During the holidays, my youngest children rigged a booby trap in our Christmas tree, so if Santa Claus touched the tree a little bell would sound the alarm. I was really quite amazed at their ingenuity in an attempt to catch the old elf delivering gifts on Christmas Eve. The entire situation made me reflect on the importance of the alarms that are present in our lives. These alarms act as a warning that we are moving or steering off course.
As I reflected on this lesson, I realized that there are certain questions that we may ask ourselves that will heighten our awareness about where we are and where we are headed. In essence our answers to these questions serve as an alarm that allows us to course correct and to achieve more of the results that we really want.
Perhaps these questions will help you during the coming year as you set goals, plan, and execute with the intent accomplishing your dreams.
1. What results are you manifesting every day? This question is intended to help you identify where you currently are or the results that you are currently receiving. If you want to make improvements, you must be willing to identify where you are and where you want to go instead. Your results are the manifestation of what you project; consequently, how you think, feel, and act are reflected back to you in the results that you receive. The positive power of your intent will serve as an attractor to achieving what you really want.
2. How do you see the experiences and results in your life? It is easier than not to negatively interpret the results that we receive. Often many people see their daily activities as “have to’s” rather than “want to’s.” Being able to notice your perspective and how it may be negatively influencing you provides you with the opportunity to make different choices and look for the positive in a negative situation.
3. Do you look for personal victories every day? Sometimes things become so hectic that we don’t take the time to actually notice when we have had a success, let alone celebrate it. Taking the time to look for personal victories every day will increase your gratitude and help you to notice more of what is going right rather than focusing on what may be going wrong.
4. How do your actions contribute to your results? This question is about alignment. Sometimes we say we want something, but then our actions are incongruent with what we said we wanted to achieve. Taking a look at your actions is a great way to assess how your efforts are contributing to your results.
5. Do you take the time to contemplate, meditate, or visualize what you want to create at the beginning of every day? If you take the time to visualize what you want to create each day, then the actions or steps that you take will naturally flow out of that. If you get drawn into putting out fires before the day has barely begun, it is sometimes difficult to take a step back, breathe, and refocus your efforts for the rest of the day. You want to be very clear about what is most important and then prioritize your activities that day to achieve the particular goals that you have identified. If you can’t conceive it, you probably won’t achieve it.
6. How do you view time? Unfortunately, I often catch myself saying, “There isn’t enough time in the day!” This perspective adds anxiety and frustration to your efforts to accomplish other tasks. Therefore, it is important to realistically plan and then execute your plans. Do you plan and then take control of the things you can, or do you just respond to things as they arise, being tossed to and fro from one thing to the next thing? Living reactively often makes people feel out of control. Having a realistic plan is the first step in taking control of your time. Then whatever happens in the meantime, happens. We should view time as a friend and learn to use it more effectively rather than blaming the lack of time or your use of time as a barrier to your success.
7. Do you take care of you? I once asked a flight attendant what contributed the most to her success. She told me she would have to think about that and then get back to me. It didn’t take long for her to return and share, “I ask myself how am I living my life.” When I asked her what she meant by that, she responded by stating, “I ask myself, ‘What is the state of my health?’ ‘Am I eating well?’ ‘Am I getting enough sleep?’ and ‘Am I getting in a run occasionally?’” She indicated that if she didn’t take time for herself in these ways, then she had difficulty doing her job and feeling good about herself.
Your ability to achieve your desired results are dependent on a deliberate effort on your part to see where you are, to plan what you want to achieve, and then to execute your plan of action. Taking the time to reflect and honestly answer these questions will help you to achieve more of what you want. Using them to sound the alarm that you are off course is the key to quickly getting back on track and achieving what you really want. Happy New Year!!
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