Thoughts from from the writings of Robert Fritz, author of The Path of Least Resistance.
We have completed one month of the year, 2017! Hurrah for us! The beginning of a month is a good time for both reflection and inspiration. Reflection on the past month and inspiration for the coming month and months.
We all know that resolutions made at the beginning of January are based mostly on the past year and what wasn’t done or didn’t happen. Thoughts such as I didn’t generate as much revenue as I had planned, or I didn’t land as many sales or clients as I had hoped. I didn’t…I didn’t…I didn’t…
These thoughts are self-judging and guilt-producing and do little to inspire or motivate. The evidence of this sort of self-limiting thinking is evident at the local gyms. At the beginning of January, you could not find a parking spot. Now, in the first full week of February, there’s ample parking.
It’s certainly healthy to have good intentions. And, it’s only human to find ways to get ourselves off the good intentions hook. The reasons we so easily fall back into our usual ways are that we don’t create a structure that serves as a foundation for our new resolutions. We set off on our good intentions journey without a map.
When you try to fix yourself with good intentions, you are starting from a place of conflict or problem with no outcome to aim for. Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People, advises that we “start with the end in mind”. So if you start with, my business increases by 15%, or my base increases by 15 customers who value my service…”, then you are thinking about the end – your destination.
When you start making your resolutions from a judgment that you are somehow flawed, there is no way you will have the power to keep motivated. When you are attempting to impose good behavior on top of assumed bad behavior, the results will be disappointing. If you do not change the structure that creates the unwanted behavior, you can’t expect better results.
A few suggestions to consider:
- Think about the outcomes you really
Do you want 10 new customers? How will that impact your business? Or would it be more reasonable to focus on one new customer each month? Or every 6 weeks? What will it take to generate that kind of activity?
- Create an action plan with honest milestones and due dates!
- Be willing to learn what works and what doesn’t . Adjust accordingly.
- When you take action, there is always feedback. Pay attention.
- “Creators start at the end. First they have an idea of what they want to create. Sometimes this is idea is general, and sometimes it is specific. Before you can create what you want you want to create, you must know what you are after, what you want to bring into being.” Robert Fritz