When our daughter was first born, she didn’t walk until she had already turned a year old. She would scoot faster than most kids could walk. It was somewhat of a crab crawl with one foot up, one knee down and both hands on the floor. However, Sydney was talking at an early age. She would put together sentences and communicate with most anyone well before she was walking.
Our boys were walking at a much earlier age but not talking. Walker didn’t say his first words until he was almost two. I believe part of the reason is because he loved his “passy” so much and didn’t want to ever take it out of his mouth. My wife, Jennifer, remembers his first word being “bubble” and that he didn’t say anything else for several months. I remember his first word being “astronaut.” He was sleeping in his stroller at the air and space museum in Washington D.C. and woke up super excited to see planes, rockets, and all sorts of cool stuff.
All of our kids are different. If your child isn’t talking or walking at a young age, do you give up on them? Who gives up on their children walking or talking or using the “potty”? No one! You give them as long as it takes! They achieve these things because you believe in them.
But we sometimes have a hard time believing in ourselves. We condition ourselves to not believe anymore. It’s a sad occurrence when someone stops believing they can do what they set their sights on, but how can we break out of this trap of stinking thinking?
#4 Have Faith
Many times, in our lives there comes a point where we are fed up with our circumstances. We want a change for the better. We look for a leader to lead us out of proverbial “slavery” the way Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. We get ourselves moving because we suffer enough pain to make a change, hitting rock bottom, suffering a loss, or having a decision thrust upon us. Sometimes we make a change because we are inspired by someone else’s success, a speech or story we hear, or an event we witness. The point is that we choose to take action to get ourselves out of the rut that we are in.
The next step is what matters. This is the step that requires FAITH. Many people may want to turn back to the life they left behind. This happens when things get tough along the new road. God wants us to have faith in Him, and ourselves to keep pushing forward. We place one foot in front of the other, take one step at a time, pass one milestone at a time counting them down, doing just one more thing and before long we start to realize we’re going to make it.
However, many become fearful. It’s fear that holds us back. Some are fearful to get started, set goals, or dwell on failure that becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy because they never swing at the ball, take the shot, or go for the goal. God lets us know how he feels about faith overcoming fear. He took the Israelites out of slavery and Moses had them scout the “promised land”. They saw all the good that was in store for them but focused on the obstacles. They were afraid to face the “giants” in the land the Lord had promised them. For this reason, that entire generation never saw the promised land, Moses died, and Joshua was called upon to lead the next generation that had faith in God.
Remember, obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off the goal.
But how can we make sure we keep our eyes fixed on what we want?
#5 Establish a Vision – A.I.M. High
We want to establish Audacious, Inspiring, and Meaningful goals. You want to find something that you are so passionate about that you will go to the ends of the earth to make it happen. This will be something different for most everyone. You want to find something you care about more than yourself, and something others care about more than your yourself or themselves. Find a cause you are willing to live and die for.
Then you want to find something that the size of the challenge will excite the snot out of you. As Rick Warren says, “You want to set goals that require faith.” Goals that are so big that in order for you to achieve them, God needs to show up. These are the goals that inspire people.
We all remember John F. Kennedy’s speech where he said that by the end of the decade our country was going to send a man to the moon and back. Some said he was crazy, but we all grew crazy excited to see it happen. It became a turning point for our country.
#6 Visualize
We all see how professional athletes visualize themselves hitting the ball, catching the pass, or scoring the goal. They back this up with past successful experience as well, remembering what they have accomplished in the past. You want to give yourself an experience that is so vivid, over and over again, that you develop the belief and the certainty. When the certainty is there, you come up with the answer and make things happen.
This gives you more certainty that allows you to tap massive potential. You tell yourself “I’m going to do this. We’re going to make this happen.” It’s not just optimism. It’s something you feel in your soul. You tap massive potential which leads you to take massive action and gives great results. As this continues the “Success Cycle” feeds on itself and you move to higher and higher levels.
Work to stack positive experiences on top of one another. Remember the time you rode a bike for the first time, the time you got all A’s on your report card, a time when you were able to cut an unhealthy habit. Remember when you scored the winning goal, when you won a championship, when you finished 1st. Maybe you have walked on fire or been diving with sharks or trusted God, and you took action and things happened for you. These things help build FAITH.
Visualize your goal as if you have already achieved it. Look at the homes you want to live and drive the cars you want to own someday, look in the areas of town you want to live, or areas of the world you may want to have a second home. Something happens in your subconscious when you do this. You see yourself already achieving the goal and it starts to work on helping you get there. You may not see how you will get there today, but before you know it, you are already there.
#7 Get Clarity
Get really clear on where you want to be. The more vivid the picture the better. You may want to create a vision board with all the things you want in your life in various areas. You may want to create a PowerPoint which shows clearly where you want to be with your company or with your relationships or your health. The more vivid the picture, the better you will be able to see yourself achieving these goals.
At Franklin Wealth, we created a values- based vision for the company which we call the “Five Crowns Mindset” based upon the 5 crowns that God promises his most worthy believers when they go to heaven. I am continually viewing this and reviewing this to reinforce what is most important in developing and growing the people in our organization and focusing on where we want to be.
Share these goals with other people who can help you achieve them and will be encouraging. Let them help you shape and further define where it is you really want to be. The more time you take to get really clear on what you want to achieve and why you want to get there, the more likely you will get there. Once you have the vision you can work on getting more traction finding the Who’s to help figure out How as long as you take MASSIVE ACTION!
Joe Franklin has been named by Forbes as one of Tennessee’s Top Advisors!
Franklin Wealth Management
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