Success is simple but it isn’t easy.

Whether you are an Olympic athlete trying to win gold, a salesman trying to close a deal or a mother trying to bring up children, success in any endeavour will be dependent on the following four elements; your Skill, Motivation, Goals and Self-belief.

If we want to achieve more, get better at our job, perform at a higher level, sell more, develop better relationships, make more money etc. then we need to focus on these four elements. We need to develop our skills, create more motivation for ourselves, set some clearly defined, accurate goals and continually work on our self-belief. Here are 50 simple ideas that can help you to Raise Your Game.

  1. Go on a training course or attend a seminar to improve your skills. There are loads on offer and if you do some research you’ll be able to find one that suits your needs.
  2. Read an inspirational book or an autobiography by someone you admire. The best time for reading is just before you go to sleep as the information will stay in your subconscious mind while you are asleep. See reading list at the end of this article.
  3. Listen to an educational tape or CD while you are driving. Google can help you find 100ʼs of these and you can often buy them secondhand too.
  4. Watch a motivational DVD instead of spending your time glued to the negative news.
  5. Google the subject you want to improve on and read the top 10 pages. Be careful, 
there is a lot of rubbish on the Internet but there are many gems you can get there too.
  6. Watch some YouTube videos on the subject. If ever I’m stumped with a new bit of 
software I don’t read the manual, I get the answer within a few minutes from watching 
a couple of videos on YouTube.
  7. Ask the best performer that you know for some tips on what they do well. Top 
achievers will be more inclined to help you than you might think.
  8. Buddy up with a more experienced person and watch them perform the tasks you want 
to master. “Sitting next to Nellie” is a really effective training method adopted by many 
top organisations.
  9. Purchase some coaching sessions from a well-qualified coach. They should have the 
questioning skills to draw out of you the ideas that you are looking for.
  10. Set a reward for yourself that inspires you to keep going when times get tough – 
because, believe me, they will! Here’s an example: When I’ve achieved sales goal I 
will reward myself with a day at the health spa.
  11. Put a consequence in place – something you would hate to do but will commit to if you 
fail. Here’s an example: If I don’t achieve my goal I will go for one month without any coffee or alcohol. This may sound like a negative form of motivation but it is incredibly powerful way of helping you to stay focused.
  12. Tell 10 close friends what you want to achieve and ask them to check up and support you throughout the whole exercise.
  13. Send an email out to your entire database telling them what you will achieve and ask if there’s anyone who would be prepared to help or guide you. This will take some guts but you’ll be amazed with the help and support you can get.
  14. Set a goal that you can realize in just 30 minutes and then reward yourself with a coffee and a sticky bun for its achievement. No achievement – no reward!
  15. Set some small goals, things you can achieve in the next couple of days or weeks. Lifetime or long-term goals can be very daunting and are often too far away to keep us motivated all the time.
  16. Be very specific and accurate with what you want. Most people don’t have goals they have ʻto doʼ lists. You don’t want to SAVE money, you want to HAVE money. You don’t want to GET fit, you want to BE fit.
  17. Make sure that the outcome is measurable. There should be an exact point in time when you move from not having the goal to having it. If you can’t measure a goal you’ll never know when you’ve achieved it.
  18. Ensure you are setting an achievable goal – not just something you want. You may want to become the next queen of England but it isn’t going to happen. Believing that you can achieve something is much more important than just wanting it.
  19. Ensure that the language you use isn’t making you focus on an action rather than a goal – For example nobody want to lose weight, what they actually want is to LOOK slim or BE healthy. Our goal then should be to achieve a certain shape or a standard of health rather than lose a certain number of kilos.
  20. Make sure the achievement of the goal won’t screw up everything else in your life. We should always consider what the knock on effects of achieving our goal could be. You may be able to double your income but at what expense to your social life, your family or your health?
  21. Ensure you have a time limit for the achievement of your goal. Many people fail to put time limits on their goals and so there is no sense of urgency for them and so they don’t get what they want.
  22. Apply reward and consequence motivation to every goal you set. For example: When I pass my exam I’ll buy myself a new suit, however if I don’t pass I’ll give the $500 I would have spent on the clothes to charity.
  23. Make your goals public – tell everyone what you are doing and ask them to keep checking up with you. The more people that are keeping you honest, the less you will need to remind yourself of your goal.
  24. Write down your goals and display them on the fridge, next to your computer, on the bathroom mirror, in fact anywhere you spend a lot of time. It’s amazing how committed we can become when we write down what we want to achieve and display it.
  25. Do the things that make you feel good. Most people say that they feel good about themselves after exercise but often can’t get the energy together to go to the gym. Focus on the ʻpost exercise good feelingʼ and get off the couch!
  26. Dress well and take care of your personal grooming. Our self-esteem gets a boost when we glance in the mirror and think how good we look.
  27. Do a favour for someone less fortunate that you. This takes your mind off yourself and your troubles for a while and can raise your feelings of self worth.
  28. Volunteer for some work at a burns hospital or special needs event. When we work with people that have suffered adversity or who are less fortunate than we are, it puts our own situation into perspective.
  29. Donate some money to charity preferably anonymously. The best form of giving is when nobody else knows that we done it, that way we know that we aren’t doing it to try and get other people admire us.
  30. Write an unsolicited testimonial letter for someone. It would really make their day if one of your suppliers received a letter of thanks from you without asking for it.
  31. Focus on past successes and achievements. We’ve all had success in the past but we sometimes forget the things we’ve achieved or the problems we’ve overcome. Make a list of all theses achievements and add to it regularly.
  32. Remember back to when you did something successfully for the first time. How would it be if you could experience again that feeling of joy when you passed your driving test or you got that promotion. Well, every time you re-live that moment you’ll feel some of those feelings again.
  33. Do something you’ve been putting off. Most of us hate going to the dentist but we feel 
great after we’ve been. The things we don’t enjoy and so procrastinate over are a 
negative drain on us, the quicker we do them the better we’ll feel.
  34. Stop thinking about yourself and focus on other people. You’ll find your troubles seem 
to fade into the background when you think about how you can help someone else.
  35. Stop judging other people – they’re trying to do the best they can with the resources 
they have. I’m sure you can think of better ways of doing something but you’re not 
leading their life, you don’t see the world as they do and you don’t have their problems.
  36. Relax and get pampered. Ask a friend to give you a massage or spend a day at the 
health spa, not only is it good for you but you’ll also feel better about yourself.
  37. We can’t change the past so get off your guilt trip and focus on the future. What’s done 
is done and we’ll never be able to undo it. If you’ve done something you’re not proud 
of or you’ve caused someone a problem then apologise and find a solution.
  38. Say the following to someone you love: “I’m sorry, I was wrong, please forgive me”. 
When we hear them they are amazingly healing words but how often do we say them?
  39. Stop thinking about what others think about you. No matter how hard you try, not 
everybody is going to like you, in fact, some people will probably do anything to avoid being with you. You can’t control what others think so take less notice of their opinion of you – their opinion is none of your business anyway!
  40. Laugh – it’s medicine for the soul. Go to a comedy club, put on a funny movie or book a night down the pub with the funniest person you know. The laughter will create some wonderful positive feelings which will stay long after the giggles have subsided.
  41. Spend an entire day only eating healthy food. We all feel better when we’ve stuck to a diet of things we know are good for us.
  42. We all have skills and abilities that we are proud of so make a list of all the things you are good at and read it to your self regularly.
  43. Question some of the limiting beliefs you may have. Most of us focus on what we can’t do or the things we think we can’t achieve and then justify it by saying things like: I’m too old, or I’m just not that type of person. These things aren’t true; with practice you can achieve anything you want to achieve, so question those limiting beliefs.
  44. Read an autobiography of someone who’s achieved what you’d like to achieve. You’ll find they struggled the same way you do and that they had problems just like yours.
  45. Make a decision on the biggest difficulty in your life right now and then follow through immediately with the action you need to take. Action cures fear but procrastination causes the fear to get bigger and it’ll eventually paralyse you.
  46. Find a role model and copy the things that they do that you admire. If someone is successful at something then they’ll have found a way of doing it that works. Chances are, if you think how they think and do what they do, eventually you’ll be able to achieve what they achieve.
  47. Structure some positive thoughts to replace the negative ones you keep running through your head. Replace I can’t … with I can …, I’m not … with I am….
  48. What’s the big job you are procrastinating over? Do some preparation and then take some action. Problems rarely solve themselves so get off it and get on with it!
  49. Change your physiology and it will change your mood. Breathe deeply, stand tall, eyes up looking forward and walk 25% faster. These will boost your confidence and help you to feel stronger and more in control of the situation.
  50. Clean up, clear your desk, organise your closet. Chaos and clutter doesn’t help us to think straight and solve problems.

 

 

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