We submit to your will Father because we know YOU know best!!
We are not afraid of tomorrow because we know the God who owns tomorrow!!
All of our hopes lie in you!!!
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FAILURE NUGGETS – I
It’s Good Friday today, a chance to celebrate Easter once again!! Hope it’s been a good day for you? For me I’ve taken the day very slowly as I’ve taken the holiday to catch up on some pending work, sieved through my social media profiles (Facebook in particular) to remove some folks off my list & to finally write this post.
This topic has been on my mind the whole week & it’s also a continuation of our main series on “Cultivating a Growth Mindset“. You can catch up on all the previous posts using the respective links below & I do hope I’ve been able to inspire & not bore you to death on this one.
This is fixing to becoming one of the longest series have ran in over 4 years.
Cultivating a Growth Mindset – I
Cultivating a Growth Mindset – II
Cultivating a Growth Mindset – III
Cultivating a Growth Mindset – IV
Today, I’ll be talking about FAILURE, there has been a lot of publications & media hype around success stories of men & women all around the world across various fields of endeavor , but few really talk about their failures. I once said It’s a better investment for me to spend my money attending a series of courses on failure than success seminars.
There are a lot of things to learn from failure & this is one of the key areas of a growth mindset – The ability to take advantage & glean nuggets from failure. A few quotes below from my mentors John C. Maxwell & Rev Sam Adeyemi further drives home this point. John has an excellent book I will recommend about this topic titled “Failing Forward”
“Without failure there is no achievement.” -John C. Maxwell
“Failure is not the opposite of success. It is part of success” – Rev Sam Adeyemi
“Failing forward” is the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction.” – John C. Maxwell
Part of any kind of growth is about pushing past barriers and entering uncharted territory. The same applies to developing a growth mindset. You’re entering the unknown. Whenever you take on something new there will be a period of trial and error as you put new knowledge and skills into practice.
A side effect of this is the challenges you may face and the possibility that you may make mistakes, and you feel like you failed.
The good news is you can turn mistakes, failures, obstacles and challenges into your advantage.
It’s all about changing your perspective to see things as part of the process of developing a growth mindset. Of course, learning new information, broadening your knowledge, and developing your skills can create huge rewards.
And this process can at times be entirely smooth sailing. Or there may be a few bumps in the road. The key is to prepare yourself for potential challenges, and accept that you may fail as you start to put new ideas and skills into practice.
You also need to understand making decisions that don’t always pay off are just a normal part of the process. In fact, rather than just accepting mistakes may occur, if you can learn to celebrate failure you’ll create a way of thinking that helps you to thrive.
This means you give yourself the psychological tools to cope with obstacles and learn to turn challenging situations into opportunities to grow.
Learning how to create a continuous development outlook will help you to hone your growth mindset. The idea is to create a process whereby you expand your knowledge, broaden your skills, test new approaches, review progress, and make tweaks to enhance your performance in the future.
One of the biggest stories in the sporting world last week was Tiger Woods winning his 5th Masters title at Augusta making it his 15th major trophy, 24 years after winning it the first time as a teenage Stanford student in 1995.
There is so much to unpack about Tiger’s redemption after falling out of grace with a lot of personal, marital, mental and physical roller-coaster & failures to endure. I will try to do that in the next post.
He won his last Major title in 2008 & no one ever thought there will be an 11 year wait before his next title.
Is life knocking you down? Have you failed before?
What is your attitude to failure? Do you accept it or do you see it an an opportunity to grow?
This is my snippet …….. I AM SHALOMESQ
THE TALENT TRAP – II
TGIF family!! It’s the 2nd Friday in April 2019 & welcome to another fun time as we continue on the sub-topic the TALENT TRAP which is part of our larger discuss on cultivating a growth mindset.
In my last post (check link above) I mentioned that I was going to drive home some points by comparing 2 football ( soccer) stars.
During the week, I stopped by at a gas station & decided to pickup a snack & a drink at the store, while at the counter I took a look at the book stand & right there was a book by John C Maxwell titled “Talent is never enough“,I chuckled & looked up to the big man upstairs & said “seriously”.
It was obvious what providence wanted me to talk about & I swiftly bought the book.
So you have talent, now what? Have you considered that there are a lot of talented & gifted people out there, some reach their full potential, while others self-destruct or remain trapped in mediocrity.
What makes the difference? In this book, John clearly states that the choices you make, your belief system, your mindset actually helps to lift your talent & propel you to greatness.
It’s what you add to your talent that makes the greatest difference.
I have decided to compare these two football forwards :
I am a huge fan of football ( soccer) & I love watching & playing it even though I’m not that good, but for the lovers of the game these 2 players no doubt have an abundance of talent.
A brief look at Mario’s profile (age 28) & one thing jumps out at you aside the immense talent he has & that is the fact that his career has been dotted with disciplinary problems, bust up with coaches, managers, colleagues, fans etc.
There was a time he was suspended by his manager for not putting in enough effort in training as a young kid when compared with older men.
He is considered a genuine BAD BOY, I remember a time when he was playing in England & he had a party at his mansion with fireworks & burnt the building down. He also wrecked a brand new Lamborghini at some point as well.
His 2016 salary is 3.7m EUR.
In contrast, Christiano ( age 34) is considered as one of the greatest of all time, if not the greatest.
He is a performer & a great leader who has proven himself over & over again in the biggest clubs of the footballing world winning awards & almost always at the peak of performance giving his ALL (100% & more) to his team & country.
He has a signature free-kick & I’ve read about how many times he practices this kick, hours & hours after the main practice of the team is over.
He has not been involved in any major scandals or problems & ESPN termed him as the world’s famous athlete 2016, 2017, 2018, the most marketable athlete in the world & even though he is 34, Juventus still paid a transfer fee worth an initial €100 million; the highest ever paid by an Italian club and the highest fee ever paid for a player over 30 years old.
His 2018 salary is 30m EUR
Olympian and author Matthew Syed describes what latest neuroscience and psychology research tells us about achieving success in the book Bounce.
Not surprisingly, a certain amount of natural talent can help the process of achieving goals. But perhaps surprisingly, the main ingredient for success is actually practice plus talent.
Talent alone really isn’t enough if you want to achieve significant goals.
Relying on existing skills and abilities to achieve results won’t motivate you to learn more, develop your talents and skills, and reach your potential. This is why using talent alone is a trap.
You’re tricked into thinking you have all you need to progress. But you’re missing the hugely important factors of practice, persistence, and focus.
Creating a growth mindset doesn’t eliminate the talent factor. It just helps you to understand that to continually achieve more and reach your potential, you need to focus on learning and continuous improvement.
It’s also interesting to consider the research around talent & achievements. You’re far more likely to reach challenging goals & targets with average talent supported by dedicated practice & focus rather than relying on exceptional talent with no commitment to practicing skills to enhance your abilities.
Think about your mindset when it comes to reaching your potential in area that’s important to you.
Firstly, consider your talent levels. Would you say you’re particularly talented in this area or would you say you’re of average talent?
Secondly, how would you describe your commitment to enhancing your talent? High, medium, or low?
Finally, what could you do to enhance your skills? Do you need to focus on harnessing your natural talent more so? Or would you benefit from improving your focus and dedication to practicing skills that will enhance your talent?
What does this tell you about your growth mindset? Are you relying on talent alone and not enough practice? Or do you feel that you have a growth mindset and you’re committed to developing your skills and constantly learning more?
Don’t forget, an average talent, ability, or skill level isn’t a hindrance when it comes to developing yourself.
Creating a growth mindset helps you to understand no matter what your talent level is right now, you can work to learn and achieve more.
This is my snippet …….. I AM SHALOMESQ
THE TALENT TRAP
Good day family & TGIF!! it’s the first Friday in the month of April & just like that Q2 is on a roll already. I hope you took time to access all of your Q1 goals & targets?? Was the result great?
If Yes, then you can use that energy to hit Q2. If No, then check why you didn’t meet your target & refocus for Q2.
No matter the result of your assessment, please know that the end result is to ensure that you are moving along, that you are growing, enjoying where you are on the way to where you are going.
We’ve spent the whole of last month on this topic “Cultivating a growth mindset” & in this month we are going to continue until I’m inspired to write on something else.
So primarily we’ve established the importance of our mindsets & how it can affect our performance both positively & negatively. We’ve also highlighted the different types of mindsets i.e. Fixed, Mixed & Growth.
The picture below depicts the 2 ends of the spectrum with the mixed in between.
There is really no time to summarize all we’ve learnt but you can catch up on all of the previous posts below:
Cultivating a growth mindset – I
Cultivating a growth mindset – II
Cultivating a growth mindset – III
Cultivating a growth mindset – IV
TALENT TRAP – PARENT TRAP
The very first thing that came to my mind when we got to this part of the course was the 1998 movie “The Parent Trap” starring an 11-year old Lindsay Lohan. In this update of a 1961 film, twins Annie and Hallie (Lindsay Lohan) are strangers until happenstance unites them.
The preteen girls’ divorced parents, Nick (Dennis Quaid) and Elizabeth (Natasha Richardson), are living on opposite sides of the Atlantic, each with one child. After meeting at camp, American Hallie and British-raised Annie engineer an identity swap, giving both the chance to spend time with the parent they’ve missed. If the scheme works, it might just make the family whole again.
In performance psychology research, it’s been stated that relying ONLY on your talents & skills to achieve your goals gets you so far & give you a false sense of accomplishment but it’s not enough. The idea that you either have a talent or you don’t, or you only have so much talent, is part of a fixed mindset.
This kind of thinking can hinder your chances of stretching your ability to reach goals and achieve more. One of the key issues with a fixed mindset is the limits you put upon yourself in terms of what you can and can’t achieve.
Imagine you’re a sports professional and you want to push yourself to achieve more in your sport. If you believe you have a set amount of talent and skill, how likely are you to push yourself beyond that?
IT’S A TRAP!!!
There is this HR mantra that I’ve heard & seen practiced over the years & that is “Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill“.
Please check out the link below to an HBR article for full context.
Hire for Attitude, Train for Skill
Given 2 options of Attitude & Skill, it’s better to hire someone with the right attitude (or mindset) & train them to gain the right skill rather than someone with the right skill & bad attitude (or mindset).
With the level of Innovation required to survive in this modern world, you cant afford to have people that give “not possible” as answers to questions raised by management & the market place at large.
I firmly believe that nothing is impossible & there is always a solution to every problem. I enjoy breaking barriers & doing the impossible but I’ve come to realize that not many people have this mindset & those that have it are often chastised by the majority who don’t.
It’s difficult to change mindsets, axioms & paradigms & it takes a personal decision & conscious effort to do it. Not surprisingly, a certain amount of natural talent can help the process of achieving goals. But perhaps surprisingly, the main ingredient for success is actually practice plus talent (P+T).
Talent alone really isn’t enough if you want to achieve significant goals. Relying on existing skills and abilities to achieve results won’t motivate you to learn more, develop your talents and skills, and reach your potential. This is why using talent alone is a trap. You’re tricked into thinking you have all you need to progress.
But you’re missing the hugely important factors of practice, persistence, and focus. Creating a growth mindset doesn’t eliminate the talent factor.
It just helps you to understand that to continually achieve more and reach your potential, you need to focus on learning and continuous improvement.
Do you know anyone who is talented but is not achieving greatness due to their bad attitude?
In my next post, I will be comparing 2 football (soccer) stars to drive home this point.
Are you just relying on your skills & talents to get by?
What mindset do you have?
This is my snippet …….. I AM SHALOMESQ
CULTIVATING A GROWTH MINDSET – IV
Happy Sunday family!!! This is the last day in the month of March 2019.
Usually I don’t post on Sundays, but my routine was altered a bit since I worked the most part of last week out of station but I will surely get back to the regular schedule ( i.e. post once a week mostly Fridays) in April.
Today, after the church service take some time to review your Q1 targets for 2019 & assess where you are on the way to where you are going.
Make adjustments based on my suggestions from recent posts on the topic of goal setting for 2019 as listed below:
Setting goals that’ll stick in 2019 – Part 1
Setting goals that’ll stick in 2019 – Part2
Setting goals that’ll stick in 2019 – FINAL
For the entire month of March, we’ve been looking at the series topic “Cultivating a growth mindset” which was a LinkedIn course I took about 5 months ago as part of an e-learning trial team for my company’s HR department. This class was taught by Gemma Leigh Roberts, Chartered Psychologist, Executive Coach, and author.
This is the 4th post in the series & there is really no time to summarize the previous posts, so please feel free to pause here & check them out as listed below before moving on.
GROWTH MINDSET
So, we’ve taken a look at the fixed mindset & mixed mindset, our focus today will be on the last type of mindset & the actual reason for this series, the GROWTH MINDSET.
A growth mindset, doesn’t believe there is a limit, it believes that skills & abilities can be changed & developed over time. The latest research from the fields of performance psychology indicates that people that consistently perform at their peak have one thing in common, it’s not a certain ability, it’s not a specific skill, it’s not even knowledge, it’s a mindset, and to be precise, a growth mindset.
Whether you want to push the boundaries of your current ability to achieve more, inspire and lead others to create success, or learn to thrive in challenging situations, a growth mindset is your fuel.
A growth mindset really is about lifelong learning and a belief in your ability to grow and develop. This will dramatically improve your performance, productivity, goal achievement, and happiness. It’s all about changing your thought process to view challenges and disappointments as opportunities to learn and develop.
Your mindset has the power to change your game at work and in your personal life. The key is learning how to make the shift towards a growth mindset and if you’re already there, learning how to maintain this way of looking at the world even when facing challenges.
I work with people everyday & I’m very observant. It’s amazing the type of mindsets I encounter in a 24hour period in which people just settle for their comfort zone & are not willing to try something new & they will fight you when you attempt to show them what the issue is & how they can get out of it.
Personally, I’ve been working on my mindset for years, I don’t take NO for an answer, I believe in the fact that I can find a solution to any problem, situation & challenges. One of my 2016 post explains this better, please click on link below.
I also believe in the management consulting theory of small, continuous improvement developed by the Japanese (The TOYOTA Company) after World War II called “KAI ZEN“. The post link below sheds more light on this.
I have an abundant & not a scarcity mindset, so I share my thoughts & ideas with people on a regular basis not afraid that they will steal or use it as I believe I’m connected to GOD – THE SOURCE of all things– and I can not lack.
There is still a lot to unpack in this series but I’ll drop the anchor here for now.
Like the series graphic shows, an individual with a growth mindset does 7 things:
- Sees failure as an opportunity to grow
- Can learn to do anything, develop new skills & talents
- Sees challenges as a means of growth
- Knows efforts & attitude determines ability
- Sees feedback as constructive
- Is inspired & not intimidated by the success of other
- Likes to try new things
I have a GROWTH MINDSET!! What type of mindset do you have?
This is my snippet …….. I AM SHALOMESQ
CULTIVATING A GROWTH MINDSET – III
Hello Family!! It’s the penultimate Sunday in the month of March & we are at the start of the 13th week of 2019. I usually don’t post on Sundays, but I’ve had to work out of station for a few days in the last week & that has altered my routine but my commitment of posting at least once a week still remains resolute.
How are things going with you?? Q1 is at it’s end, hope you are on-track with your 2019 goals, it’s time to take stock & fuel for Q2.
I will like to appreciate everyone who has given me a feedback one way or the other regarding this series & other posts on this blog. It’s quite refreshing to know that from my little corner of the world some form of impact is being felt as I contribute my quota to the pool of resources available out there.
Before we jump right into the flow, for the sake of those who are just joining the series, you can catch-up on the first 2 posts by clicking on the links below:
The series topic is “Cultivating a growth mindset” which was a LinkedIn course I took about 4 months ago as part of an e-learning trial team for my company’s HR department. This class was taught by Gemma Leigh Roberts, Chartered Psychologist, Executive Coach, and author.
MIXED MINDSET
In this post, we will be looking at the 2nd type of mindset, “The Mixed Mindset“. Traditionally, research focused on fixed and growth mindsets and nothing in between.
What we now know to be true is you may veer more towards a growth or a fixed mindset naturally, but actually a lot of people are somewhere in between and have a mixed mindset.
This means your mindset is part fixed, part growth depending on the situation, circumstances and how you feel about events going on in your life. This means sometimes you may feel like you have the ability to develop skills and talents and other times you may not.
Ideally, you want to develop and cultivate a growth mindset. This will dramatically improve your performance, productivity, goal achievement, and happiness.
It’s all about changing your thought process to view challenges and disappointments as opportunities to learn and develop. It’s about understanding you can develop skills, talents, abilities, and even your mindset over time.
There is a concept I’ve adapted from John C. Maxwell’s latest book “Leadershift: The 11 Essential Changes Every Leader Must Embrace” which is about the different mindset zones. And the graphic below helps to explain it better.
It’s really clear that zones 1 & 2 mindset are more of the fixed mindset type while Zones 3 & 4 fit into the growth mindset. Now going back to today’s topic, it’s easy to see how in different situations & circumstances there is a tendency to have a mixture. This is not a bad place to be, at least it’s better than staying at the rock-bottom zone with a fixed mindset & just cruising or coasting through life.
My challenge to you today is to check your views & perspective of life, mentality, truisms, beliefs systems, etc & honestly assess where you are. Once you know that, then start to make effort to progress from where you are now to where you ought to be.
“Getting better doesn’t just happen from wishful thinking. Getting better only happens with the discipline of doing better. Discipline is the requirement for progress.” — Jim Rohn
This is my snippet …….. I AM SHALOMESQ
CULTIVATING A GROWTH MINDSET – II
Hello Family!! it’s Friday 15th March 2019!! Wow the year is really running fast & we are mid-march already, before you know it, Q1 2019 will be over.
How far are you with your set goals & targets for 2019? Are you still on-track or off the rails? The next 16 days might be a good time to reassess & realign yourself.
Cultivating a growth mindset – I
In my previous post above, I tried to set a bit of a foundation regarding the topic “Cultivating a growth mindset” which was a LinkedIn course I took about 4 months ago as part of an e-learning trial team for my company’s HR department. This class was taught by Gemma Leigh Roberts, Chartered Psychologist, Executive Coach, and author.
We looked at the mind as the battlefield & that if you win in your mind, you will ultimately win in life, it’s just a matter of time.We started talking about the mindset, which is the established set of attitudes held by someone & how this is a reflection of a person’s world view or philosophy of life.
A person can be accurately analyzed based on their mindsets to a lot of things in life & there are both positive and negative mindsets. The good news is that we have the power & ability to shift from one to the other with the key being our ability to learn.
MINDSET IS A CHOICE
Today, let’s take it up a notch!!! We were created by God as tripartite, Man (the human being) is a spirit, armed with a soul & lives in a protective casing called the body that enables us to function here on earth. We have a choice as regards the type of mindset we deploy & engage with in our lives.
Now there is a counter argument to this as most people will say you don’t have a choice considering that you don’t choose your parents, family, society, nation, the type of environment you were born into or grow in & that has a huge impact on your mindset. Yes I do agree but despite that fact, your life is still your life & no one is responsible for it other than YOU!
It’s great to blame others while you are younger & have people making decisions for you, but as you get older, you need to take the driver’s seat of your life & start to make choice decisions. Don’t let your background put your back on the ground, you have the choice to re-invent yourself & evolve to a better YOU despite the challenges of life.
I didn’t have the best of template to follow growing up, but at some point as I grew older, I took it upon myself to shred the old templates, created new & better ones of my own which I intend to pass on to my kids with the mandate to make it better than mine.
TYPES OF MINDSETS
There are 3 broad types of mindsets namely:
- Fixed Mindset
- Mixed Mindset
- Growth Mindset
FIXED MINDSET
As the name implies, those with this type of mindset truly believe that their skills and abilities won’t change, that they’ve reached a certain level and that’s where they can expect to remain.
They see failure as fatal, as the end of the road, they have the notion that everything in life has limits & once you reach that limit, that’s it.
Feedback is not constructive for these type of people, they are unwilling to try new things ( ideas, skills, etc), are threatened by the successes of other around them & they don’t do well under the pressure and challenges of life.
Did I just describe you, someone you know or an organization you know or work with at the moment?
Don’t worry, remember that one of the keys to shifting from one mindset to the other is the ability to learn.
Learning is a a very important ingredient in cultivating the right mindset, so it’s good to know where you are at the moment so that you can map out where you want to be & how to get there.
Do you agree you have a choice in life & about your mindset?
Do you have a fixed mindset?
Are you willing to learn & evolve out of that fixed mindset?
Altering your mindset takes practice, commitment, and focus. When it comes to how you think and process information, there’s no quick fix. But you can make small steps towards how you want to change that over time can make a big impact.
This is my snippet…….. I AM SHALOMESQ
CULTIVATING A GROWTH MINDSET – I
Hello family, hope we are all doing great today? It’s Friday the 8th of March 2019 & we are 65 days into the year already, this means we have a whooping 300 days to go before we shout HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!!
How are you doing with your goals for 2019? Hope you are still on track? I do hope your goals are aimed at ensuring growth this year.
I am a firm believer that we must better ourselves every year, the same way a software application developer releases new versions of their product as they solve some issues & provide further enhancement.
Because I am a personal development enthusiast, I am always attending webinars, online courses, reading books ( e-books & traditional ones) & always seeking for knowledge – which I regularly share on this blog – this new series is not strange to me.
About 4 months ago, I took a LinkedIn course (LinkedIn Learning is a premium service) on the topic “Cultivating a growth mindset” as part of an e-learning trial team for my company’s HR department. This class was taught by Gemma Leigh Roberts, Chartered Psychologist, Executive Coach, and author. This series will be a review of what I learnt during the course.
THE BATTLEFIELD
Now let’s set some background to this considering that we started this journey with the aim of not giving up despite the failure of last year, looking to set goals that will stick in 2019, comparing goals & growth noting that the ultimate reason to set goals is to achieve growth & growth is achieved by stretching beyond our comfort zone.
One thing that ties all of these together is the mindset.
During my penultimate year in college I moved from the hostel to join a very dear friend & colleague of mine who had the privilege of getting a one-bedroom self-contained B.Q behind a professor’s apartment. This friend of mine introduced me to a lot of things, he had books, CDs & a radical way of thinking that I totally admired.
He introduced me to the ministry of Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, CeCe Winans, etc. One of the first Joyce Meyer books I picked up was “The Battlefield of the Mind“.
Human beings are tripartite in nature – We are spirit beings, with a soul & live in a body here on earth – and there is always contention (war) between the desires of the spirit & the body. The battle ground for this contention is within our soul – which contains our Emotions, Mind, Will, Intellect, etc – and whoever wins in your soul dominates the entire being.
Have you heard the expression “Emotions are bad leaders, but great followers“. Anyone ruled or lead by emotions is a disaster going to happen, but if put under check & properly supervised, emotions are fantastic.
Now this is not just some spooky or spiritual theories, it’s also been checked & proven true by researches done the field of performance psychology.
WHAT IS A MINDSET?
The English Oxford Dictionary defines mindset as the established set of attitudes held by someone. In psychology this is defined as a belief that orients the way we handle situations — the way we sort out what is going on and what we should do. In decision theory and general systems theory, a mindset is a set of assumptions, methods, or notations held by one or more people or groups of people. A mindset can also be seen as incident of a person’s world view or philosophy of life.
In basic terms, your mindset tells the world around you the type of person you are, a lot of things about you can be accurately determined by just reading or observing your mindset. So just like there are 2 sides to a coin, there are positive & negative mindsets, and anyone can shift from one side to the other at any point in time. The good new is that you have the power to change your mindset & the key is learning how to make the shift.
Permit me to drop the anchor here & let this simmer a little bit, we will pick it up in the next post as inspired.
Do you understand the power of your mind?
What type of mindset do you have?
Are you willing to change?
This is my snippet…….. I AM SHALOMESQ
GOALS VS GROWTH
In the last 3 posts my focus has been on “setting goals that’ll stick in 2019” & we looked at 5 proven strategies to overcoming goal failure based on a Michael Hyatt webinar I attended late last year on the same topic.
To help catch up, the picture below summaries the 5 points in a lovely way.
Today, this post is focused on pitching 2 ideas against each other. The first is the concept of goal setting & the other that of growth. Goal setting is very important but it will amount to nothing if actions are not taken to achieve them.
“Dreams may be imaginable but goals are actionable.” –Michael Hyatt
That process of taking actions in line with your goals helps to bring your dreams to a reality.
One of the key strategies that helps to guarantee the successful achievement of your goals is Strategy # 3 : Be In The Discomfort Zone
There is no point setting goals every year & making up resolutions if it doesn’t move you further along the path towards your ultimate destiny.
Every success you want to achieve in life is actually outside your comfort zone, nothing great happens in your comfort zone.
While talking on this point in my previous post, I gave an example of someone who is currently saving $50 a month.
If that person keeps setting this same goal every year, then there is no growth as that person is sitting in the comfort zone with no stretch.
The moment the person decides to set a new goal of $75 a month, then the wheels starts to turn as the focus will now be on how to achieve this new target.
That person is now forced to think differently, have a second or third look at how to get the extra $25 a month savings.
WHAT IS GROWTH?
According to the Oxford dictionary, GROWTH is simply defined as “The process of increasing in size”.
We see this happen around us in nature all of the time as we grow physically in our bodies & as plants, trees & animals grow in our environment.
The sad reality is that majority of us don’t grow in specific domain areas of lives, we generally leave it to chance & just tag along to see where we end up.
In August 2017, I took an online course with the John Maxwell Team on the 15 Laws of Growth & one of the first thing John said is that growth is intentional, you cant leave it to chance.
You have to be deliberate about it.
At some point I will share my thoughts & lessons learnt from that course, but now the focus is about goals vs growth.
“Growth is the only guarantee that tomorrow is going to get better” – John C. Maxwell
Naturally things don’t get better, because of entropy (lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder).
If you buy a brand new car today straight out of the factory, it’s at the best pristine state. The moment you start the engine, rev & drive it out, it begins to depreciate in value.
Take an apple, cut it into two & leave it for a while, it begins to change color & loose its freshness. So growing, advancing & making progress in life requires a force (spiritual) coupled with intentionality.
Just like traveling to space requires a force greater than the earth’s gravitational pull, getting to your ultimate destination ( destiny) in life requires a force.
In part 2 of the series on goal settings above , I mentioned the 3 negative emotions that confronts us as we aim to set goals in the discomfort zone. These 3 emotions are actually indicators that you are on the right path & you just need to refocus your mind to overcome them & still take the right steps towards achieving your goals.
All of the 5 strategies of goal setting are important & relevant as long as the focus is growth. There is no point in going through all of the motions & activities if the end zone is not progression.
Personal growth keeps you prepared, constant growth is the preparation for opportunity. You don’t go into an opportunity, you grow into an opportunity. Everything in life that you’re ever going to want is based on your ability to grow & develop yourself.
The fruit of everything good in life begins with a challenge…Everything is uphill that’s worthwhile.
Are you just focused on setting goals?
Are your goals moving you forward?
Is growth the ultimate aim of your goal setting?
This is my snippet…….. I AM SHALOMESQ
SETTING GOALS THAT’LL STICK IN 2019 – FINAL
Hello Family, it’s the 7th of February already!!!
We are a quarter into the 2nd month of 2019, the year is running pretty fast. How are you moving along accomplishing those goals for the year?
In my previous posts (part 1 & 2), we looked at what to do to ensure we stick those goals in 2019 based on a webinar I attended last year as organised by my coach Michael Hyatt (@MichaelHyatt).
A few action points were suggested & I do hope you are looking to take appropriate actions to make 2019 that year that you nail your goals & aspirations.
A summary of these points are:
- Write 7-10 specific goals you want to achieve in 2019 with reference to the 10 domains. Just have like 1 goal per domain ( if possible)
- Get 2-3 critical goals that you’ll be lazer-focused on every quarter ( 90 days)
- Make sure each of your goals are in the Discomfort Zone.
Today, let’s look at the last 2 strategies of overcoming goal setting failures.
Strategy #4
Keep track of your progress
It’s one thing to be specific about the goals to want to achieve this year but it’s another thing to start the journey towards it. The most important thing that guarantees reaching & achieving that goal is tracking & measuring it on a regular basis.
That’s why after the S (Specific) in the SMART goal setting technique, the next is M (Measurable). It’s very difficult to achieve a goal in which you cant measure progress.
One of the most lethal mistakes people make with goal-setting is failing to keep their goals visible & on-track.
I personally use technology to help me in this regard, using Evernote, alarm setting & calendar event scheduling on my phone, others might prefer to write it down in a notepad or on a vision board, but technology really works well for me.
No matter the tools or styles you adopt, the most important thing is that you need a plan to keep your goals visible, whether that means reviewing them daily, or weekly, or some other regular time.
“Out of sight, out of mind.”
If you only offer your goals the time, attention or focus you have
left over, you’ll never make meaningful progress. That’s why we need a clear plan to keep our goals visible at all times.
For example, if your goal is to write a book this year, then set a target to write a certain amount of words per day, per week or per month. Don’t worry about how you are going to do it or what challenges you will face, just set a clear plan & what to need to achieve it will come. It’s worked for me every time, clarity attracts resources.
Action Point #4
Decide how you will track your goals
Strategy #5
Enlist the support you need
I’m always surprised when people try to achieve goals ALL ALONE. As human beings, we are not wired that way, we are social in nature. Everything that works in life is connected!! Think about this for a minute, you will realise that nothing stands on it’s own, so why do we always believe or try to go the distance alone?
Many of us try to achieve big, sweeping goals on our own and find ourselves discouraged or overwhelmed. A goal represents new ground, new territory & one of the best ways to get through the messy middle is through companionship.
I remember a friend who was trying to lose weight alone by running every morning before going to work. He got specific about what his new weight will be, bought all the running gear required & set his alarm to wake up early. The problem was that most times he will wake up, dress up & get out of the house only to take a nap at the gate. Doing it all alone with no support & encouragement wasn’t working, so I suggested that he & his wife should do it together & make it a fun aspect of their early morning ritual.
My brother-in-law has always been a sports freak & loves running a lot. A couple of years ago, he set a target to run a certain distance every morning irrespective of the weather or the condition of his body. I personally saw it as a huge task considering the weather conditions especially in winter, but he did it!!!
I observed him closely that year as I love to learn from other people. Even though he is a very determined young man & that helped him a lot, but he also surrounded himself with a tribe & community of like-minded people who shared in the same goal. With the help of that tribe, he ran every single day & posted it on social media from day 1 to day 365 of that year.
By working together we mutually reinforce positive behaviours & provide strength & encouragement to one another.
DON’T TELL EVERYBODY!!!
According to Derek Sivers ( Derek Sivers is an American entrepreneur best known for being the founder and former president of CD Baby, an online CD store for independent musicians) telling everybody your goals makes them less likely to happen.
It is because you get the psychological satisfaction of accomplishing
the goal without having to actually do the work.
The bottom line is that you should only share your goals with those who are actively committed to helping you achieve them.
Action Point #5
Find a supportive community or create a community to pursue your goals with.
To this effect, I have created a page on Facebook Shalomesq Snippet
One of the objectives of the page is to create vibrant communities that will help people achieve their 2019 goals by working with like-minded people.
If these posts have helped or inspired you, please head to the page & drop comments on what community you would like created & we can get started in earnest.
Are you ready to stick those goals in 2019?
This is my snippet…….. I AM SHALOMESQ
