Many of us don’t fully tap into our hidden resources. The good news is that we all have potential and the capacity to tap into these hidden wells of potential and achieve our goals.
Here are three hacks to get you started:
1. Stretch but don’t snap!
When choosing a goal, you need to decide if it is easy, moderate or impossible. If your goal is too easily reached, you often lose interest. On the other hand, if the goal is too intangible, you lose motivation. Research suggests that the likelihood of reaching your goals doubles if they are both realistic and truly challenging. Being stretched is key but not to the point we snap. Our goals need to be significant. Not so much that you can’t sleep at night, but enough that you can’t wait to get up in the morning.
2. Is your glass half full or half empty?
Think of your reaching your goals as an adventure. What comes to mind when you think of the word adventure? The unknown? Excitement? Risk? Fun? Fear? Some of these words are positive and others less so.
The words we choose to use to describe a situation have a huge impact on how we actually experience it. Reframing situations, will help you push through barriers and reach your potential.
So, are you facing a problem or a challenge? Are you facing a challenge or an adventure?
3. Get into the Flow
Our world is full of constant distractions. These stop our ability to fully focus, and they keep us away from the high-performance state which is often called the zone or flow.
So, how can we get into the flow? The easy answer is by focusing. Therefore, we must proactively resist the urge of spontaneous behaviours such as checking random text messages, flicking through Instagram or snacking when not hungry.
A focus sprint is an easy hack to implement which will help get you on track. Focus sprints, as the name suggests, are intense energy bursts to help you overcome procrastination, concentrate and actually get things done.
Research shows that the human brain works best by focusing on a task in intervals of between forty-five and ninety minutes, followed by a ten-to-fifteen-minute recovery break. Pushing past ninety minutes often results in decreased focus. So, take advantage of your brain’s natural rhythms to capitalise on the times you are at your peak performance.
Before starting your focus sprint, set a specific goal for what you want to achieve during this set time period. Next, get rid of all distractions- no social media and no multitasking. Just one hundred per cent focus on your set task. Next put on the timer and get going!
About the author
Jim Steele is a business speaker, leadership facilitator, executive coach and author of new book Unashamedly Superhuman: Harness Your Inner Power and Achieve Your Greatest Professional and Personal Goals, published by Capstone.
