What kinds of things would you do if you were guaranteed results for your efforts? No doubt you’ve often heard about the importance of goal setting, vision boards, outlining and planning. When you put in the effort, the results will follow. Most of the time you do see results for your efforts. However, many people get stuck along the way and often give up or never start at all. There is no shortcut to getting “the thing.” Success is only found in the doing.
Recently, I was brushing my teeth, flossing and gargling with mouthwash before putting my Invisalign braces in. I thought about how my habits had changed over the last several months once I started with the practice for straightening some teeth. You have to wear them the majority of the day. Once you eat you have to brush, floss and gargle before putting your aligners back in. You can’t drink anything but water when you’re wearing them, and certainly cannot eat with them in. I marveled at my willingness to make these habit changes in my life, with the promise that the appearance of my teeth would become what I wanted it to be. No other real questions asked. I trusted the process, as it was explained to me, and had a clear-cut path of what needed to be done, without wavering or short-cutting the system.
“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” — Henry Ford
Naturally, this made me think about other things that could be done with a clear path to have an expected end. My friend and I decided to lose weight and set our plan in motion. We bought the food, prepared the meals and prepped to have it all readily available at meal times. We got an amazing app on our phones that would track our intake (calories, water, physical activity). It could literally find details of most any food we were eating and record the calories to track our progress. This was another tool with a clear-cut path. If you do it and follow it, you would have the results you were seeking within an expected period of time. It’s a matter of changing some habits and trusting the process. Follow the path. It’s lit up, marked, outlined and waiting to give you an expected end.
“You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the waterslide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” — Tina Fey
I’ve listened to several professional business and life coaches who have wonderful formats to keep you focused on the target. Daily steps to take are outlined that will position you to move in the direction to accomplish your goal. Surrounding yourself with an accountability mate or group is a wise choice to put you on the path to success. Again, if you don’t know what to do—if you don’t have a process that has a clear path for an expected outcome—you will have a more difficult time getting there.
“You see, in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know. Knowing is not enough! You must take action.” — Tony Robbins
Another friend started putting together workshops for personal development. She had talked about this for several years. She finally positioned herself to select a topic, decide on the right person to lead it, find a location to host it and then invited people to register and attend. They have been very successful in terms of the attendees being able to experience real transformation. This could not have happened without a plan of action and then doing it.
I do “Mindful Moment” videos that are 60 seconds or less. They are designed to demonstrate an exercise or activity you can do throughout your day. These are intended to have you engage in something, even if briefly, during the day to help keep stress low, energy high, bodies more flexible. Several people have come up to me in public and said things like “oh, I see your videos and they look awesome.” When I asked if they did the suggested activity the response was along the line of “no, but I thought it was great that you were doing it.” On the flip side, several folks have also said they enjoyed doing the activities and they were helpful. I was a bit surprised at the ones who just watched rather than taking further action. For me, I hope the seed was planted and will bloom when they need it most.
One final share: I was witnessing a neighbor out running in the early morning. I thought to myself, “It’s in the doing, and this guy is taking action, managing his form and level of fitness. You can’t get the results just by thinking about doing it. You can’t win the race or even start if you don’t enter. You’ve got to get up and follow the plan!”
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” — Nelson Mandela
