Your #1 Resource For Helping Real Estate Professionals Make Great Social Media Connections

Posts Tagged ‘reach your goal’

Motivation And Momentum: The Keys To Reaching your Goals

Posted on: December 10th, 2010 by Beth Heilman

One of the most difficult parts of goal achievement is simply getting started.  It’s easy enough to dream and plan, but many people get stuck in this phase indefinitely and avoid taking action.  Planning and dreaming might make you feel like you’re doing something about your goals, but if you never actually take a step forward you’ll never achieve them.  In order to see measurable progress, you have to step out of your comfort zones and take action.

Keep Moving Forward

When you finally do gather your courage and begin moving forward, what usually happens?  You realize it’s WAY harder than you thought it would be, right?  It feels like you’re trying to run uphill.  You keep tripping over obstacles, facing setbacks and delays, dealing with fear and anxiety, and fighting a daily battle to stay motivated.

It’s during this difficult phase that most people give up.  They decide that “it isn’t meant to be” right now, so they set their dream aside and vow to try again later.  Or worse, they resign themselves to a mediocre life because they don’t believe they have what it takes to succeed.  They’ve “failed,” so they’re not going to try any more.

Have you done this?  Most people have!

However, this doesn’t have to be the end of the story.  You can pick up your dreams, dust them off and try again.  But this time you should know about a little something called Momentum.

You see, the difficult phase I just described is what happens at the beginning when you’re trying to gain momentum.  Most people quit during this phase because they think it’s ALWAYS going to be this hard.  What they don’t realize is that every effort they put toward the achievement of their goals will build on the previous efforts.  With every step forward the process gets easier and easier.  Finally, they’ve put so much energy and effort into the process that momentum begins to take over.  Suddenly they realize that they don’t have to push so hard to keep moving forward.  It becomes fun . . . even easy to achieve their goal.

This same experience can be yours!  All you have to do is keep moving forward.  Keep working toward your dreams and never quit.  Momentum WILL take over eventually!

If you want to get momentum working even more quickly for you there are a few ways to do it, but they can be summed up in one sentence:

Be willing to work harder, faster and take bigger risks than you have in the past.

The reason why momentum can be delayed sometimes is because many people take very tentative steps toward their goals.  They’re afraid to really give it their all, so they hold back much of the energy and power they could be devoting toward their goal.  Even if they’re not aware of it, they may feel more comfortable working at a slower pace, so they avoid taking big risks and instead take baby steps.

There’s not a thing wrong with this approach if it suits you!  However, if you want to make faster progress and build momentum quickly, think about taking bigger steps and giving your full energy and focus toward making it happen.  By doing so, you’ll push through the difficult beginning and find yourself coasting before you know it.

Share

Trust Your Inner GPS

Posted on: September 17th, 2010 by Beth Heilman

How many of you out there have a GPS in your car?

You know the one I’m talking about.
That nifty little gadget that gives you directions when you program in an address or a major landmark you want to drive to.

There’s nothing quite like the comfort of knowing that you have a little computerized navigator (or nag-ivator as I call it 🙂 ) to get you to your destination using the best route possible…or does it?

The other morning I had an early morning appointment and I was running just a tad bit behind (morning meetings are usually something I try and avoid, but this one was necessary)

I programmed the address into Miss Garmin (that’s what we call her, Miss Garmin) and set off on my way. Problem was, the route she was giving me was nothing but 11 miles of traffic lights in rush hour traffic. What was she? Nuts?

Once I realized what she was up to, I hopped on the 215 beltway and flew (legally, of course) to my destination. Recalculate this, Miss Garmin!

I got there a little late, but not as late as I would have been if I’d have listened to my computerized companion.

The purpose of this story?

We all have our own inner GPS. It’s that little voice inside that
instinctively knows how to get where we’re going, but do we listen to it?
How many times have we set a goal for ourselves and in trying to take the
shortest route possible(quick fixes, get rich quick schemes, the magic
program that will make all of our business headaches disappear) only to find
that we’re hitting a red light on every corner?

The surest way to reach your goal is not necessarily taking the shortest route, but the most effective one.

In miles, Miss Garmin’s way was shorter, but riddled with lots of stops and
starts
(all those magic fairy dust programs the gurus promote, or chasing
another shiny object). In the end, my time on the road would have been
doubled.

When I chose the slightly longer, but much more effective route I got to my
appointment in much less time.

My lesson for today, grasshopper? Trust yourself and your instincts. Map out
the road to your goal in the most effective way for you. If something doesn’t
feel quite right to you, most times it isn’t. You instinctively know what’s
right for you, your business and your life.

Do yourself a huge favor. Listen to your own intuition, your own inner voice.
If you need help, ask. If you need more training, get it. If you need to hire
a coach, by all means hire one. It’s the best investment you’ll ever make.

There are times when we’re so close to a situation we can’t see the solution
and we need someone on the outside looking in.

Do you trust your inner GPS? What results do you get when you do? What about
when you don’t? 🙂 Leave your comments, I’d love to hear them…

Share