How to get whatever you want in life?

Recently, I happened to listen to an audio programme, on the title, “How to get whatever you want in life? by an online celebrity coach, Marie Forleo. Being New year time, when all of us are making some new year resolutions and setting new goals to achieve, I thought sharing the insights I gained here, will be useful to all of you too.

 

In her talk, she talks about 3 strategies we can use to achieve whatever we want. She starts with a quote by Thomas Alva Edison, which goes like this. “Discontent is the first necessity for growth”. The above quote was something that challenged my belief. I am someone who believes contentment leads to happiness, but I realized that a contented person, doesn’t strive to achieve great things in life, because he tends to cling on to the belief that discontentment is greed. However, if we look at the life of all the achievers, they all possessed a sense of discontentment or a burning desire, that did not allow them to settle for anything less than what they aspired for. So, let’s dive in to the 3 strategies:

 

Strategy 1 – Decide what you want:  The first and foremost thing, we all need to have before embarking on a journey of achievement, is a clear idea of what we want in life.  Clarity equals to power.  So, we need to ask ourselves 2 questions.

·       What do I really want?

·       Why do I want it?

With this clarity, it is easier to chart out a roadmap, to success.  We can hold onto our goals only when we have a strong purpose or motivation to achieve it. Otherwise, it will be just a weak wish and not a strong goal. So, once we are aware of what we truly want, we have to fully commit to attaining it, whatever it takes.

 

Strategy 2 - Eliminate excuses: Well, once we set our goals and intentions, it is possible that we don’t get started off or  stop halfway through, owing to some mind blocks that show up as excuses. Excuses are a sort of justification for not doing something. To this, she says, “If it is important to you, you will find a way, if not you will find an excuse. So, we need to validate our excuses, by asking ourselves, is it something that I can’t do, or I don’t want to do, or I won’t do, or I am not interested to do or something else?  These can sometimes be difficult to differentiate. But by pondering a bit more, we can understand what is really holding us back. We have to take some time to introspect and come up with the top 10 excuses, we have been giving. Once we have figured out these top 10 excuses, we have to ask these 2 questions to ourselves

·       What is the bias behind the excuse?

·       What will I do to neutralize it.?

And once we find a way to overcome our excuses, there is absolutely nothing stopping us back except strategy 3 which is about “taking action”

 

Strategy 3 - Action is Magic: No matter how big our desire, if our level of actions match it , we can succeed. But the problem is many people don’t put in the required level of action or effort.  It is quite common for people to say, “I tried, but it didn’t work out”. This is more of a myopic thinking. We need to ask ourselves whether we have explored all the options available. The chances of us succeeding in anything big, in our first attempt is less likely, but that should not make us lose hope. We should look at failures as feedback and not setbacks. We have to learn the lessons, of what works and what doesn’t work and move forward, more intelligently. Here is where she suggests the “Magic 20 formula”. The Magic 20 formula is about brainstorming for a minimum of 20 ideas, 20 possible ways, 20 action steps, or whatever it takes to make our goals happen. Remember, there are many ways to achieve a same goal. For example, we can become richer, by earning more or spending less. So, we need to explore all the avenues of actions, that we can take and try different methods. It is similar to using a number of keys to open a lock. We never know, which one might finally unlock our dream and potential.

 

And once we have got all the above strategies right, there is one more element we need to hold on to and that is Faith. It could be the faith in your own ability or the faith in God or the divine intelligence that guides you.

 

So, embrace these 3 strategies and hold on to your faith, to make your dreams come true in this New Year 2021.

                                

  D. Senthil Kannan,

  Managing Trustee, PALMS, Tuticorin.

  Author of "Transformational Thoughts" - A Journey of learning 

  Email: senthilkannand@gmail.com