I have just started reading a book by John Maxwell called “The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth” One law jumped out at me and inspired this post. Maybe it was the catchy title, or maybe it was because it resonated with me personally. It was law #10 – The Law of the Rubber Band. A rubber band is only useful when it is under tension. The same applies to your life, if you want to grow and improve. Simply put it is says that growth can only happen when there is tension between where you are now and where you could be.
So ask yourself these questions:
Where are you falling short of your potential?
What goals haven’t you hit that you know you’re capable of?
What habits have you developed that are hindering you from moving forward?
What areas of past success have you stopped winning in?
Remember, change is the key to growth. Use your lack of satisfaction to get you started anyplace you’ve stalled. Be strategic to maintain the tension between where you are and where you could be by continually resetting intermediate-range goals for yourself. If goals are too immediate, you lose the tension when you achieve them quickly. If the goals are too lofty, they can seem too difficult to achieve and become discouraging. What is the right time frame for you to maintain the tension? Three months? Six months? A year? Set goals for yourself according to your individual personality, and then keep revisiting them at the end of those time increments. You want the goal to be just barely within reach—not too easy, but not impossible either. Being able to figure this out is an art. But it will pay tremendous dividends in your life.
For some extra advice on creating action-focused, performance goals for you or your business, check out an earlier blog article HERE.
If you need an overarching goal to keep you stretching, think about what significant action you could take if only you become what you could be. Dream big, and set this as your lifetime goal.
Get in touch HERE if you want help to put some goals in place for 2019 and beyond that with stretch you a little and get you on the path to a lifetime goal.
Andy Burrows – The Trades Coach