The Breakthrough Principles 1-31: Day 29: Principle 7 (2 of 3)

Let's assume success. The goal has been reached. Pounds/kilos of weight have been lost. Or Italian is being studied. Or work/life balance is being respected. Or margin is being chased not (just) revenue. How do you lock in that success rather than lose it as you de-focus a little from your goal? You need to make it part of a 'bigger purpose' and switch your focus to that. So: no longer weight loss but a healthy overall mass for your body shape, not just learning Italian vocabulary but getting an appreciation of Italy e.g. culture and cooking. Not just chasing margin but creating an overall viable business that might be sold one day. The bigger purpose doesn't let go of the tactical focus but it brings it forward into the overall picture of what you are trying to achieve.

TBC

The Story So Far...

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Whatever your resolutions: "venti to small in all hot beverages / re-cycle everything / enjoy the weather: whatever / clear my debt/ hug more / learn two words of italian every day; today pizza and scusi  /go to dance class / always be on time / read 'how to think like leonardo da vinci '/ iron shirts in batches of five / find out where Afghanistan is / help elderly people / switch off my blackberry once I am home in the evening / go to the theatre /travel a lot / learn to ski/ smarten up at work... " we human beings need them. We love growing. 'Success' isn't just about the goal, it is also very much about the path to achieving that goal. Success with goals=Res by 3. It needs a resolution, that's something you agree with yourself or maybe others that you are seeking. Many across the world will have set those today. It needs resources. These are things such as a good book on the subject, a note-book, going to class and inspirational words from great thinkers.

And of course it needs resolve, the 'make it happen' ingredient.

The breakthrough we all seek in any area of our Life occurs at the coincidence of Seven Breakthrough Principles. LIne these up, get them congruent and 'success' will happen. Here's an overview of the Seven Principles and future posts will pull out the details:

1. The Principle of Possibility. You can do anything but you can't do everything.What is it you really want? Do you really want to lose weight or do you actuallywant to start dance class which means you'll soon lose weight anyway? Doreally want to write a novel or are you actually looking for a fast way to clear debt? Goals are much more easily achieved when we have the right target.
   
2. The Principle of Picture Once we have the 'right' goal, clarity is all. So we do want to write a novel. What sort? How many words? By when? What's the theme? Clarity enables achievement.
   
3. The Principle of Project Who?, What ?, How?, Where?, When? and Why?.What's your time-line? Create not just a plan but a project plan to ensure you get your goal. On time.
   
4. The Principle of Passion There must be mental passion behind your goal. A 'need to' is not enough . It is simply not sustainable. There must be a want, a desire, a passion. Then you will lose weight, start your high risk business...
   
5. The Principle of Power And that requires physical energy, too. Day after day, week after week. Month after month.
   
6. The Principle of Persistence. Coupled with the willingness to be resilient to the highly likely early failures and frustrations. Truly understanding: no failure only feed-back.
   
7. The Principle of Purpose. Which will lead you to really understand why you want this goal. It's not about starting a small business. It's about freedom. It's not about losing weight. It's about feeling great again, 100% of the time. 

Seven Breakthrough Principles. Line them up on your resolution, apply your resources and you'll have all the resolve you need.

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Principle 1: The Principle of Possibility or you can do anything but you can't do everything. We are naturally advised that when we want a breakthrough in our lives be it language learning, promotion, debt reduction or  improving a relationship the first place to start is a goal. True? Well, sort of. It might seem an obvious thing to state but it'll only really help if it's the correct goal. New Year Resolutions are a good example of the clear and present dangers of off-the-shelf goals ('lose weight'), inherited goals ('youneed to give up smoking') and what-the-heck-it'd-be-nice-if-it-worked goals ('a NY Times best-seller by June 2010'). The difficulty is not only are we setting ourselves up for failure, we are also sowing the seeds for personal internal cynicism that 'goal-setting doesn't work'.

What's to be done? When a goal comes to mind, dig deep! What's behind it? This'learn Italian'. Is it for business, pleasure, brain development, stop you watching so much TV, so you can get an Italian girl-friend...dig deep. We want to look at the real possibilities behind this innocent one-dimensional goal. This principle TBC.  

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So do we even 'need' goals? Yes. We are goal-seeking creatures. We are wired for greater things. One sign of ill-health is when we 'cannot be bothered'. One sign of great vitality is a willingness to create something, be it a better team, new product or fantastic family. So create the goal, but dig deeper. If you get to the real motivation, success is much more likely. Do you want to write a business book or are you actually looking for a way to build your personal brand? The latter doesn't negate the former but if the latter is what you really want there are easier ways. Far easier.  Do you want to go to the gym or are you actually getting concerned about your health? The former might support the latter but it could also put you off looking after your health as It seems so painful. Dig deep into these goals of yours. TBC.

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As we conclude the First Principle, the Principle of Possibility, the key is to remember the first goal that comes to mind is unlikely to be the real goal. To say in your business 'we need more sales' actually might be symptomatic of needing a better product or being better at fighting the competition or being better at retaining customers. Saying 'you wish to read more' may be symptomatic that you find it relaxes you at the end of the day so maybe that is indicative of a bigger goal of looking after your state. To conclude Principle 1, of Possibility, it reminds all things are possible with attention. Think possibility with your chosen goals and they are much more likely to be realised. 

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We move to Principle 2: your goal must be pictured. Too many goals are implicit not explicit. They are vague, assumed and lacking in detail. This makes them much harder to achieve.  To get fit, start a business, be nicer to the kids.... It's hard to know what direction to take or what success actually looks like?  Take your goal and get explicit. What sort of fit? How will you know? What does fit mean to you? 

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Principle 2: Having a clear picture of your goal. Great ways to do this are to (1) ask all the Rudyard Kipling questions: who, where, when, why, how, what of your goal. (2) Ask sensory-rich questions of your goal e.g. what would it look like?, what would I be hearing? (3) Draw the goal. But above all make the goal as real as you can; your chances of success are then multiplied considerably.

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And the biggest benefit of Principle 2, of getting absolute clarity of what you really want, is that you may well find: you don't want it after all. You don't really want to move out of the city; you just want a change. You don't really want a new job, you actually want some recognition. And you don't actually want to win the lottery, you just want in and out to match at the end of every week.

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The Principle of Project reminds us we need a plan to reach our goal. We break our big goal down as 'write book', 'change career', 'learn German' is simply too daunting and hence action is delayed. Break the big goal down into chunks that can be achieved in c 20-60 minutes. List them.

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Take those fragmented big goals which are now much more approachable and schedule them into your calendar; this links the what you wish to achieve with thewhen you are going to do it. A wall planner helps with overview and to make it visual. Beware of planning systems which only encourage you to view the day or week; this tends to lock you into short-term and/or urgent.

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The Third Breakthrough Principle: Project. Break your goal down into brain ('I can do that') and time (15/30/60 minute) friendly chunks. Schedule them into your wall calendar.  Build in a little buffer time for small/large crises, needs to review and re-think. But overall, slowly but surely your goal will start happening.

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We all have goals. And goals are healthy: we are naturally goal-seekers. But wrongly addressed, they can appear to be tricky to achieve. The 7 Breakthrough Principles give a clear and easy strategy for ensuring success:

1. Possibility
2. Picture
3. Project
4. Passion
5. Power
6. Persistence
7. Purpose

We have addressed and understood the first three. With your goal you have explored the possibilities behind it e.g. not just starting a business but a new level of freedom, not just losing weight but a whole new focus on wellness. Then a clear dramatic picture of that goal has been achieved: sensory-rich and detailed. And finally so far a project plan has been constructed.

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The Principle of Passion.  Losing weight, writing the book, opening your gallery, getting promotion, lobbying your MP. It won't happen unless you have passion. You have explored possibility, you have created a picture, you are running a project. Now you need passion.

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Breakthrough Principle 4: Passion. But how do you get that passion? For your Spanish or swimming or strategy sessions? By getting intimately involved in them so that you start seeing results. By pushing through the initial plateaus and dips of initial failures, errors and frustrations. By pushing through the re-wiring that has to happen as you learn a new approach. And what if you really, really, really can't? It's maybe telling you this goal is not for you. Triathlon is not the way for you to get fit. You should be writing a thriller not a romantic comedy screen play. 

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The Principle of Passion. A goal does not need to be exciting. A goal does not need to be prestigious. A goal does need passion. Look for the intrinsic worth of any job. You got the worst project? Do it brilliantly. Still out of work following graduation? Wash cars brilliantly. Why? You will get noticed, you will achieve your goal and you don't lose the 'habit' of being passionate about what you do. And with passion you can achieve anything.

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We all have goals. And goals are healthy: we are naturally goal-seekers. But wrongly addressed, they can appear to be tricky to achieve. The 7 Breakthrough Principles give a clear and easy strategy for ensuring success:

1. Possibility
2. Picture
3. Project
4. Passion
5. Power
6. Persistence
7. Purpose

We have addressed and understood the first four.  With your goal you have explored the possibilities behind it e.g. not just starting a business but a new level of freedom, not just losing weight but a whole new focus on wellness. Then a clear dramatic picture of that goal has been achieved: sensory-rich and detailed. And a project plan has been constructed: a plan which has steps to success. And finally to date we have understood how to get passion harnessed and moving behind our goal.

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Take a break. Forget goals and the good work you are doing for a day. Take a break.

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The Principle of Power. No change nor goal can be sustained without some ooommph behind it: you need power. And ironically this may well be the actual change or goal you seek i.e to have energy  and strength and stamina and resolution. Are we going to get caught up in a Catch-22 here? Needing the thing you seek to get what you want?No. For the moment realise power=M+E+D+S. That's meditation+exercise+diet+sleep.

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To gain power behind your goal work on M-E-D-S. And to get M-E-D-S to work?  A little of each, each day. A bit of time out (M). A walk (E). Some chosen rather than grabbed food (D). Decent sleep (S). Slowly but surely the four will support each other  and it will become easier to e.g. walk for longer, have a more settled sleep, resist junk food. Then you have real power and energy to drive that goal home.

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The Principle of Power. Of energy, of focus, of concentration, of stamina. The M of M-E-D-S is meditation or time out. It could be a walk, it could be lying on your back in the park. It could be a classic 'om' meditation. But it does need to be a data input free period. No phone, conversation, texts, newspaper reading nor CNN in the background.Try just 10 minutes a day and notice the profound difference.

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The Principle of Power. The E of MEDS is exercise. Why is this crucial to your goal achievement? Of course it is good for your heart. Of course it makes you strong and fitter. But crucially fit people have a bias for action.

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The D and S of MEDS. That's diet and sleep. Without the correct fuel and with insufficient sleep our goal-seeking becomes torture rather than a pleasure. Eat for energy and wellness not just simply calories and fuel. Sleep to wake naturally not to the buzz of an alarm.

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We all have goals. And goals are healthy: we are naturally goal-seekers. But wrongly addressed, they can appear to be tricky to achieve. The 7 Breakthrough Principles give a clear and easy strategy for ensuring success:

1. Possibility
2. Picture
3. Project
4. Passion
5. Power
6. Persistence
7. Purpose

We have addressed and understood the first five.  With your goal you have explored the possibilities behind it e.g. not just starting a business but a new level of freedom, not just losing weight but a whole new focus on wellness. Then a clear dramatic picture of that goal has been achieved: sensory-rich and detailed. And a project plan has been constructed: a plan which has steps to success. We have understood how to get passion harnessed and moving behind our goal. And finally to date how to put power behind our goal with M-E-D-S.

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Meditate on these:

• I can do anything but I can't do everything.
• No failure only feed-back.
• If something isn't working, try another strategy.

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All goals need persistence. And so often the more important the goal to you, the tougher it will be to achieve whether it is promotion, getting into the team or discovering one's spiritual path. When we don't get what we want immediately that is simply an indication that an adjustment of approach is required: as a car reversing into a garage, as a plane coming into Heathrow. How could we get it right first time? This is new to us. Persist.

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For Persistence to work:

1. No failure only feed-back. When is your writing working?
2. You can do anything but you can't do everything. What do you need to dropto concentrate on what is important to you?
3. If something isn't working, try a different strategy. So the gym simply doesn't work for you. But maybe kick-boxing class would...

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We all have goals. And goals are healthy: we are naturally goal-seekers. But wrongly addressed, they can appear to be tricky to achieve. The 7 Breakthrough Principles give a clear and easy strategy for ensuring success:

1. Possibility
2. Picture
3. Project
4. Passion
5. Power
6. Persistence
7. Purpose

We have addressed and understood the first six.  With your goal you have explored the possibilities behind it e.g. not just starting a business but a new level of freedom, not just losing weight but a whole new focus on wellness. Then a clear dramatic picture of that goal has been achieved: sensory-rich and detailed. And a project plan has been constructed: a plan which has steps to success. We have understood how to get passion harnessed and moving behind our goal, how to put power behind our goal with M-E-D-S and to build persistence by the use of perception.

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Take a rest from this goal stuff. Then we'll go for the final principle and ensure you get the goal you want. Plenty of back story if you wish to review.

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We come full story. By now your goal is either well locked in or you're still floundering. But what you have gained is a more intimate understanding of this goal and what it means to you. We can now lock it in for ever, repair the problem which is throwing you off course or maybe even discard it for ever by examining our purpose in pursuing this desire.