To never truly fail in achieving your goals, it is important that you do two things. Every strategy that any good self-improvement writer or trainer mentions must have these two elements.
They’re not complicated elements. In fact, they actually some pretty basic principles. These are:
Getting up and showing up.
To an untrained mind, these principles come across as obvious and they certainly are. But have you taken the time to really dig into them? Have you really explored how just how impactful these two principles actually are?
Most probably haven’t. And in some cases they may have gone against these principles. I’ll admit that I’m one of those people. After all, there’s been a few things I’ve given up on in the past.
But by understanding these principles and what they actually do, getting up and showing up can do great things. After all, part of it has taught me to never give up.
Get Up
Were you the kind of person who loved sleeping in? Are you still someone who is like this still? I used to be like that up until I had to wake up bright and early and deliver papers at roughly 5:30 in the morning.
I certainly liked my sleep, but i got over my desire for sleeping in pretty quickly. In fact, it’s next to impossible for me to sleep in these days.
On the surface, getting up is merely this sort of idea: getting up early. But there is more to it than that when you start digging into it.
Getting up is the start of a ritual – a sequence of events that dictate the rest of your day.
What exactly do you do during that time?
Are you always waking up late and rushing out the door?
Or are you someone who has gotten up early enough and has had time to freshen up and be better prepared for the day?
What you decide to do will determine how you approach and view your day. Not only that but will determine how you view every aspect of your day. From the events that unravel during the day, to your work, and to the goals that you are setting.
To never truly fail, you want to be getting up and doing the things that’ll keep you motivated and your spirits high. These should be some of the first things that you are doing and should be part of your morning ritual.
For me, this is making my bed, brushing my teeth, getting into some exercise gear and going for an hour-long walk. During this walk, I talk about what I want to achieve during the day, develop systems to help me, and all in all keep my spirits high.
These set me up for my day as they give me a clear direction of where I want to go. This also is a good time to align my goals with the work that I’m doing. I’m ensuring that the work I’m doing is advancing me in some way.
This is what works for me, but for other people that’s not going to be the case. We all find motivation in various ways. We also find clarity by doing different things. Some people might like a quick work out session or meditation over a long walk. Others might like to write in a journal rather than talk out loud.
Do whatever you think you need to do in order to prime yourself to work towards your goals. Here are some other points to consider:
- The environment that you are in impacts the effectiveness of your techniques. It’s this reason why I make a point of making my bed since my office is technically my room. Make sure where you are working is clean and fresh.
- Make sure that you are addressing one aspect of your life you want to be improving on. For me, it’s my health which is why I make a point of going for a walk. Make sure that an activity you are doing will help that area in your life you want to grow. If it’s health, exercise. If it’s relationships or social skills, make a point of talking to your partner, kids, or a family member.
- Have one part of your ritual doing something you enjoy. If it’s the work towards one of your goals that’s great, but you can always go for something leisurely as well.
Show Up
Getting up is a solid principle as it’s the catalyst to everything that you are doing. It is the build up to something that I call showing up. Now on the surface, a lot of people think showing up is merely being on time and being present to various events or appointments.
In a sense, you are right about that. It is about being present. But not necessarily to various events or appointments.
Getting up is merely the motivation that you need to show up and commit to whatever it is you’re doing. But not just committing to the action, but committing to the person that you want to be.
It’s showing devotion to the process that you are putting yourself into. It’s believing that the goals that you are working towards are the ideal goals that you want to work towards.
Here is where you never truly fail. This isn’t to deny the fact that you’ll stumble and make mistakes and occasionally lose momentum. That’s only human.
But to never truly fail is to never give up on what you want in your life.
Your goals are merely the means for you to get there.
Showing up, therefore, is to commit to whatever process that will lead you to what you desire the most out of life: achieving the goals you currently have.
But how does someone commit that much to something like that? After all, it’s not a matter of being present and doing something haphazardly. You’ll make progress, but you won’t feel the work or achieving that goal will really accelerate you towards a better life.
What you need to do is to ask yourself questions about what you’re doing. It’s understanding where everything is fitting into your life and why it’s important to commit to those things.
So ask yourself these questions when you determine your actions. These will ensure you never truly fail:
- How does this help me long-term in achieving my goals?
- How important is this to me in my life?
- Why is doing this so important to me?
Asking these questions will determine how committed you are as the answers will bring out some immense clarity. How does it do that? Well it’s based on the depth of your answers.
If you are taking the time to make multiple personal connections and can really get excited for this sort of action then you found a keeper. If you’re struggling to find deep reasons or relying on what you previously told yourself, your heart may not be fully in it.
Regardless of your level of commitment, it’s still worth it to continue moving forward with it. As I mentioned in my never giving up, it’s worth exploring avenues until the very end. You may find your passion, and your reason to commit further the more you explore something.
Never Truly Fail
You never truly fail until you give up on something and learn nothing from it. Take each experience that has been in your life and put in as much commitment as you can. Get up, prep yourself for it, and show up to commit to it for as long as you can muster.
This process isn’t an easy one, but it’s an eye opening aspect and is the foundation to achieving the goals that truly matter to you.
To your growth!
Eric S Burdon