3
4
Don’t go it alone!
Never underestimate the power of your social
environment to support or sabotage your
success. Recruit a cheer squad among your
family and friends, enlist someone(s) to hold
you accountable, hire a trainer, engage a
coach, create a Facebook accountability group.
Likewise, if there are people (or environmental
triggers) in your life that pull you down or
off track, address them directly and set clear
boundaries up front. When you surround
yourself with people who believe in you, it
makes success so much easier to achieve!
Make it measureable.
It’s great to want to eat better, get fitter, be
happier, relax more and create better work/life
balance but you could add an apple a day to
your diet and tick the first box. You need to set
goals you can track and measure. For instance,
if you want to get fitter, set a goal of running 10k
by May 30th, then schedule how many workouts
you’ll do each week.
5
Think big, but start
small.
Every great feat is really just the accumulation
of thousands of smaller steps. So however big
your goal, break it down into small short-term
goals, and then down into small highly ‘doable’
bite size steps. E.g. Step 1, print out this article.
Step 2, write down your goal (doing so increases
the likelihood of achieving it by 70%). Step
3, tell your partner and ask them to hold you
accountable. Step 4, schedule time to write
down the next 10 steps!
6
Be realistic; expect
setbacks.
Success wouldn’t be meaningful if it landed
easily in your lap. In fact it’s the roll-up-yoursleeves hard-yakka that grows your muscles
for life. If it were easy to live a big and brave
life everyone would be doing it. Assuming
everything should fall neatly into place is
a surefire recipe for disappointment and
frustration. So too is thinking you’ll be as
motivated a month from now as you are today.
Motivation ebbs and flows, so too does luck.
What matters most isn’t that everything goes
exactly to plan, but that you stay connected to
your ‘Big Why’ as doing so will pull you forward
when habitual ways of thinking want to pull you
backward. Your disappointments, bad-days,
failures and setbacks don’t define you; how you
respond to them does.
7
Invest in your best-self.
Who are you when you are at your best?
Physically strong and energetic with plenty of
stamina. Emotionally confident and resilient.
Mentally focused and calm and clear on your
priorities. Spiritually centered and attuned to
your highest purpose on this earth. Now ask
yourself, what do you have to do for yourself
- daily, weekly, regularly - to be that person…
to be playing your ‘A Game’? Whatever it is,
schedule time right now into your calendar for
doing it! For working out, for planning ahead,
decompressing, recentering, reconnecting,
and recharging! You will go further and
bounce back faster if you are continually
investing in your ‘best-self.’ It’s not selfish,
it’s not indulgent… it’s plain old smart and
indispensible for living bravely!
Last of all, whatever resolutions you make or
goals you set for the year ahead, know that the
greatest gift you get from your effort, sacrifice
and bravery isn’t what you accomplish, it is
who you become. So trust yourself, challenge
yourself, value yourself, and believe in yourself.
The world is hungry for you to step through
the doubts and fears that are keeping you from
pursuing your dreams, sharing your talents and
making your unique mark. What are you waiting
for?
Do something, just one thing, every day of 2015
that pushes you outside your comfort zone,
and you will not only be amazed at what you
accomplish, but more so, who you become.
Stronger. Braver. More confident. More you!
Margie’s book,
Stop Playing Safe,
is available here.