The D’s of success
Updated: Apr 28, 2019
Follow these steps to help you get started on a new you for this year!
Desire
Wanting a new life starts with desire. First you have to come to a place where you’re tired of the results you’ve been getting…you’re tired of settling. In order to institute lasting change a desire has to awaken within you. Whether it’s to lose weight, start a business or to overhaul your life in general, it all starts with a strong desire. If it’s not there yet, try to cultivate it. If you can’t cultivate it, you might be better off waiting until your mind is truly made up.
Discover
What is it that you actually want to accomplish? What goals do you need to set?
Ask yourself some questions and get clear. After you’ve done that, do your research. Find out what it takes to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Are there other people doing it? Can you find out what they did to achieve their goals. It is said that success leaves clues. Find people who are doing what you want to do and follow them. Youtube and the internet is a great place to start.
In addition to a journey of external discovery, it’s equally important to embark on an internal journey of discovery as well. Discover your personality type (there are tests you can take), identify your strengths and weaknesses. Know what you’re good at and where you might need help. For example, I hated working out and I’m more of a social person when it comes to exercise, so I asked my husband to cancel his gym membership and start working out with me at home. I’ve been able to stick to it and he and I are having loads of fun! I had to figure out what the obstacles were to achieving my goal. (In my case it was boredom and the social aspect). You can only do that through an introspective discovery process. Self-knowledge is the foundation of success.
Dream
After you’ve awakened your desire and are discovering what you need to know and who you need to be, it’s important to dream. Let your mind dwell in the possibilities. Allow it to expand.
See yourself achieving your goals. What does it look like? What does it feel like? Spend every day nurturing your vision in your mind through visualization. Speak and act as if you know it to be true and that you just need to go through the steps to get there. Impressing your subconscious mind with the vision enhances your chances of success. Do it all day, every day.
Discipline
Okay now comes the work. It takes discipline to achieve goals. Period. You can dream about them all you want but it won’t happen until you roll up your sleeves and take action. We live in a world that is very structured and ordered. Science can be explained with math computations. A woman’s menses comes on a monthly cycle to the day, the sun rises and sets month after month, year after year. If you look around at what appears to be chaos, underneath it runs a symphony of order. What about you? Are you disciplined in your day to day activities? Your diet? Taking care of your body? Do you have systems in place that will help you achieve your daily tasks with efficiency? If not, start there. Here's a scriptural reference…Christ referred to those that follow him as Disciples. The root of that word is the same as discipline. He was telling them, if you want to achieve this goal of spreading the gospel, it will take the sacrifice of discipline. It will take all that you have and all that you are because it won’t be easy, even though it will be worth it. The same is true for us. You can’t start and turn back. You can’t do it on Monday and take Tuesday and Wednesday off. If you want to achieve lofty goals, it will require that you organize your entire existence and sacrifice will be necessary. The bigger the goal, the more it will require.
Dedicate
And finally, once you’ve found the goal or identified your purpose or overhauled your life…dedicate yourself to it. Let it be the thing that drives you every day. If it’s a short term goal and you’ve achieved it, dedicate yourself to it until it expands into something bigger. Let’s say it was to lose weight…once you’ve lost the pounds, let it expand into a healthy way of life. If it was to get a new job, let that expand into using your gifts, talents and skills to serve others in a way you haven’t in the past. If the goal was to overhaul your life, now be an example for others on how to achieve it. Whatever that thing is, let it grow and expand into something that gives your life meaning. You’ll find once you dedicate your life to something, it will expand and grow into something more. If it’s a small business, dedication will turn it into an even larger one. Find what you love and give yourself to it completely.
I hope you find the D’s helpful. Feel free to sign up for my newsletter where I’ll share more tips.