This Bestselling Author Says These 4 Simple Mistakes Are Holding You Back From Planning Your Future Are you telling yourself the wrong story?
By Linda Lacina •
How Success Happens is a podcast featuring polar explorers, authors, ultra marathoners, artists and more to better understand what connects dreaming and doing. Linda Lacina, Entrepreneur.com's managing editor, guides these chats so anyone can understand the traits that underpin achievement and what fuels the decisions to push us forward. Listen below or click here to read more shownotes.
Can't quite finish that book you've been writing? Or lose that last 10 pounds? Maybe you've tried -- and failed-- so many times, you don't believe you'll ever make it.
But according to Michael Hyatt, there's hope.
Hyatt is a bestselling author and the founder of Michael Hyatt & Company, a firm that helps leaders find their maximum potential. His latest book,Your Best Year Ever: A 5 Step Plan for Achieving Your Most Important Goal, compiles research on how to make our dreams a reality. One major theme he touches on is some of the surprising reasons why goals go unmet.
Below are just a few mistakes people continue to make when trying to plan their future:
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Not writing down your goals.
Keeping your goals visible helps you make them a priority -- some studies even say it can increase your likelihood of success by more than 40 percent. Hyatt says that most CEOs and top leaders don't usually do this simple step and don't have a written set of personal and professional goals.
Blabbering about your goal on social media.
Or anywhere, really. Research shows that talking about your goals can be detrimental to achieving them, says Hyatt, since we have the same sense of satisfaction when we talk about something as we might get from actually accomplishing the task. He believes it's better to be selective and find a partner who can keep us accountable and offer support.
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Telling yourself the wrong story.
Hyatt writes in his book that to accomplish something "we have to believe we're up to the challenge." Those with limiting beliefs, who believe nothing can change, assume the worst and see more obstacles than possibilities, will never be able to think big and take the risks that make great things possible. In some cases these beliefs include limiting ideas about who we are and what we can and can't accomplish. If you find yourself saying things like "I'm not creative," "I'm not disciplined" or some other negative story, record the belief and evaluate whether it is empowering. This process can help upgrade your beliefs and remind yourself how much you really can control to turn your goals into a reality.
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Waiting until tomorrow.
Hyatt cites Jim Rohn and his law of diminishing intent that finds that the longer we wait to take action, the less likely we'll be to actually take it. Waiting can come in a number of forms -- from procrastination to failing to fully plan to spending so much time planning it becomes a substitute for action. Hyatt suggests people set an ambitious goal that ensures the path ahead is not completely clear, but to get to work at this goal as quickly as possible. In this way, says Hyatt, you'll build momentum. "If you sit and wait until the time is right, nothing happens."
Learn more about his insights and research in this week's podcast.
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