“If you want better than typical results you have to give better than typical effort.”
I’m not sure who said something like this before, but it’s a phrase I’ve been repeating to myself lately and to others when they talk about why I am working out 6 days a week for 2 hours, getting up at 5:15 am each day, and eating a much more selective choice of foods in my diet. I have some pretty specific reasons to want better results than what the “normal” statistics say, so I have to do my part for that to have any chance of being true.
I’ve been given a lot of thought to the whole concept of “Go Beyond” and what it really means to me. It’s a concept that applies to much more than just a health or fitness effort. Do you want more in whatever you are trying to achieve? Then you have to do more. You have to choose to do a little more when sitting back and relaxing sounds like a pretty good idea.
Do you want to succeed in your business? Are you starting something new as an entrepreneur? Trying to grow your business to a new level? Trying to get that next promotion or expand your job skills? You have to want it enough to do more than the next person. You have to want it more than you did a year ago, a month or ago, or even last week. Enough to get up early or stay up late to do that extra effort. Enough to do what’s not comfortable like talking to people outside your immediate circle of friends to expand your network of influence.
To do more. To reach higher. To go beyond what will happen if you just keep on doing what you have been doing in the past that was getting you just average results.
Driven.
This morning my friend talked about how I’m driven during my cycling efforts. I always try to push to my limits in what my body can achieve in order to try and reach just a little further than the last time. This means I’m usually breathing hard, sweating profusely and on the edge of being able to maintain my efforts. Yep. That’s pretty much a summary of how I am about most things in life when I feel motivated and a desire to reach my goals. I like that.
That’s not to say I’m great at it all the time. I fail…often. I’m a natural man in so many ways, and find it very easy to fall back into what’s easy, or at least comfortable. It’s just easier in the short term. In the long term those habits lead to much more difficulty though, and we know it. Despite knowing it, we still do it. You get frustrated at yourself about that like I do?
Are you driven to reach whatever it is you desire? If not, then you don’t really want it. It may sound like a nice thing that you wish you had, but you don’t really want it if you aren’t willing to put in the time and effort it takes to achieve that goal. You don’t really want it more than those lazy times, sitting on the couch with the clicker in hand wasting away minutes and hours that could be used more productively. What are you getting from those minutes that you’ll never get back?
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a little down time. We need to recuperate, to recharge in order to hit the ground running again. But how often are we making those unproductive hours a regular part of our day? Do we view a daily couple of vegetative hours as required because we’ve earned it? Do we really need that much time out of each day to unwind, or are we simply choosing the easy option that makes indulgence no longer just a periodic thing.
I sure know I’ve fallen into that trap many times in life and have had to fix my habits.
When you have a solid WHY you are making your efforts, you are driven to go beyond to reach those goals. Find your why and use it has your singular focus. Those lazy habits become obstacles you toss aside because you are far to motivated to reach your goals. You get excited about those opportunities to push a little harder, to find new chances to improve or reach into new territory.
Now is the time to decide what you want and why. Write it down. Put it on your mirror or on that sticky note next to your computer monitor. Whatever it takes to keep it in the forefront of your mind. When you have that locked into your consciousness and a part of your constant attention, you will achieve much greater things. I can pretty much say that is a guarantee that you will see better results because with it at the top priority in what you are thinking and doing, you will go and do what it takes to succeed, but doing more. By going beyond the average and reaching higher.
So go do it. Now.