Almost 20 years ago my husband and I started creating wish lists. It quickly evolved into vision boards – which we religiously make every year on New Year’s Eve. With that, we set our short-term goals and long-term goals and have recently started adding our word of the year. My word of the year = discipline.
Discipline is something I have lacked my entire life. I am, by nature, one to dive into anything without a plan, swim furiously towards a perceived goal and find myself in the middle of the ocean, lost as to what the next thing should be.
Discipline is something I have lacked my entire life. I am, by nature, one to dive into anything without a plan, swim furiously towards a perceived goal and find myself in the middle of the ocean, lost as to what the next thing should be.
The Reality
Long-term follow through is not my thing. I’m actually really bad at it – because I am always thinking of new ideas or better ways (or so I think).
So, this year I wanted to work on my LONG-TERM FOLLOW THROUGH and what better way to practice it than with what I lack most —> DISCIPLINE.
Then I thought – what goal could I set that met both discipline and long-term follow through to achieve? Done – I signed up for a half iron man. Yes! You read correctly… I gave myself one year to train – and I decided that only through the discipline of training long-term would I achieve this goal.
The Learning
Wow! That seemed like a lot of what I had been doing and needed to do for my business:
1. *Training* makes you clearly better! As a leader of your company, if you aren’t constantly learning to be a better human, coach, and implementer, there is no way to scale your business. Continuous learning is important for the growth of a leader and their teams.
2. *Going All In* means different things to different people – for me it means that your heart, your mind, and your inertia have to be ALL IN at the same time. You can’t tiptoe in and expect to get the same results as if you dive in and start swimming. You have to believe, feel and move as if it were all happening. When I started my business 10 years ago without a single client, I decided that I needed to go ALL IN – so I rented a 200 sq ft office, bought super cute (and super cheap) furniture at IKEA, and finished off with a laptop and a phone. I would sit at my desk every day trying to get my first client, and guess what?! It worked. I was ALL IN.
3. *Believing You Can Do It* (and visualizing you can do it) is a huge way to ignite your first step. I believed I could start and run a company. I knew my strengths, I identified my weaknesses and started to chip away at learning to be the best I could be. Am I there? NO WAY – but man I love to have an unreachable goal that keeps me learning and believing I can do it!
4. *Building a Support Team* is vital! Who are we without a team? Nothing. Without support, it’s impossible to stay ALL IN for the long haul. Discipline takes others to keep you accountable – and so does follow through. The best athletes are those that have incredible teams. The best companies are the ones that have the best co-workers – this is what we, as leaders, need to be laser-focused on.
5. *Just Do It* Stop doubting. Stop thinking. Stop closing your own doors. Like Nike says – “Just Do It.” You will lose nothing by trying and you will lose everything by not starting. I believe in you! You believe in you – Just Do IT!
If you’re tired of running short sprints with your marketing to get short term bursts of success, then maybe it’s time to join a disciplined for long-term success. CONTACT US or give us a call at 210-617-7260 and let’s work to help you cross the finish line!
