The world doesn’t pay you for what you know; it pays you for what you do. There’s an enduring axiom of success that says, “The universe rewards action.” Yet as simple and as true as this principle is, it’s surprising how many people get bogged down in analyzing, planning, and organizing when what they really need to do is take action.
When you take action, you trigger all kinds of things that will inevitably carry you to success. You let those around you know that you are serious in your intention. People wake up and start paying attention. People with similar goals become aligned with you. You begin to learn things from your experience that cannot be learned from listening to others or from reading books. You begin to get feedback about how to do it better, more efficiently, and more quickly. Things that once seemed confusing begin to become clear. Things that once appeared difficult begin to be easier. you begin to attract others who will support and encourage you. All manner of good things begin to flow in your direction once you begin to take action.
One of the great strategies for success is to act as if you are already where you want to be. This means thinking like, talking like, dressing like, acting like, and feeling like the person who has already achieved your goal. Acting as if sends powerful commands to your subconscious mind to find creative ways to achieve your goals. It programs the reticular activating system (RAS) in your brain to start noticing anything that will help you succeed, and it sends strong messages to the universe that this end goal is something you really want.
Visualization — or the act of creating compelling and vivid pictures in your mind — may be the most underutilized success tool you possess because it greatly accelerates the achievement of any success in three powerful ways.
Visualization activates the creative powers of your subconscious mind.
Visualization focuses your brain by programming its reticular activating system (RAS) to notice available resources that were always there but were previously unnoticed.
Visualization magnetizes and attracts to you the people, resources, and opportunities you need to achieve your goal.
Most people drive through life with their psychological emergency brake on. They hold on to negative images about themselves or suffer the effects of powerful experiences they haven’t yet released. They stay in a comfort zone entirely of their own making. They maintain inaccurate beliefs about reality or harbor guilt and self-doubt. And when they try to achieve their goals, these negative images and preprogrammed comfort zones always cancel out their good intentions–no matter how hard they try.
Successful people, on the other hand, have discovered that instead of using increased willpower as the engine to power their success, it’s simply easier to “release the brakes” by letting go of and replacing their limiting beliefs and changing their self-images.
Get out of your comfort zone
All three of these approaches will shift you out of your old comfort zone.
You can use affirmations and positive self-talk to affirm already having what you want, doing what you want, and being the way you want.
You can create powerful and compelling new internal images of having, doing, and being what you want.
One of the great things about living in today’s world of abundance and opportunity is that almost everything you want to do has already been done by someone else. It doesn’t matter whether it’s losing weight, running a marathon, starting a business, becoming financially independent, triumphing over breast cancer, or hosting the perfect dinner party–someone has already done it and left clues in the form of books, manuals, audio and video programs, university classes, online courses, seminars, and workshops.
When you take advantage of this information, you’ll discover that life is simply a connect-the-dots game, and all the dots have already been identified and organized by somebody else. All you have to do is follow the blueprint, use the system, or work the program that they provide.
Sometimes our biggest life goals seem so overwhelming. We rarely see them as a series of small, achievable tasks, but in reality, breaking down a large goal into smaller tasks–and accomplishing them one at a time–is exactly how any big goal gets achieved.
How to chunk it down
There are several ways to figure out the action steps you will need to take to accomplish any goal.
Consult with people who have already done what you want to do and ask what steps they took. From their experience, they can give you all of the necessary steps as well as advice on what pitfalls to avoid.
Purchase a book or manual that outlines the process.
Start from the end and look backward. You simply close your eyes and imagine that it is now the future and you have already achieved your goal. Then just look back and see what you had to do to get to where you now are.
Experts on the science of success know the brain is a goal-seeking organism. Whatever goal you give to your subconscious mind, it will work night and day to achieve.
Unleash the power of goal-setting
How much, by when?
Write it out in detail
You need goals that stretch you
Create a breakthrough goal
Reread your goals three times a day
Create a goals book
Carry your most important goal in your wallet
Make a list of 101 goals
Mastery is the goal
It’s important to understand that as soon as you set a goal, considerations, fears, and roadblocks are going to emerge that stop most people–but not you! If you know that these three things are part of the process, then you can treat them as what they are–just things to handle (subconscious thoughts, feelings, and obstacles)–rather than letting them stop you.
W. Clement Stone, was once described as in inverse paranoid. Instead of believing the world was plotting to do him harm, he chose to believe the world was plotting to do him good. Instead of seeing every difficult or challenging event as a negative, he saw it for what it could be–something that was meant to enrich him, empower him, or advance his causes.
What an incredibly positive belief!
Imagine how much easier it would be to succeed in life if you were constantly expecting the world to support you and bring you opportunity.
Successful people do just that.
Look for the opportunity in everything
If you take the approach that “good” is not an accident–that everyone and everything that shows up in your life is there for a reason–and that the universe is moving you toward your ultimate destiny for learning, growth, and achievement, you’ll begin to see every event–no matter how difficult or challenging–as a chance for enrichment and advancement in your life.
