volitious.

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It can really push you forward.

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So get your compelling reason.

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And then we want to look at,

and again, big stuff here.

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Identity.

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Who will you be?

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Because if we've got some kind of

identity block, around who you'll be

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when that future, goal come to fruition.

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It becomes your life and your business.

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If you can't see yourself as that

person, that identity, you're

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going to really struggle.

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Again, I'll give a very personal example.

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in my mid forties, I had a bit of

an epiphany that I needed to really

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shift what I was doing physically.

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And I was quite active at the time.

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When I say quite active, what I look

at now is probably quite inactive.

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But I was doing a lot of

yoga and walking and stuff.

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And I got involved in CrossFit.

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which really took me by surprise

as it was a whole new discipline.

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But I decided by the time I

was going to be turning my 50th

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birthday, I would be an athlete.

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Now, I defined that in terms

of how an athlete lived.

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Not so much that they had medals

and showed up for competitions, but

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an athlete would train, diligently.

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Every week, every month, every year, and

like an Olympian, they wouldn't just do

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it for a bit, they would do it for four

years, they'd be long term thinking.

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So I got in my mind, like,

I would be an athlete.

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So if I live like this, I'll

embody the identity of an athlete.

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And that changed everything.

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That's allowed me to overcome all

the highs and lows of that training.

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It allows me to train in

a way that I love to do.

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Now for you, it could be, if your identity

is like, well, I'm just a solopreneur

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right now and I want to grow a business

with a team and I want to really

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make a massive impact in the world.

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Well, then you might be a CEO

or whatever title that is.

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Getting closer to that identity

combined with a compelling reason.

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Again, these are massive

gravitational pulls to shift.

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Once you've got these, two big forces

in play, then we can start to come to

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perhaps some of the more strategic stuff.

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Now, a lot of people think that habits

in any domain is about willpower

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and just being diligent about that.

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And actually willpower

is not a great strategy.

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I recommend it particularly.

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It's there, but don't recommend it.

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I recommend structure.

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So with structure, with planning, with

when do I do The thing that I need to do

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to move you forward, it needs to go in

your schedule, it needs to be blocked out,

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like a meeting, whether it's an exercise

session, whether it's a business session,

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whatever the area you are growing into

is, it has to be scheduled, and it's,

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it's a non negotiable, you don't just go

because you like it, you go because it's

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in the diary, and if you're building

your business, or you're building your

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health, you show up because it says so

in the diary, And you don't have to worry

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about, do I feel like doing this today?

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It's in the diary, it's what we do.

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So the structure then becomes

the, in many ways, the kind of

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the composite that brings the

steps together over the long term.

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And that allows for continuous growth.

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Now, James Clear, he's covered

a lot of this, and I've just

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sort of briefly mentioned him,

but his work goes a lot deeper.

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But he also spoke about some other things

about if you really want to make a new

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habit, you know, a new way of being.

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kind of four things and he

said that the first question

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is how can I make it obvious?

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So how can you make it obvious

to do the thing you need to do?

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What is it you need to do and then

how can I make it more attractive?

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So what's gonna make it

more appealing to me?

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How can I make it easy?

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So yeah remove the friction, right?

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How can this be the easiest

version of what I can and

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how can I make it satisfying?

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Now, there's loads and loads

of ways to do this, depending

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on what you're aiming to do.

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The problem we have is that if we

get caught up in not following a

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simple process, it's going to be

really difficult to put it in.

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So those four I find are very

helpful just to dial back into.

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How can I make it obvious?

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How can I make it attractive?

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How can I make it easy?

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How can I make it satisfying?

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And when you've got those On a

daily action based process, align

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with your structure, align with the

identity of who you are and who you're

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becoming with your compelling reason.

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Oh my goodness.

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It's a great driving force.

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And if you simply take that alone,

which is still quite a lot of work, but

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if you take that alone, the results

are likely to be really powerful.

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So I trust and I hope that those

points will really push you forwards,

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give you the energy that you need,

give you the focus that you need.

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to make some massive change

that's going to be compelling.

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It's going to be authentic and

it's going to be what you want.

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So as always, do let me know on the

platforms you may be listening or

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where you've seen this, your thoughts,

your comments and your experience.

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And, I always love to hear.

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So until the next time, take care.