Last week I had talked about the difference between motivation and discipline. As we keep discipline strong, and as we lean on our daily habits, our goals start to become that much closer and closer.
Now, greatness isn’t achieved in one giant leap. It takes continuous effort. It takes ….. baby steps. How many of you have seen the movie What About Bob, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss? Classic!
In What About Bob, Richard Dreyfuss teaches Bill Murray that in order to get over his fears and anxieties, he just needs to take smaller steps .. baby steps. This helps Bill Murray build resilience to overcome those anxieties. And that’s the same in real life.
Keep taking those baby steps, because eventually that will transform into giant leaps and bounds. There’s power in the process.
What could help? Writing daily goals on a post-it note and sticking it to your mirror. Putting reminders in your phone. Writing things down on a white board. Whatever we need to do, let’s do it.
So figure out what your daily discipline and habits look like whether for work, business, family, wealth, health or community. And just keep putting in the work.
Use the Dark Side
What if you still can’t get moving towards your goals? What if you still can’t get started on that task you know you need to begin.
When you feel down and out, when you just don’t give a damn anymore, use the anger, frustration or desire to prove someone wrong as a temporary strategy. The anger, frustration or desire you felt when someone told you that you couldn’t accomplish what you’re trying to accomplish. Prove them wrong!
This is a short-term strategy though. Staying in this mindset for too long will cause damage. Real winners aren’t obsessed about what other people think, but if used in the right way, this can definitely light a fire underneath you to get going! This also comes from being in control of your emotions, and not letting them control you.
Use the Dark Side to fuel the Force 😉. Tim Grover talks about this in his interview with Tom Bilyou on the show Impact Theory.
Why did you start?
Another tactic – remind yourself why you started?
For example, let’s say you have a big presentation to work on but you can’t seem to find the desire to start or finish it? Well, maybe you remind yourself why that presentation needs to be the best possible piece of work that you’ve put together.
If you knock that presentation out of the park, maybe it means more funding for a community project. Perhaps it means getting approval for passion project that you’ve been waiting on for years. Or maybe it means a promotion – CHA CHING 💰! That’s it. That’s the one!
So reminding yourself why that task or goal is important or why you started can help you get that discipline back.
Trick your mind
Now what if THAT doesn’t even work. Our mind is complex. It’s also a very powerful machine. So maybe you trick your mind. Perhaps you tell yourself what will happen if you don’t start that task or accomplish that goal.
Scare tactic.
Now, I’m not saying you should live in fear. What I’m saying is that sometimes scaring your mind can work.
Let’s say you can’t find the discipline to workout regularly. What if you told yourself that if you don’t start working out, that could lead to heart issues in the future. If it’s a scary enough end result, man oh man, trust me, you’ll get started.
But remember, it’s not about living in fear. But rather tricking your own mind to get that discipline back.
Until next time, conquer your leadership potential!
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