These are two of the principles John and George taught about at our Summit this month. As I have been pondering the truthfulness of the above statement and looking at it from within my personal life I have seen a lot of hard earned success and I have seen the formula for failure at work in my life as well. For some reason I am more focused on the failure formula this evening.
The book of the month is right in line with these principles - it is now out of print, but it is called "Success is a Journey" by Brian Tracy. One of the summaries says "As it happens, we only learn when it costs us money or emotion, or both. There seems to be no other way." It goes on to say the only thing to do after experiencing a failure is to look at what should be learned from the situation, to let it go and move on. If we don't move on, the formula for failure becomes exacerbated over time...what is the formula? A few errors in judgment repeated over and over...
I'm not going to sit here and outline all my failures, but I will say it bears serious consideration to recognize what the errors in judgment are and then looking at the lesson to be learned. The other thing George said was something like "the pain of failure must outweigh the pain of making the choices and taking action to succeed and/or you must be clear on what you want and the desire to get there must be greater than the temptation of making a temporary error in judgment." George went on to say that making the right choice for your life is not HARD...coming across the ocean on the Mayflower was hard, walking across the plains with handcarts was hard...making the correct decisions to exercise or prospect for business is NOT hard - "PUT IT IN PERSPECTIVE!"
One of my greatest failures is, of course, related to my weight and my seemingly endless errors in judgment and the resulting resistance to weight loss. I'm not alone, there are MANY people in the company that have a goal to lose weight. George is constantly struggling with his own up and down weight. He is not a heavy man or anything, but he consistently seems to struggle with the same 30 lbs - on again, off again. He had apparently asked the agents in the morning meeting to name one personal goal they wanted to achieve this year and several said "lose weight" - he immediately challenged them to an accountability contract - lose "X" amount of weight by March 31st or donate $1500 to the C21 Community Foundation; some of the agents committed to $5,000 including George.
So - first and foremost on my list of New Years Resolutions, yet again, is the desire and goal to lose weight and get fit in 2014. The first item on the list of areas George wanted us to consider is HEALTH.
Here are the questions we were asked to answer concerning each category:
1) What will be different this year than last year? I will set realistic expectations for myself. I will be patient with the process and I will NOT quit.
I actually have my own accountability contract with one of the agents on my Relocation Team - here are my starting goals:
* Exercise M, T, H, F for 20 minutes on the elliptical - wake up at 5:20 a.m.
* Write down everything I eat and calculate calories at a minimum 3 days per week
* Lose 1 - 2 lbs per week through March - this is a total of 24 lbs
These things seem doable and I have been pretty good so far. I have been trying to do one outside hike at least once on the weekends and I count cleaning on Saturday as exercise - lame I know, but I figure a few hours of vigorous cleaning is good enough on a Saturday. I recently organized the loft to clear out my exercise space as well:
2) What do I want? I want to feel more confident when presenting in front of a group. I want to feel good about taking pictures and posting them online. I want to be healthy and fit so I can do more active things with my husband. I want to swim.
3) What do I want to do? Specific activities like swimming, hiking, biking and cross country skiing.
4) What do I want to buy? New cloths, quality boots and shoes with heels.
I know I won't make perfect decisions and there will continue to be error in judgments, but, over time, I expect to increase the GOOD judgments that will turn into that hard earned success.
I Am Grateful,
HB
Quote: "your greatest success, your great breakthrough, often comes one step beyond where you are ready to quit, to throw in the towel. How badly do you really want it?" Brian Tracy
Awesome! I support you in your goals! I am excited for you. I love your workout space.....looks awesome. I remember that red octagon thing when it was dark brown....looks much cooler now : )
ReplyDeleteYeah....health. Feeling good. Eating a variety of nutritious new foods. FUELING MY BODY. Improving my families eating habits. Those are my physical goals this year. I want to experiment with what really drives me and gives me the energy I am seeking. So far I am having a BLAST! I will begin sharing what I am doing and learning....hopefully starting today. I hope you will be able to use some of what is working for me toward reaching your goals. Love you!! Stay strong!
One question.......why not calculate and write down what you eat every day? It is a pain, but seems like that would be a better way to track and stay on target. JUST SAYIN.
Great question - It is because in my "accountability contract" I wanted to challenge myself to do what I know I need to do, but I also wanted it to be something I felt I could maintain. Sometimes I make a Lasagna and can't figure out the calories...I tried once and it was very difficult - or I miss a few days and want the leeway to miss them. That's all. I'll look forward to reading about your successes. HB
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