Follow-Through

Yesterday's post was difficult to write. But nothing is as difficult as follow-through, a challenge on this blog since day one. Tough to bill yourself as a Champion of Choice if you aren't also a Champion of Follow-Through!

Without follow-through, all decisions, choices, plans, resolutions, mission statements, and the like, are impotent. Lack of follow-through is why so many people keep chasing the same goals day after day, week after week, year after year. I know I've been chasing many of the same things for longer than I care to admit.

Follow-through is a daily decision. Yesterday I made a decision, and followed-through, just as I'd planned. First day is usually the easiest. Today was tougher, particularly on leg excercises. My left leg was actually sore from all the exercises yesterday. Still, I've done what I can, and more than before. I'm crawling as the doctor ordered, and used my crutches while out of the house today. After just a day and a half, I am noticing progress. Slight, but its there.

Follow-through can be infectious. Beyond my physical goals, I was able to actually focus on other goals I've set, as far as productivity in my business. Goals that had been eluding me for far too long as I buried my follow-through under a sea of pretty good excuses.

Have you had victories lately? No matter how small, or for how short a time, don't be afraid to celebrate successful follow-through. It'll make it that much easier tomorrow.

The Gauntlet is Thrown

photo by DieselDemon

I walked away from my job. The day after Labor Day, I gave two weeks notice, and yesterday was my last official day on payroll. You can read more details on how it all came about at today's Speak & Deliver post.

In a nutshell - I was in a job I didn't believe in, and I was out of town more often than not, with my kids growing up without me. There were financial implications involved as well, but in the end, it was a decision driven by the fact that I was not creating a life I wanted, but a life that was 'more acceptable' in the world's eyes than working for myself (and occasionally struggling, financially). 

How can I inspire others as The Champion of Choice if I am not true to my ultimate goal of helping people seek their Self-Defined Success? 

I will say that my time with People to People yielded some good results:

A. I moved to Denver, albeit on my own dime.

B. I spent two weeks in Europe

C. I got a tremendous amount of experience speaking on a nightly basis

D. I was part of an interesting form of sales/seminar speaking

E. I was able to test my own limitations, physically and emotionally

I learned a tremendous amount about myself, and what is really important in life. Last post, I discussed our Personal Choice Foundation. For me, family is number one - and nothing that gets in the way of family beyond reason will get in the way again.

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So now what? Back to speaking, coaching, consulting, writing - and I'll trying my hand at affiliate marketing as well. I am more determined than ever to build the life I want - working for myself, being near my family, and inspiring, educating, and encouraging others in every way possible to take responsibility for their lives, become for effective communicators, and create their Self-Defined Success.

I have some very achievable goals over the next year to track as part of my personal challenge:

A - Monthly Income - from 0 to 3000/mo. by end of year, 5K/mo by next June, and 10K/month by end of next year. These may be high, they may be low, but they are benchmarks for me to go after - and the more people I help, the faster I will achieve them.

B - Speaking - putting together three keynotes over the next three months and delivering them to as many audiences as possible. 

C - Writing - finishing Kristi's book within the next 6 weeks, my own book by end of year. 

D - Building set-it-and-forget-it affiliate marketing sites that will generate a large portion of my income.

E - Coach business professionals to be better communicators both in-person and online

F - build a PR presence that puts me top of mind to my market segments as a speaker, coach and marketer (all different segments, to some degree)

G - Deliver on my promises, past, present and future - there are a few of you out there that know exactly what I'm talking about.

H - Change my physical condition by losing another 55 lbs to get to 165 lbs, upgrade my Super Deluxe Robot Leg, and start running.

I - and, of course, keep my Family number one - spending time and setting great examples for each one of my six-pack.

Once again, I'll be chronicling my adventures here, drawing back the curtain. I may be selling things more than I have in the past, but I'll endeavor to do it in a helpful, meaningful way. In the end, I want to help as many people as possible through my own talents and insights, and those I've garnered from others over the years.

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Do you have any choices that have been difficult to make lately? Do you have some choices you're afraid to make? Do you have goals you'd like to make public? Do it here, either in the comments, or by writing a guest blog post. Think I'm nuts? Again, feel free to comment, or write a guest blog post. 

I challenge you to keep going after your true successes - even when it seems the most illogical thing in the world to everyone around you. You are the one who has to live with your decisions - and you have the ability to affect your results more powerfully than those in the outside world. 

Consider the gauntlet thrown. You don't have to quit your job - but you do need to vigorously pursue the life you want now, before life passes you by. Become a Champion of Choice!

Are Your Goals Big Enough?

I've been gone a few days. This is what I've been working on, among other things.

I also watched the final performances of 'America's Got Talent' and subsequent finale last night. I was not terribly shocked at the final two, Kevin Skinner, chicken catcher country singer extraordinaire and cancer survivor operatic genius Barbara Padilla, making the cut to face each other at the end.

I was slightly surprised that Kevin won the whole thing, in part because I felt Barbara Padilla was the stronger performer, and more of a slam dunk going into Vegas and the entertainment arena. But then again, so was Adam Lambert, despite his 2nd place finish in American Idol. Even Susan Boyle, who sang before last night's results were revealed, was a clear winner in Britain's Got Talent before losing to Diversity.

It's almost as if voters say to themselves "this person is bigger than this show - I'm going to vote for the other guy, because they need it more". Granted, it could also be a bit of fickleness for over-exposed celebrity by people who haven't done anything yet. Either way, these 'Losers' can turn into Winners in a way they didn't expect at the beginning of their journey.

When you set goals, do you create realistic scenarios? Do you 'hedge your bets' to prevent disappointment? After all, who would be silly enough to say "I'm going to make a hundred thousand dollars this year, even though I've never come close in the past"? Jack Canfield would, actually. How about a million dollars?

Barbara Padilla, Adam Lambert, and Susan Boyle will all have careers that go far beyond what they set to accomplish. Losing actually opens up doors they may have been locked out of in the contracts that bind the winners. If they keep their goals small, and let the competition define them, they will limit their accomplishments as well. Regardless of how you feel about their music, Kelly Pickler, Clay Aiken, and Chris Daughtry have all gone on to great success by allowing goals bigger than winning American Idol to enter their field of view.

When you set your goals, don't limit yourself to reality, or too narrow an outcome. Leave room for a force greater than you to change your path and lift you higher than you ever imagined. If you are in a competition, why does the outcome of the competition define your future? If you can lose 25 lbs, why not 50? Or lose 25 and be in incredible shape? If you can make 100,000 dollars in 12 months or less, why NOT a million?

Make the choice to be open to more. The old saying is that one God closes a door, he opens a window. Perhaps we should change that to 'When God closes a window, he opens a door. A really BIG door."

There are ALWAYS Other Choices

When does YES mean NO and NO mean YES? Every time! Whenever you say yes or no to something, be it something to eat, how you spend your money, or how you spend your time, you are saying yes or no to a different choice, often several choices.

Yet, we often convince ourselves that we don't have a choice at all, much less several choices. We create such emotional stories to attach to some choices that we make them impossible to choose – not in objective reality, but our personal reality.

It can be as simple as not wanting to offend the host or the chef – be it our spouse, a friend, or business contact. They've made something we don't want in our diet, put too much on our plate, or they are the encouraging type: “Please, try this, try that, oh you've got to have some of this!”

We quickly create a choice structure that only satisfies someone else. Choosing not to eat is too painful – we might offend, or start a fight, or put ourselves in an uncomfortable situation of sticking up for ourselves and our goals. We say YES to the chef or host and NO to our diet, our health, our long-term goal. When we mentally cut off choices – meaning NOT eating would never be a choice – that we build dangerous thinking and harmful habits. Learning to say YES to ourselves takes time when it means saying no to someone or something else. A realization that there are more choices available than 'eat or create an offensive, emotional disaster' is required. A realization only comes through practical explanation.

Consider these choices:

A. Choose to think ahead of time
Talk to your spouse or friend ahead of time to discuss the menu and thank them for helping you reach your goals; OR, prepare to eat what you don't want by eating differently beforehand. I always encourage communication as the first option.

B. Choose to stick up for yourself
Take smaller portions, or skip what you don't want. Don't assume you'll offend the chef. If you know you're dealing with someone particularly touchy, offer to take some home with you for later. If they get really pushy, just say no, and either let them know the real reason you're skipping foods (honesty is the best policy), or simply say you're not feeling well – you're stomach's acting up because of whatever made up reason.

C. Choose to bring an ally
When two of you are on the same page, its much easier to hold your ground, and prevents you from being singled out for shame or undue pressure.

D. Choose to be proactive
Invite them first, or take the household cooking into your own hands. Nothing like doing it yourself to make sure you get what you need. Just remember they are now in your prior position, and let them eat, or not, what they choose!

E. Choose to live with the consequences
Sometimes we will run into situations where we just have to grit our teeth and go forward if we want to get to where we want to go. If we continually base our choices by painting ourselves into the corner of concern for others – what they will think or what they will do – we will end up either where others want us to go or where we THINK they want us to go, as opposed to where WE want to go.

YES is NO and NO is YES. Choices abound. Even the most extreme circumstances offer choices, they may simply be harder choices than others. Eating is a great example of this, in that when we think those choices are unimportant, we find the results carry great weight (pun intended).

Beyond our food intake, we find ourselves limiting our choices in exercise, finances, careers, relationships – often feeling stuck or hopeless. By not learning to see more choices, and accept our responsibility to make them, we cripple our future by atrophying our power of choice in the present.

Train your mind to see multiple choices, and multiple outcomes. Make your goals more important to you than other people's goals for you. Don't be afraid to be a YES man, because you're always saying not. Don't be afraid to say NO, because you're always saying YES to something at the same time.

The choices exist. Its up to you to see them, and choose them.

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