F.E.E.D. Your Dream
Four Elements That Drive Success
1. Focus 2. Effort 3. Evenness 4. Discipline
“If
you are going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater
price.” - Bud Wilkinson
If you have some significant
goals you would like to accomplish, or desire to live a life that makes an
impact, there are four key elements critical to your daily routine. These are essential to incorporate into your
life as you push towards achieving those goals.
These keys to success are very simple, yet sadly for most people, they
are often just too difficult to even implement, much less maintain. However, if you can continue with persistent
determination to make these elements part of your life, the rewards will be
great indeed!
1 - FOCUS – Possibly the most important
element you must possess to get where you want to be is focus. Think of a laser - light that increases with power and intensity the more it is focused. Being focused means that no
matter what distractions come your way, you will remain relentless in your
pursuit of your goals. You will stay the
course… regardless.
I was traveling through the
airport not long ago and had a very tight connection. As a coffee addict, the one aspect of air
travel I choose to enjoy is a good "cup o' Joe" between flights. This particular trip only afforded me a brief
few minutes to hit the Starbucks on the way to my gate. So, I exited the plane, focused on two things
– the board showing my connecting flight information, and the nearest coffee
bar. (Actually, my focus was really on
the coffee. I already had a good idea
of where I was going.) But once I got my
gate info, I was off to get the coffee - no restroom detours, no stops to chat,
no newsstand detours. I was focused on my objective!
Do you have that one big goal?
Have you determined the steps necessary to achieve it? Then lock in on those
steps, and do them daily with a laser like focus until to reach your
destination. You will have many
distractions on your way to greatness, mostly from those who want to protect
you from failure. Anyone or anything
that would deter you from your mission should not get a single look! Focus on that dream and don’t let there be
any room for average in your life. Demand
excellence from yourself!
2 - EFFORT – Apply the effort of
a champion. A winner is one who does
those little things that make a big difference, even when no one is watching. Whether you want to shred those last couple
percentages of body fat, or be the number one salesman in your firm, you do
what it takes – eat only clean and healthy foods, do the extra rep on the
bench, make the extra sales calls or work that extra hour instead of meeting up
with those “just enough, only what I’m paid to do” people at the bar.
Anything worth doing is not just
worth doing well, it’s worth doing great – doing whatever you are focused on to
the very best of your ability. Don’t do
something halfway, go all in and do it with everything you've got! If life has thrown your ox in the ditch, it’s
going to take some serious effort to get him out! So don’t just give him an occasional, casual
tug. Bear down and pull until you’re
back on track!
3 - EVENNESS – This applies to
your daily habits. The successful don’t
live in an up and down manner. Their
lives are not a roller coaster ride. We
all experience bumps in the road, but what kind of “suspension system” we have
determines our outlook, and all winners have internal shock absorbers that
provide consistency and protect them emotionally. That evenness in their attitude, regardless of
outside circumstances provides them the ability to operate and move toward
their target consistently each and every day.
Evenness also means consistency,
and consistency is the opposite of complacency.
Achievers are never satisfied.
They wake up every day hungry for more. You are the only person you need to compare
yourself to, and the only person you should desire to be better than… is the
person you were yesterday. Those that
are meant for greatness are consistently looking for ways to improve, learn new
skills, and even fine tune the skills they already possess. They
are consistently performing the necessary and often mundane daily tasks that
the unsuccessful refuse to do. Without
consistency, there can be no success.
4 - DISCIPLINE – I read the other
day that you haven’t seen discipline until you have tasted discipline. Man that rings true! I know athletes that eat the same thing over
and over and over again, run the same trails, or perform the same exercises
with ever increasing intensity, hundreds, or even thousands of times… not
because it tastes good or feels good, but because it is what their body needs
to perform at peak levels and get them the results they are looking for. Simply put, discipline is what gets results.
If you’re reading this, most
likely you are someone who already has some specific goals for your life. If not, figure out really what matters most
to you and write down some specific life goals before life gets away from
you. And since that is the source of an
entirely new conversation, I’ll leave it for another time… But take those
written goals, and after you have formulated a plan – which ultimately should
include some coaching or mentorship – apply these four key elements in your
quest to achieve what you truly want out of life.
2. Apply effort to each component of your plan…
3. Make that effort focused and consistent, maintaining an even spirit throughout the process…
4. Discipline yourself to maintain consistent, focused effort and stay the course.
Understand this… If you make a
mistake – and you will probably make many if you are chasing your dreams -
don’t make an excuse, learn the lesson!
The most successful make the most mistakes. Failure is not failure unless you refuse to
learn the lesson it is trying to teach you and lie down and quit! An excuse is 100 times more deadly than a
lie, because an excuse is a lie that is protected! So don’t look for pity when you fail. Look for the lesson and go back to work! Give
100% to everything you do, and nothing less, because 99% of the way is still
only 99% of the way...
So you have a decision today. Make a determined choice to dominate these four things, never look back, and discover your greatness. I promise you. If you do this, you will lead a life worth living - a life that will make a difference in the lives of others.
