Anybody working toward a goal faces similar challenges and complications.
Deciding to do something is the easy first step. However, persistence is the
problem that challenges us all. As I work with students and clients on a daily
basis, I hear people’s dreams and objectives all the time. However, moving them
from dream to action phase is the most challenging of all.
Sure, everyone wants to be successful
with their endeavors of learning a language, getting a job, or scoring high on
a placement test. But wishing for it and making it happen are different things.
The desire is the first step that should motivate an individual to take action
toward his or her objective. However, working for it must come next. Usually
this step is the time consumer, the headache producer, and the boring part of
the process. The actual practice time needed to learn to write or speak better
is hard to stick to. The drilling and memorization tasks that come with test
prep or job interview training also seem to wear on clients. In every case that
was successful, one thing rings true: the client stuck with the program at hand
from start to finish. The obtainment of a goal is evidence that the working
phase actually "works".
It is easy to get discouraged and stop midway through a project or course of
study. One way I encourage my students to stick with it and not give up is to
require prepayment for services for a set number of lessons or sessions that is
nonrefundable. This strongly encourages the students to finish what they
started. During my first few years working with clients, I allowed them to pay
separately for each session. This proved to be sheer madness. Half of the time
they never showed up for our meeting and never cancelled. Other times they
would skip weeks at time and then in six months become upset as they had made
no progress. I require clients/students to clearly define their goals and to
commit for short durations of tutoring at a time. The same method can work for
you. If you decide you want to learn to play guitar, for example, prepay for
ten lessons. Make sure you finish those ten lessons and don't even think about
stopping and asking for a refund. If you decide you want to start running, get
a friend to be your running partner and prepay them 100 dollars for ten runs.
If you fail to meet any running dates, you lose ten dollars per episode. These
kinds of self-created commitment lessons reinforce the universal truth that
time is money and money is time. Don't waste your time or others. If you want
to do something, it is during the planning stage you consider the usefulness or
validity of your desire to do it. Once you decide you want to do it, you then
leave the planning stage and enter the commitment stage. This is the working
stage.
Another way to help during the working phase is to keep a daily journal of
your progress. It is here in your journal you voice both your positive and
negative feelings and experiences. But whatever your write, make sure to always
end on a positive note and answer this statement with each entry: I am
doing_______________ because_____________. This will serve as a daily reminder for
the need to complete your commitment.
In my private life, I am constantly amazed at the sheer lack of achievement
and ambition among some of my friends. Their circumstances and financial
outlook are exactly the same today as they were ten or twenty years ago. The
reason for this is that they themselves have added no new variables and have
made no changes to their routine or methodology. Are they happy? I measure
happiness by how much someone complains about a given issue. If the same
complaint resurfaces during every conversation we have, I mention it around the
third time I hear it. I believe a friend should encourage an individual to
improve their life and create new opportunities in which to thrive in. The lack
of action enables a situation to continue. We self-create our reality by every
choice and action we take (or don’t take).
If someone is looking for a job coach or educational help that means he or
she is ready to explore the issue and find out the weaknesses and to find ways
to improve the situation through self-evolution. Self-evolution is the process
by which a person purposely chooses to improve his or her thinking, knowledge
base, personality, and ultimately the skill set for a higher performance
ability and more professional marketability in a job hunt.
How can you be more persistent?
a) Keep a daily record of your progress and steps taken toward the goal. (This
is a listing of the action taken and the time taken to complete it).
b) Keep a daily journal of your experience, feelings, and ideas about the
goal. This is self-talk through self-reflection.
c) Write, post, and say daily affirmations in front of a mirror as a
positive mental reinforcement of your commitment to the goal.
d) Schedule a specific time daily to do the work necessary for the objective
(to practice, do homework, read, etc.)
e) Join an online social group working toward the same goals you have.
f) Hire a coach to work with you to help you organize your plan of action
and work with you throughout the whole process.
Remember that it really is possible to achieve whatever you want to. Use
your planning phase to brainstorm ideas of what you want to work on. From those
choose the one that leaps off the page at you. Make a plan and stick with it.
Persistence is often the action that can make the difference between failure
and success.
June Narber
Charlie McGillicuddy LLC~Job, Career, Academic, and Interview Coaching
(919) 247-6717
