3 Ways to Stay Motivated - Part 2: Take an Ax to Your "Big Issue"

If you read Part 1 of the article yesterday, then you will have identified your “big issue” and come up with 3 things you could do right away to begin shifting it in the ways you desire. Good for you! 

Now, you need to go a step farther. You see, the next major motivation-killer I see is either expecting that the issue will change overnight, or looking at the big issue and having no idea where to start.

Here’s the thing: Real, long-term change rarely happens overnight, and it certainly doesn’t happen on big issues. In order to profoundly change a major issue in your life, you need to actually change the neural pathways that are creating the problem. To do that, you need to set up a plan for success and then take actions every single day for 40 days to “retune” your mind into a new reality. 

In fact, this is one of the major factors I see in people feeling like they have failed in their life-transformation plans - they will try out affirmations, new actions, or exercises for a week or so, not see any changes, and give up. The problem is not with the person, the problem is that they did not go long enough to make the desired change.

Remember, the neural pathways that are tuning you into the “big issue” - or really any problem pattern or experience - have likely been set for a long time. To reset them, you must be consistent in doing something each and every day to create new programming. 

In order to do that, you really do need to take an ax to the big issue. I know that whatever your big issue is may seem so overwhelming that you do not know where to start, but trust me, you can start and you can create a plan that will allow you to accomplish this goal - no matter where you are in life or what you have going on.

So, what do I mean by “taking an ax” to it? I mean that you must chop the problem into little actions that lead you to your ultimate success. 

Let me give you an example. Let’s say that you want to create a business that makes 1 million dollars by the end of 2011. Put your goal date down as December 31, 2011. Now,  make a list of everything you think you need to do in order to achieve that goal. For instance, you will likely need to create advertising, reach more customers, increase your web presence, etc. For each area that you identify, break it down to small actions that you can take each week that will lead you to that goal. In this case, small actions might be  to create a Facebook fan page, create a webinar, create a vision board, do success meditations and affirmations (or, as I call them, retuning statements), work with a graphic artist to create advertising, and attend educational events to learn the most efficient ways to reach your goal.

Then, sit down each week and schedule your actions into your week. Once you do that, you will see that no matter what the big issue is, you can take small steps every single day that will move you forward to your ultimate success. But remember - it is critical that you actually schedule time for your actions. When you don’t, you can easily forget to do them or simply get pulled into other things and never get to the actions that YOU need to take for you! (You really are as important as anything else in your life - aren’t you??)

It doesn’t matter what your big issue is - you can chop it into little, manageable actions that allow you to make the long-term changes that you are seeking.

THE YOU WHISPERER ACTION:

Look at your big issue and put a realistic goal on when you would like to accomplish this goal or solve this issue. Now, write down all of the different things that you think you will need to be able to achieve this goal. Then, break those categories down into actions you can take each week to lead you to this goal. Finally, schedule time into your week to take these actions. And remember - it takes 40 days of daily actions to actually change your neural pathways and retune them in to a new way of life. Taking little actions each day for 40 days ensures that you will see the long-term success that you are seeking. 

Part 3 tomorrow!