To maximise your progress, recognise that your mind is likely to transform its beliefs about your goal as you continue to work towards it. Once you can see the path, you can take action to accelerate your progress along it.
Here’s the pathway…
- Want. The first inkling of an idea, the first rousing of desire that you want to change something. Many get stuck here, thrashing around with often conflicting notions of what they want to make happen. To move to the next stage, get specific: exactly what do you want to achieve and why? What evidence will there be that you have achieved your goal?
- Must. During this stage, your why gets firmer; motivation and commitment rise. The key to getting through this stage is thinking of as many consequences as you can. What will you gain from success? What will you lose if you fail?
- Can. This is where you build belief that it is possible to achieve your goal. This stage is far easier to pass through if you have a strong ‘must’. If you don’t, you’ll probably just find all the reasons why you can’t achieve your goal and then give up.
- Will. As with the other stages, this builds naturally from the strength you gave to the previous ones. You know you’ve arrived here when you suddenly realise your ‘can’ has become an inevitability ― you have made the decision to make it happen and you are totally confident of success.
- Did. Right, now on with the next goal with greater confidence in your ability to make things happen.
Plan well for these stages and find ways to move quickly and confidently from each stage to the next.
WANT | MUST | CAN | WILL | DID
The trick to this is making sure that you invest sufficient time and energy into each step rather than skipping steps. Don’t miss one out just because you think you can. Each stage thoroughly completed adds greater insurance that you will complete the path.