Your brain will create the most incredible things and all you have to do is decide ahead of time what you want and then keep the promises to yourself. When you do that enough in the same direction, you will achieve practically everything you set out to achieve.

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Transcript

“What would you do if you couldn’t fail?” This is a great question to ask to get your mind dreaming and reaching for your highest potential self. Reaching for the version of you who is living the most robust life will lead you to experiencing more and feeling more -- which is one of the main reasons you want to set goals for yourself. You may think reaching your goal will bring you happiness, but it is really the journey and overcoming obstacles you once thought were impossible that will generate the thoughts make you feel amazing. When you reach a BIG goal, you teach yourself that really, anything is possible. Once you know that anything is possible – well…. The sky is the limit at that point.

Your brain will create the most incredible things and all you have to do is decide ahead of time what you want, and then keep your promises to yourself. When you do that enough in the right direction, you will achieve practically everything you set out to achieve.

So that gets us to today’s topic….

When you are bold enough to set a BIG goal, one that seems out of reach, it’s possible that you will find yourself swirling with indecision and overwhelm. I am guessing this is one of the main reasons that you aren’t seriously pursuing some of your dreams, especially your very biggest dreams. Yes, I know you truly do want to reach the goal, but if you don’t manage your mind, it will be very challenging get traction – and you will often become stuck in place.

There are two things I’ll talk about in this episode that will supercharge your path to your goals: the power of constraint and actually making a decision.

• Let’s discuss the concept of “Constraint” first: Constraint is a limitation or a restriction you put on yourself that simplifies your life. Essentially a “hard and fast Rule” for how you are going to live. You can apply this to your career by deciding to work on only one thing at a time. If you are working toward a huge goal, like delivering a big project to corporate leadership or to a major customer, then maybe you focus first on defining the budget, schedule and scope of the project. With the concept of “constraint in place, you only focus on that one thing until you are done, and then you can move to the next thing. This exercise will tell you what you WILL work on and what you will NOT work on. You have just provided clarity to you and your team and you have given yourself to move many potential tasks off of your plate. You can apply constraint to your personal life as well. You can clarify that each child will only do one sport per season, no more running kids from soccer to lacrosse and making you both crazy. You can decide that your preferred diet includes intermittent fasting, that means that you no longer need to eat breakfast and can shop for less food. You can decide that you no longer mow the lawn, and hire a lawn service. You can decide that you no longer watch TV on week nights and now you have time for that college degree you have been trying to complete or the business you have been wanting to get off the ground.

• The 2nd major boost to achieving your goals is the power of making decisions. Making a decision is something that will move you forward in life. As soon as you make a decision, that decision alone will bring you some amount of constraint. If I make a decision that I am going stop eating breakfast and begin intermittent fasting, then I no longer have to decide what I am going to eat first thing in the morning. I don’t have to walk in the breakfast aisle at the grocery store, I don’t have to decide if I am eating before or after I workout. The decision to intermittent fast will make it clear that I am going to stop doing some things during the course of my day and start doing other things instead. Likewise, think of a food plan, like you are living keto lifestyle, or you will stick to this specific morning routine that sets you up for success during the day and - each of these are examples where you DECIDE what you will do and how you will behave ahead of time. Which helps you to say, “NO” to other things that will not serve you.

• There is great power in the decision to do something ahead of time, and then honoring the promise you made to yourself in keeping that commitment. It’s one of the most beautifully human things we can do and it absolutely will lead you to live your highest potential life.

• Ok, think about main goal you want to achieve in the next 6 months and think of that one decision you have not made yet. Maybe you know you need to leave a relationship, maybe you need to sell a house or move to a new location. Maybe you want to find a new job or start working on a Master’s or Ph.D. You have an idea for a book that you haven’t written, an idea to improve something at work, but you haven’t written up the proposal to show your boss. Any amount of time you allow yourself to remain in indecision is an indulgence, much like overwhelm, and it will not serve you. Not making a decision IS A DECISION, even if it is unconscious. (ex. Staying in a marriage, staying at a job, remaining a certain weight, checking e-mail for hours, scrolling social media, etc…)

• Making a decision will often be uncomfortable, because it will cause action. (ex. If you DECIDE you are going to take on that big problem at work and try to fix it, you are going to have to take actions, pull people together, communicate what you are doing and why.)

• If you have been stuck with indecision: MAKE A DECISION (either way) and then just stick to it for a year.

o Apply for a new job

o Accept a new job

o Purge a room full of old clutter holding you back

o YOU WILL MOVE FORWARD

o YOU WILL SAVE MENTAL ENERGY

o YOU WILL MAKE PROGRESS

o YOU WILL LEARN

• Decide you want what you have

OR

Decide to change it.” Ex: clothes in your closet, marriage, job, house

• Every Decision is right. Just Decide.

5 ways to push out of confusion and analysis and make decisions that move you forward

1. Quit putting yourself last – often there are things that YOU want to do. Things that YOU want to start. Yet, you are so busy people pleasing and taking care of others that you don’t ever get around to you. What if you decided to let others in your life, your husband, your kids, your friends and your co-workers do their fair share of the effort. You don’t even have to tell them this is what you are doing. You can just start doing less of the work. Start asking for more help. If dinner is not cooked, I am sure they will figure it out. They might even cook. At work, learn to delegate and ask for help more often. When you start putting yourself first more of the time – you will free up time to take care of the things that YOU care about. You will free up time to work on the things that YOU think are most important.

2. Take some action that moves your toward what you want. At least make the decision to take a step forward. Often when you move a little closer you can see better and you will know what to do. The worst thing you can do is to do nothing. If you really want something different than you have now, then take action in that direction.

3. Take care of yourself. I usually get the most confused, overwhelmed and stressed when I am not taking care of myself. This happens when I am not sleeping enough, not eating right, and not exercising. The worst part is, the more stressed or overwhelmed I get – the worse I take care of myself. It is a big circle. The only way to stop it is to get some sleep, eat the foods that fuel me, hydrate with water and electorlytes. When I am not taking care of myself – I have a harder time thinking and processing, which makes it a lot harder to make a decision.

4. I said it above… what if every decision was the right decision? If that is true – then it becomes so much easier to pick a path. You will either take a giant step toward the future you want OR you will learn, adjust, and then have another decision that you are ready to make. The most important thing – MAKE THE DECISION and keep moving.

5. Ask yourself what is the worst thing that could possibly happen if you choose B over A? Seriously – if you are having such a hard time making this decision, there must be goods and bads on both sides. So, really – what is the worst possible outcome? If you need to, write out an entire page or two, in your journal, about what could possibly be the worst outcome and then read it when you are done. First, how likely is it that the worst thing will happen? Even if its worst, I bet its not the first or most likely result. Second, IF the worst thing happened, what would you do to over come it? Write that out as well. You will realize it really isn’t that big of a deal and you would survive. I have said it in other podcasts – but 99% of the time the worst thing is only a feeling. Embarrasment, humiliation, shame. And – that is all in our own mind. You let it pass like a wave and then you keep on moving forward. That’s it. DECIDE. Decide, then move forward,

Activity: I want you to think of the number one goal you are working towards in the next 6 months. There is one decision you need to make right now. What is it? Commit to make a decision about it today. There is also one important thing you could accomplish in the next week toward this exact goal. Decide what you will work on this week to move toward your goal. This is just one chunk, one portion of the whole effort. Where will you place your energy? If you decide exact the piece of your goal you will deliver this week, you will constrain your focus and it will push you forward.

As I said at the beginning, when you decide ahead of time what you want, and then keep your promises to yourself, you will achieve practically everything you set out to achieve.

I love the sound of that. Decide what you want, decide you keep promises to you, and then decide to take the actions to create a career and life you love!