Instant Confidence: The Power to Go for Anything You Want by Paul McKenna PH.D. (2016)

SECTION TWO

MOTIVATE YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS

CHAPTER 18

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Your Daily Action Plan for Success

Everybody’s Doing It

Years ago I was talking to Olympic Decathlon gold-medalist Daley Thompson about sports psychology. I asked him if he ever did any himself. He replied that he didn’t really see the point because he didn’t believe in it. So I asked him if he ever thought about a race before he ran it. He looked at me and with strong conviction said, “I think about every single step again and again. I know exactly what I am going to do and I go out and do it!”

“If all you did was tell a lamppost your goals for each day, they would still be far more likely to happen.”

MICHAEL NEILL

The same thing is true of any champion or top performer I have ever worked with—whether they practice these techniques consciously or unconsciously, they practice them perfectly until they become what they have practiced.

If you want to take your life to the next level that is all you need to do. In fact, just by embarking on a program of self-development, your life will begin to improve.

In the 1930s, a famous study was done on contributory factors to efficiency in the workplace. A team of social scientists led by Harvard Business School professor Elton Mayo went into factories to assess, among other things, the effect of increased lighting on efficiency in assembly lines. As was the typical procedure of the day, three groups were observed.

The first were given increased lighting as they went about their repetitive assembly tasks; the second were given decreased lighting; the third, or “control” group, were simply observed going about their work in the usual manner. What happened next confounded the observers …

As expected, the group with increased lighting experienced a measurable increase in efficiency and well-being on the job. However, the increase in efficiency and well-being was almost identically matched in both of the other groups being observed.

After further experimentation, the conclusion reached by Professor Mayo and his colleagues was that the single most important factor in positively affecting the efficiency and well-being of employees was the feeling that attention was being paid to their efforts.

What Gets Measured Gets Done

According to the American Society of Training and Development, the likelihood of you doing something if you agree to check in with someone for accountability rises from only 40 percent to a whopping 95 percent!

“Success is the sum of small efforts repeated day in and day out.”

ROBERT COLLIER

Similarly, by taking the extra one minute a day to track your actions towards your BIG goals, you will massively increase the likelihood of your success.

Here’s a sample chart you can use to track your progress. If you are wondering why I’ve only put enough space for five goals, it’s because if you have time to take daily action on more than five goals, they’re almost certainly not BIG enough!

Make a copy of the chart and write in your BIG goals. Each day, simply put a check in the appropriate box when you have taken at least one action towards that goal for the day.

While this may seem too simple to be truly effective, I cannot emphasize enough the power of momentum I have seen people create in their lives as a result of doing this exercise. Dramatic positive changes often begin occurring in only a few short weeks!