What if the goal that you're working on took 2 weeks to achieve instead of 12 months?
What if the level that you're working to reach in your business took 2 months instead of 2 years?
This is something I've been learning lately: We give ourselves too much time to complete something and, by doing so, we actually make the process of achieving our goal harder than it needs to be.
We need to start using our brain power in more creative and urgent ways. It takes very little creativity to map out how we can make something happen over the course of one to two years, but what if we really put our minds to work for us and entertained the "crazy idea" of making something big happen 5x sooner?
When I look back over anything significant I've achieved, it always took however long of a time I gave myself to make it happen.
I'm sure you've heard of the Parkinson's Law: "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion." Well, here are a couple of times when I took a big goal and made it happen in a matter of weeks when I used to think it would take much longer...
When I was 21 years old, I went on a trip to France by myself. I had always wanted to go there. One day, I decided to just walk over to the travel agency and found that there were special fares for plane tickets to Europe for a certain time period. A couple of weeks later, in spite of having no money saved for the trip in the first place, I was on a plane to sunny, shimmery Southern France. I took the time I had to work with, reached out for help, and made it happen.
Another time, I was listening to a webinar hosted by this guy who coached entrepreneurs and olympic athletes to get better results and improve their performance. The thing that stuck out was when he said that one of the things he helps people do is double their income. He said that most people give themselves far too long a time to do this and he shows them how they can double their income in a matter of weeks instead of months.
I liked the sound of that and I liked how he also pointed out that it's easier to achieve your goal when you give yourself a very condensed amount of time to do so. I decided to give it a try. It worked like magic. All I had to do was be aware that this is what I wanted to do and I wanted it NOW - not over the course of X number of months.
My increased sense of urgency and awareness helped me spot and create the very opportunity I needed to make this happen.
I liked the sound of that and I liked how he also pointed out that it's easier to achieve your goal when you give yourself a very condensed amount of time to do so. I decided to give it a try. It worked like magic. All I had to do was be aware that this is what I wanted to do and I wanted it NOW - not over the course of X number of months.
My increased sense of urgency and awareness helped me spot and create the very opportunity I needed to make this happen.
I learned that the following statement is often true:
Fast is easy, slow is hard.
The reason why we shy away from condensing the amount of time to achieve something is because the shorter the time period, the higher the pressure. I don't like pressure either, but I've learned that if I'm willing to go through a short period of intense pressure and focus, I can uplevel my life so much more quickly and more often. And when that spurt is over, I can take a rest and enjoy being at a new level psychologically, emotionally and financially.
Is there a goal that you feel like you've carried around forever? It's time to kick things into high gear, sit down, and plan how you're going to take that 1 year goal and achieve it in 3 months instead, or take that 3 month goal and achieve it in 3 weeks.
The magic here is that your brain will go to work for you because you've intensified your focus and commitment and urgency. Try it and see what happens. :)
This was written for me!! I like setting goals and always give myself lots of time "just in case." But maybe setting shorter deadlines will keep my excited about it AND make me actually get it done. I'm going to try this on these pillows I'm trying to make and complete.
ReplyDeleteYes, one thing I like to do to create some positive pressure for myself is I'll set a goal to go on a trip every year and it really challenges me to improve myself and expand my income in order to make it happen. I don't always feel like I'm making the greatest progress, but when I reflect and stay open, I can see that magical unpredictable things are always happening that help me achieve my goal.
DeleteGreat insights thanks.
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you. :)
DeleteI think this is really great advice for some goals, but what about other goals, like weight loss? For example, you cannot lose thirty pounds in one month. What would you suggest for goals that *do* take a lot of time?
ReplyDeleteFor a goal like this, I think it's about having a "rest of your life" type of perspective.
DeleteWhen it comes to losing weight...it's not about putting the goal into a 3 or 6 or 12 month time frame. It's a lifestyle goal, not a time frame goal. The things a person does to lose the weight have to be the same things he continues to do after the weight is lost, or else he'll be right back where he started.
So in this case, I would just identify the habits that I plan on practicing for the rest of my life that equal a healthy weight and a healthy lifestyle and just BE that person now. Because not only will it take time to achieve the goal of losing a certain amount of weight, it will also take the rest of my life to maintain it.