by Rahul Badami
To put it in the simplest words. No Cause. No Effect.
On the other hand. Do Cause. Get Effects.
Now even if you know that you have to take action, your belief system stops you, because it knows that you are wandering into unchartered territory. Your belief system wants to drag you back into its comfort zone.
This is why doing something new is so tough. Your brain has been wired to keep you in the same stagnant place. And it will deliver thoughts to you that will question why you are going on this unknown new path.
"This will never work."
"Why are you attempting this?"
"This will require lot of money upfront."
"No one in our family has done this."
"Am I doing the right thing?"
These thoughts will freeze you from taking action.
In the introductory section, I mentioned that instead of getting it right, it’s more important that you get started. Prima facie, it may seem illogical, but my experience and the experience of successful people have validated this concept.
A study was made some years back wherein students were divided into two groups. One group was told to create a single project report but it had to be perfect. The other group had to create five project reports in the same time-frame, but the quality was allowed to be average.
Any guesses which group ended with the better quality?
It was the second group who were allowed to dish out an average quality report.
And what happened to the first group?
They got so involved in polishing their work. Making endless improvements that at the end, no report got submitted.
The second group's goal was focused on quantity. They won because they had to get out five reports through the door. The first group was focused on quality and their inner critic was so tough on them that they simply froze and didn't take action to submit the report for fear of being ridiculed.
So take action first. Average people who are action-takers are more successful then geniuses who want to roll out the perfect invention.
Look at Microsoft or any other software vendor. The first release of a product has so many bugs, that within days they roll out a patch to fix it. And as you know Microsoft has been the most famous software vendor of the past decade. They were successful because they understand that it’s better to get the product out of the door, than spend months wondering what bugs they missed. Their customers will anyhow tell them what’s wrong, and they go back and fix it.
As mentioned earlier... do cause, get effects. Take action now.
2
TAKING TOUGH ACTIONS THROUGH SINGLE-TASKING
Whose dream are you living?
I am asking this question because taking action is easy when you are doing something that you inherently love.
If I look at my own life, for the first couple of decades I was living out my parent's dreams to see me graduate and be successful at a job. The next decade was spent in living my manager's dream of being the ideal employee. Only now I have started to break away and started doing something that I love. So I ask again.
Whose dream is it anyway? Yours? Your parents? Spouse? Peers? Kids?
My dream is to provide value to others through my writings. I have a dream of reading a billion words and writing a million. And to do that I will have to buckle down and spend consistent time everyday to both read and write. For me the tough action is neither reading nor writing; it’s the discipline to do the reading and writing on a daily basis without fail .
I floundered for months writing my first book. After eighteen months, I had only completed half of it. However, once I had disciplined myself through a daily ritual, I was able to complete the remainder of my book in just one month.
So what is your dream? Are you taking daily action towards it? Are your actions consistent? If not, why?
My personal experience has shown me that I don't take action when I am distracted. The average person has multiple responsibilities and tasks that distract them away from whatever they want. But I found one very simple technique to overcome my procrastination and stay focused.
I call it Single-Tasking.
Time-management gurus have been harping for decades about multi-tasking. Multi-tasking means being able to do multiple things simultaneously. However, recent studies in brain science have painted a completely different picture. Multi-tasking only works for subconscious or deeply-embedded habits like driving a car.
You cannot consciously multi-task.
In other words, you cannot do two things that require your complete attention at the same time. You cannot solve a crossword puzzle and create a grocery list at the same time. Your mind gets stressed out, and it reacts by going back into its comfort zone of subconscious habits. These habits then keep you where you are.
Give yourself a break. Make it easy for your brain to help you out. This can happen by gently nudging your mind towards just ONE activity.
Here's what I do: I don't keep a big list of things that I have to do daily. I take up only one major thing that I have to accomplish that day. The secret is that I stick to that activity till it’s completed. It may take one day. It may take a week. But the important thing is that I make more progress than when my mind is burdened with multiple tasks.
(Sidenote: To clarify, single-tasking means I allocate a significant chunk of the workday towards my major task. I do other things only if they cannot be avoided. Make sure that you do your major task in a continuous uninterrupted span of time. Other things can and should wait.)
If you still aren't convinced of the power of single-tasking, and are worried about the other tasks piling up, paint the following picture in your mind.
Visualize a car with four steering wheels for all four passengers. However, all four passengers want to go in different directions and each of them tries to turn their steering wheel in their direction and then screams at the other three for not cooperating. The car will twist and turn, but go nowhere.
Your mind is the car, and the passengers are the tasks. And this is what happens inside your mind when you multi-task.
On the other hand, when you are single-tasking, it’s just one person steering the car, while the other three quietly wait their turn at driving. The experience is much smoother, and less stressful.
So if you are worried about other activities that are pending, remind yourself that you are already progressing well towards one task. And when that task is finished, not only will you be very happy, but also your mind will be free to concentrate on the next task.
However, some tasks don't come naturally to us. In some cases, we try but somehow we find it very hard even if we are completely focused on it.
It is because of what I call situational self-belief. There are some things that we can easily do, and other things that we struggle with. It is not as if the things that we can easily do are by default easy. It’s just that we have more confidence and assurance when performing that work.
But, if that task is important to your future, you will have to do it. You cannot avoid it.
Successful people make a habit of doing things they don't like to do. If you are an entrepreneur, you may not like calling prospects. If you are in a job, you may feel inhibited when doing something outside of your job role. The thing is - you have to take action. Nothing in this world can replace good old-fashioned action. And this is what all successful people know. And they have done it again and again. They have faced uncertainty, fear and apprehension. Today they are used to it.
Being successful is simply a set of right actions that few people do. Its time you did it. Start today.
The next chapter will tell you why.
3
WHY ITS CRITICAL TO SUCCEED JUST TODAY
Most goal-setters and goal-setting exercises simply get it wrong.
Our brain simply cannot picture a long-term goal; say what you will be five years from now. I don't know about you, but personally my mind gets real fuzzy around the details. Short term goal
s have an urgency and clarity to them that beat any long-term goals hands down.
Forget yearly resolutions. Monthly goals are the best. I would recommend that you start with a specific goal that you want to do this month.
Let’s say you want to contact a hundred prospects for your business in a month. That would mean at least three every day. So focus only on today. Contact those three prospects. Don't fret over yesterday. Don't worry about tomorrow. Simply focus on being successful today . In this case success means completing your daily actions.
A successful future implies successful years. A successful year implies successful months, successful weeks, and at its most fundamental unit, a successful day.
Today is where you should be focused on. Just ensure that you get through today with your actions.
The most profound thing I have experienced is that consistency leads to success. You don't need to look beyond top athletes to understand what I am talking about. They work towards their dreams every day.
Every day.
That's the key.
Listen up. This is one of the most profound things I have learned, and then experienced.
What you do today can change your life.
Your life will NOT change one fine day in the future. It can change only TODAY.
When I was a teenager, I had painted a rosy picture of one fine day in the future where everything would be like a wonderland a decade later. The ten years came and went by and nothing changed in the slightest.
Why?
It was because I was always imagining a day in the future. It had no links to what I was doing today. If you picture yourself doing something different tomorrow, are you doing some part of that activity today? If not, you are in disconnect from your ideal future.
In my case, my daily habits stayed as they are, and they kept me where I was. To rephrase, my habits (daily actions) kept me in TODAY, and my thoughts kept me in TOMORROW.
Don't be the delusional fool that I was. Your thoughts and actions should both be in TODAY. The only way to succeed tomorrow is to succeed today. And the only way to succeed today is to change what you are doing this minute. Change this minute, and your life changes... eventually.
The promise of your life's eventual change is something that's hard to swallow. We want everything to change instantly. However, any change that we do today, will take some time to garner results. But knowing that you have to change this minute still doesn't give the complete picture.
The true secret is change and consistency .
It makes no sense in changing your habits today, and when the next day comes, you are back to your old habits. The key is being consistent at it for days, months and years. You will have to string hundreds of successful TODAYs, before your TOMORROW changes. Even if there are days when you don't get to work towards your purpose, put it behind you and move on. Get cracking on the next day.
I recently completed a book on the corporate workplace. For me to complete it, I had to write consistently every day. I was able to write a minimum of couple hundred words every day and was able to finish it in a little over a month.
Now consider the performance of this book. Unfortunately, there were hardly a few days in a row that I was able to write. The daily word count was way less, and overall my writing was inconsistent with days of no writings. It took me nearly three months to finish this book.
But this book is completed. So is it a success or failure?
Here's how I define success: Attainment of one’s goal by focusing back on it even after getting sidetracked multiple times.
I have a day job, a wife & kid, and multiple other responsibilities. But what separates a success from failure is how you get back on track towards your goal each time you are distracted.
As Paulo Coelho talks about in the introductory section of his wonderful book 'The Alchemist', "The secret of life is to fall seven times and get up eight times ." Every time you fall (fail at your goals, miss opportunities, something comes up) don't get emotional about it. You haven't missed your goals in the big scheme of life. You have just been delayed. Keep doing your Daily Actions unemotionally, and it will take you closer to your dreams.
Before you embark on the final section, make sure you have twenty minutes to spare. This is very important. Five minutes to read the section and fifteen minutes to take the action steps that I will note. As discussed in this chapter, changing what you do moment to moment, changes your life.
BONUS SECTION
1
HOW DO I USE THIS INFORMATION TO CHANGE MY LIFE IN THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES
Things you will need:
A good old Letter/A4 sized paper
A pen (a computer & printer can be used, but is not necessary)
Common Sense
Patience (You are doing something new. Don’t be hard on yourself)
Note: Once your goal is completed, come back to this book and repeat the below process again. I have boiled down the 'change your life' process to 5 simple but powerful steps. They are purposely kept simple so that they will be easy to follow. Don't for a moment underestimate the simplicity of the 5 steps below. They are designed to get you in action mode immediately. And most importantly, consistency is the key. You will have to stick at this every day till it’s complete.
The good news is that the more you follow this process, the easier it will become eventually.
Step 1: Write down three things that you want to accomplish this year.
Step 2: Sort them in the order of priority with the most important (to you) at number 1 position.
Step 3: Scratch out number 2 and 3. This way you will be focused on only one Task.
Step 4: Now write out your goal as follows: "I will complete [Task] by the 30th of this month. (It doesn't matter which date of the month you are reading this. The lesser the number of days, the more focused your mind will be.)
Step 5: Close this book and start NOW.
2
MEGABONUS: FREE AFFIRMATIONS AUDIO
Okay. This is extremely important.
Drop everything you are doing and simply go to http://freepositiveaffirmations.com/ and download the Affirmations audio that I created for myself and am now giving to my readers for free.
Just trust me when I say you will be blown away after listening to it.
I have got a ton of amazing feedback. Here’s what Quin said:
“I started having daily early morning walks recently and since I found your affirmation audio, I play it as I take this walk and by the time I get to my room I am filled with so much self belief and power. I hope you know the impact you are having on everyday peoples lives. ”
Here’s the link again:
Download now .
3
WANT ME TO HELP YOU CHANGE YOUR LIFE?
Are you feeling stuck?
Are you wondering if you are on the right path on your journey of life?
Is the Island of Dreams that you imagined drifting out of your sight?
Chances are, you already know how to change your life. It could be that fear and procrastination may have held you back. What you really need is someone to give you a helping hand and lovingly nudge you in the right direction.
You may have a goal, but you may need the clarity on how to translate the goal into action steps. Or you aren’t sure what you need to do today to achieve your dreams.
A better life awaits you. The Island of Dreams that you have held in your heart can become a reality.
If you have found amazing value in spending fifteen minutes with me through this book, imagine the kind of results you will get when I will personally help you and guide you towards your dreams.
When I first convinced myself that I needed coaching from a mentor, my results tripled in a month. Imagine if you could get to your goals 3x faster and easier.
If you are interested in me guiding you to the Island of your Dreams, email me at [email protected] and I will give more details on my One to One Coaching Program.