Step 3 to Making 2010 Amazing: Pay attention to what works!

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost more than 300 games.  Twenty-six times I’ve been trusted to take the game-winning shot, and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. . . and that’s why I succeed. – Michael Jordan

Now that you understand the importance of getting specific about your goals and taking action to achieve them, it’s time to elaborate a little more on the action part.

Sometimes in the process of taking action to make our dreams happen, things don’t work well.

We may find that a particular course of action works really well, yet another course doesn’t yield results at all.

Now, this is where people can fall into a pretty significant trap – one that is detrimental to the achievement of a goal.

Many people focus too much on the stuff that doesn’t work!

Say for instance you are really passionate about your £200,000 income goal.  You get what you think is an amazing, earth-shattering idea when you are in the shower (yes – that’s where many of us get our lightbulb moment ideas!) and dry off with every bit of excitement!

You put your energy into the idea that you think can help you achieve your income goal.

But then you find that this idea doesn’t help you at all.  In fact, the idea you had is a real flop!

What do you do about it?

It’s natural to be disappointed, but given the situation there are two things you can do:

1. Be disappointed, yet get back to the task of achieving your goal by implementing other ideas; or
2. Be disappointed and get into a big depression over it…that stops you dead in your tracks!

Unfortunately, too many people do the latter.  They get so down about the outcome of a ‘failed’ idea that they just give up.  The wheels completely fall off!

If you are to actually achieve your goals, option 2 just isn’t an option.

You have to do as successful people do!

You have to pick yourself up off the ground after a disappointing outcome and say, “What went wrong?

What can I do NOW to get on track to achieving my goal?”

It all comes down to how you approach perceived (yes I’m using that word here) ‘failure’.

All of us will encounter ‘failure’ in our pursuit of goal attainment.

But it’s not so much the failure that can make us fall short of our goal – it’s our response to it.

Failure is an OPPORTUNITY for us to assess what works and what does not.  It’s an OPPORTUNITY to help us get on track.

It’s a stepping stone to success.

Imagine for a moment if that wonderful inventor of the incandescent light bulb –

Thomas Edison – gave up after the 100th attempt at getting that bulb to light up?

It took him hundreds attempts to finally make it work.

If he gave up at attempt 100, he would never have achieved success.

The reason why Edison prevailed?  He saw failure as a stepping stone to success!

He even said in his own words, “I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

Persistence is what will get us to our goal. And we need to focus on the things that work and not the things that don’t.  This way we will stay motivated and on track!

And that’s what you too must do in your pursuit of achievement!

P.S. I am starting group coaching programme for those that are wanting to make 2010 an amazing year. If you’re interested, please email info@zonedinperformance and put “group coaching” in the subject line and detail what is your “wow” goals for 2010.

Step 4 to Making 2010 Amazing: Keep doing what works til you’re there!