Achieve More

Did you achieve all that you wanted to up until now? Or, were you left wanting more? If the next 12 months go the same as the previous 12 months, will you be proud of what you have accomplished? We always want to do more, have more, and be more.

We sometimes think the solution is working longer hours doing more of the same. But more hours and higher efficiency only scales to a point.

To execute on another level we must be both efficient AND effective. If there’s something greater you’re striving to become, here are 8 life changing tips that can enable you to achieve more for yourself.

Create a Vision for Your Life

To achieve something great, you need to take control over how you run your personal and professional life. This means creating a purposeful vision for your life as well as a plan to accomplish your goals. If you don’t plan your life, someone else will make plans for you.

Feed Your Mind

As Brendon Burchard says, “Only two things change your life. Either something new comes into your life, or something new comes from within.” In order for either of these things to happen, you need to constantly feed your mind with the right knowledge and ideas. It’s been well documented that Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger (Buffett’s right hand man) are some of the best learning machines on earth. They each spend approximately 6 hours a day reading, thinking, and learning. Don’t have 6 hours a day to learn? Don’t worry, I share that same reality. But there are changes we can make to feed our mind. Improve

Your Health and Fitness

Caring for yourself is the highest priority in life. Your health is more important than your work and your family. If you don’t have your health, you can’t be of service to anyone. Your health is all you’ve got.

Practice Gratitude

If you’ve ever struggled with negative self talk or you’re highly critical of yourself, practicing gratitude can help. What is practicing gratitude? It’s the act of taking 5 minutes a day to take note of things you’re grateful for, fantastic things happening in your life, and remind yourself of the person you’re working to become.

The Ultimate To-Do List

Everyone wants to get more done. Some focus on doing things fast. Others focus on doing things right. What matters most is doing the right things.

The Never-Do List

If you follow the advice in step 5, you’ll be focusing on the right activities for at least the first part of your day. But most people drift back into their normal habits once the phone rings or they check email. It’s been ingrained in us that these are activities that we must respond to quickly, and we end up trading our own priorities for the priorities of others. What if instead of doing distracting tasks efficiently, we stopped doing them entirely?

Create Art

The old rules said that success came from following the rules, keeping your head down and not doing things that feel uncomfortable. In today’s economy, it’s better to be sorry than safe.

The industrial age taught us to work inside of our comfort zone and that doing what was safe would pay off. Today that’s a sure path to mediocrity. Today the payoff comes from doing what’s uncomfortable, what feels risky, and what might not work. Today there’s an oversupply of vendors for almost every problem, giving customers more choice and power in who they buy from than ever. If you essentially copy what they’re doing without radical innovation, you won’t stand out. At the same time, there’s a shortage of trust, relationships and delight. These are the elements of success in the new connection economy. Success today takes guts. It requires making something personal. It requires standing out while being outside of your comfort zone. It requires leadership, and a belief that if you do something special, customers will show up to follow you.  

Give Back

Giving feels good. But it doesn’t stop there. Giving to others changes our mental and emotional state. When we focus on the needs of others, we push aside our ego, our emotions, and our stress. Our body releases healthy hormones into our system, leading to what’s known as the “helper’s high.” If you want to improve your attitude, your relationships and your career, prioritize making a difference in the lives of the people around you. You’ll feel happier and you’ll become more liked and ultimately more successful.

Take Action

Every idea, goal, plan, or dream is worthless unless backed by action. If you’re willing to hustle, you can make up for every weakness in your life and then some. Rather than use your weaknesses as a reason to delay getting started, use them as your reason to start earlier, fight harder, stay later, push further, and never be satisfied. It’s time we get out of our comfort zones and achieve more than we ever thought possible.

Set a goal that stretches the limits. Create a plan of action to achieve it. Then get started. Take your best shot at doing something remarkable and let the chips fall where they may.