As we set goals for the future it can be easy to get distracted if we aren’t clear about what we want. Early in my career, I saw the professional advantage of leaders who were able to evaluate their life and goals and formulate a successful plan for achieving those goals.
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In addition to the articles with suggested activities to help guide you to success, on gettingunstuckguide.com, you'll find articles, affirmations, worksheets, and other handouts to help you with your journey.
What's Your Definition Of Success?
It's essential to clarify your thoughts, goals, and desires before you can achieve success! Think about it. How can you work towards something passionately when you aren't sure what you want to happen?
Success means different things to everyone. For many of us, financial achievement and wealth are critical to our definition of success. Paying your bills is a major achievement, but is that enough?
When I quit my first corporate job to take a $10 per hour internship in advertising, I told my father I found a path to my dream job, being a paid writer. My Dad handed me a $100 bill and told me: "the bank doesn't care about your dreams, rent is due on the first of the month. Good luck."
At the time, I knew that while I was making good corporate money, I wasn't happy with my job, where I lived or how I spent my time. Financial stability and wealth are part of my definition of success, not all of it.
Learn How To Overcome Obstacles and Excuses
Think of a time when you felt stuck and missed your expectations for your life. When you reflect, notice how there are different areas where you can experience success. Most importantly, you've probably experienced what it feels like when you are successful in one area and failing in others. That's normal!
Listen to my Inspire Action playlist on YouTube and you'll hear a story of overcoming obstacles, excuses and uncontrollable circumstances. Plus my favorite affirmations!
My clients describe "stuck" as knowing they can achieve more but feeling limited, or burned out. The first step is to set goals that motivate you. The next step is to develop a plan to define success for yourself, starting with the areas most relevant to your goals.
● To define success in life, you'll want to review and order your greatest priorities by area. For many of my clients, there are three main areas of success. Your plan can have more areas or less. Remember, goals are more effective when you set three or less.
A note to readers of Getting Unstuck: A Guide to Moving Your Career Forward: You can use the TRIBE framework to set goals in any of the three areas below around improving your time management, resources, innovation, beliefs, evolution.
This is about you. Include any areas other that are important to you! Consider these three main areas:
Career
What's most important? Your employer can measure your success at work in many different ways. Depending on if you are a recent graduate, seasoned professional or self-employed, what matters to you? In your career evaluation, remember to examine how your strengths and weaknesses can help or hinder you from achieving your goal.
Contemplate these questions:
○ Are you happy with your career?
○ Do you want a higher status position and title?
○ How much income would make you happy?
○ Would you like to feel more appreciated by your boss?
Emotional
Your mental health must be a priority to you if you are dealing with stress or lacking self-confidence. In today's busy world, we can forget to check-in and ask ourselves how we feel about our choices and our relationships?
Use the questions below guide you to important considerations for your emotional success:
○ Are you at peace with your relationships? Why or why not?
○ What have you learned that could help you do better in the future?
○ If you have children, are you satisfied with how you're raising them?
Health
Are you doing your absolute best for your overall health and well-being? Your health is critical to your happiness. Do you enjoy being sick or feeling upset when you look in the mirror? Let this be the year to improve your diet and exercise. Take time to set your medical and health-related appointments for the year and write down your questions if you are unsure whether you've achieved success in this area or if there's room for improvement.
○ If health is a focus, make a plan to start implementing changes in your daily routine that lead to a healthier lifestyle. Ignoring your health only hurts you. Make time to take action and don't be afraid to start over, if you fail. Each time you fall down, you can try something different, or get a partner to stay committed. The name of the game is consistency.
You're Worth Getting Unstuck
When you're stuck surviving a bad day-to-day situation, it's easy to stop dreaming and setting goals. When that happens, you lose sight of what will make your life better. You have to think differently.
To be successful, you have to envision your life in the future. You have to set a destination and a course for your life. Having experienced the pain of suffering through a job that just didn't fit, I know first hand how difficult it is to feel stuck. Working with my executive coaching clients, I've noticed a trend--- high performing leaders are self-aware and continually checking and adjusting their course.
Successful leaders view their role as a captain. Their role is to show up at their best to help guide the crew and passengers to safety. Whether you manage others at work or you are caring for loved ones at home, one person can't do it all. The captain has to navigate cockpit equipment, weather, and any unforeseeable events that can quickly turn disastrous. Instead of being frustrated by the change, a pilot shifts their mind-set to see opportunities and guide themselves in the right direction. Resiliency is overcoming all the unforeseeable conditions. By having access to a map, you can more easily judge when they need to speed up, change course, or refuel.
Getting Unstuck is an ongoing journey through the highs and lows in life. You'll make mistakes and face disappointments. You'll experience a setback at some point and get your feelings hurt.
The beauty is that you can get back on track and move closer to your goals at any time.
● You will achieve new levels of success at different points in your life and career. As you advance at work, start a family, and get involved in giving back to your community, your definition of success will change, along with your priorities. Let it go; it's okay to change your perspective on life and your meaning of progress over time.
● Love what you do! Life is too short to be stuck doing something you hate. Happiness starts with you. Learn to make the most with what you've got. Focus on your strengths and interests and do the things that bring joy to your life. What do people thank you for? How is someone's life improved when they get to work with you?
● Getting Unstuck is an opportunity to do better. Everyone experiences setbacks and challenges at some point in their lives. If we didn't, we wouldn't be human. Developing your resilience to be able to bounce back when life knocks you down is an invaluable skill.
When life gets you stuck, it's time to step back and re-evaluate your definition of success. Each change in your life is a chance to change your priorities, too. Never underestimate the power that comes from persistence and experience. More than anything, take responsibility for your happiness.
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