Discover Your Path to Success - Part 1

Trying to figure out how you're going to achieve your dreams and goals can be overwhelming. There's so much information out there it can be difficult to find the path that works for you. But, it's not impossible! The following post is a list of things you might consider that could help foster a productive mindset and motivate you on your path toward success.

You're here because you want to make a change in your life. You're tired of being stuck in the same old rut and you need to take action.

 I'm going to walk you through some "mind hacks" that I use daily that could help and push you past your obstacles (and those of others).

I come from a very different background then most people out there, so I might be able to give a few tips that would be helpful for you. If one or two of these things resonate with you, great! If not, don't worry… just keep exploring.

The point is to find what works for YOU and do it consistently until it becomes second nature.

Brambles

This is the first thing I do in the morning. I stand up and take two deep breaths. I feel the air fill my lungs and allow them to expand fully. Then, I exhale using a similar technique as when you wake up in the morning. After a few seconds, I sit back down on my chair and relax for a bit.

It's simple and it takes only a few seconds.

Why do I do this?

 I call it my "Calm Ritual". It's a way to center myself before the day begins. It helps me take stock of my situation, both in the present and in the future. What is my plan for today? What obstacles or problems might I come across? How can I best overcome them?

I'm not saying you have to do this at all, but there are many ways to center yourself. There are some great books out there on this subject with elaborate rituals that can help you become more centered in your daily life, but the point is start small and work from there if you wish.

Your Goals

I can't stress this one enough. Write them down, think about them, talk about them with your spouse/housemate/roommate/friends. Have a plan for getting there and don't be afraid to reevaluate it regularly or make changes as you go along. My goals are on sticky notes all over my house and on my computer screen savers, phone background and even in my wallet! I want to see them everywhere!

The trick is to visualize yourself achieving your goal and celebrating when you reach it!

For each goal I create a roadmap showing what I need to do to achieve it. This roadmap is the plan that I follow every day in order to reach the goal.

It's a very simple thing to do, but it's one of the most powerful tools you can have to get things done.

I suggest that you put your goals in writing, even if they're just promises to yourself. And don't stop after your first goal! I recorded my first ever "podcast" back in 2007. Now, I've been doing it for eight years. How many other people have done this? Onward and upward!

Get Motivated

One of the biggest challenges that you'll face is motivation and maintaining motivation over the long term. The two main reasons for this are resilience and focus . Having these two qualities will help you achieve as much as possible with as little effort as possible.

Resilience is the ability to bounce back after you've been knocked down. It's a mental strength that allows you to put things in perspective and stay on track regardless of any obstacles that come your way.

Focus, on the other hand, is the ability to stay on target and follow through with your goals without getting distracted by anything else. When things get harder or more mundane, these two qualities become even more important.

The trick is to find what works for YOU and do it consistently until it becomes second nature. I'm not talking about having a hundred and one different hobbies or activities you do, so that you never have time to do any of them.

Instead, find out what works for you in the long run, and then stick with it!

Tarnish Your Dreams

This is something that I don't usually talk about much on my blog because it gets into the murky territory of relationships. For the purpose of this post though, I will touch on it briefly (if you're ready to hear more you can go ahead and skip ahead).

The biggest obstacle that many people face when it comes to following through on their dreams, is the pressure from society to settle for a simple life and be mediocre at it.

Society likes conformity. It likes people fitting in and doing what's expected of them. And, as a result of this, people are overwhelmed with the "shoulds" that they should do.

This gets into the subject of motivation again because, to a great extent, your motivation comes from how you feel about who you are and what your life represents . When things get hard or mundane or when you feel like you aren't living up to some expectation that society has for you, this can all be very frustrating.

The best way to deal with it is to make a list of all the dreams you have and go through them one by one. Go back through your life and look at where you failed. Was anything holding you back? Was there something that was keeping you from fulfilling all of your dreams?

It might be as simple as having a job you hate or not getting the qualifications for a dream career, or it could be more complex in larger ways.

When you did something to move forward with one of your dreams, what went wrong? Was there a miscommunication? Were the other people involved not willing to take action on your behalf?

I tend to think that if you find something that was holding you back from moving forward, then it's best to just leave it there. Don't undo the changes that were made.

If the pressure comes up again and you can get in touch with why you did something in the first place, then great! But if not, then don't bother trying to undo what was done. You can always try and do something differently next time.

Conclusion

It's important to realize that you don't have to be perfect at all of these things. In fact, I'm sure you'll make mistakes and in the process, learn from them. What I'm trying to say is that this is a process, not an event . And it's one that you can work on improving over time.

The biggest key for me was consistency . Consistency is something that most people who follow the So Good Way seem to struggle with consistently.