I remember the days of feeling frustrated that I wasn’t progressing towards my goals. I was putting things off and making excuses on certain tasks and then being annoyed at myself that I had done that. Well over time I created some good habits that helped me to take MASSIVE action towards my goals, since then I am 100 times more productive and achieving the results I want. I have broken them down into 10 points starting with:
1. Take on more than you can handle
Some people seem to make taking action look easy, we’ve all seen them in business and in life. Or at least that’s the way it looks from the outside! Because actually I bet it’s not as easy as it looks, these people are just stretching themselves to do more than they think they can do. Over time this process becomes “easier” in the way that you’re not as reluctant to do so. I think the key here is not to actually compare yourself to others, do more than you think you can do and you’ll surprise yourself at how much you actually get done!
2. Have a good Mentor
There is such thing as a bad mentor too. The important thing when looking to take massive action is to have someone that knows your comfort zones and then pushes you just outside of them. Not too much that you quit but just enough so you challenge yourself and come out having that massive sense of achievement. How many times have you done something that initially seemed impossible then you did it and you wondered what all the fuss was about?
3. Find out what motivates you
This is probably the most important reason, which will make you take massive action naturally. We all have goals, be them big or modest. But so many times people tie them to financial objectives or material items that are a million miles away from where they are right now. There’s nothing wrong with aiming for those, but make sure your realistic with your timeframes and have “sub-goals” along the way, that way you feel like your climbing a ladder rather than getting frustrated that after a few months you haven’t bought that Ferrari yet. And be honest with yourself, what do you want? Be proud of what you want to achieve and don’t let anyone detract away from that.
4. Celebrate the small victories
It’s massively important that you look at everything you do and pick out the successes in them. When you look back on a typical day / week and what you have achieved you will amaze yourself, even if it’s the smallest task you MUST celebrate it. If you don’t acknowledge them you will find yourself feeling more and more demotivated on your journey to that bigger goal.
5. There is no such thing as perfect
You hear so many people saying that they are a perfectionist; I can vouch for that one too! This can be your worst enemy when it comes to taking action. If you find yourself over analyzing and not finishing something because its not prefect then take a step back and remember that you don’t start off climbing Mt Everest. You will get better over time but you have to start somewhere!
6. Value your time
If you had just an hour a day to work on your goal then I bet you would make sure you did what is needed to be done. So treat your day and your tasks in the same respect, as if you had that limited time and that the tasks you need to do get done. Time management is important in taking massive action; we all have 24 hours in a day. Make the most of them!
7. Write things down
Its impossible with every day distractions to remember everything you need to do inside your head. At the start of your day grab a piece of paper or a day planner and write everything you need to get done down, then you can tick those off as the day goes by. Make it a challenge for the next 30 days and see how much more action you take!
8. Focus on what needs to be done
It’s easy to cherry pick tasks that are easier or that you would prefer to do. What you need to be doing is focusing on the tasks that NEED to be done. What you will find is by getting those tasks out the way first you can focus on those more attractive tasks later on rather than putting off the things that need to be done. You’ve heard the saying “start the day by swallowing a frog?”
9. Take time out
Although this sounds counter productive at first… It’s actually important that you don’t spend all your time working. What you need to do is switch off and take time out – go out, spent time with the family, go to the gym.. Whatever takes your mind off things for a while. When you come back you’ll feel refreshed and your productivity will go up.
10. Reach out to people
You will know people that will be more technical, better at writing, have experience in a particular field which is holding you back from taking action. So reach out to these people, exchange your knowledge for theirs. This way you can get on with that dreaded task and maybe even learn something new that would have taken you a long time to do otherwise!
Scott Taylor-McCormick is a Digital Entrepreneur, Marketer and Mentor who has built a successful internet business from scratch that can be run from anywhere in the world. He is passionate about inspiring other young entrepreneurs to do the same by sharing knowledge and guidance on the topics of self improvement, working from home and using the power of the Internet to create a “lifestyle business.” If you would like to learn more about Scott and how to leverage the Internet to create a lifestyle business then Click on this link.
