In blog #29 two weeks ago I introduced the 5 principles to success according to the NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) framework. They are:
Step 1: Know your outcome
Step 2: Have sensory acuity
Step 3: Operate from a psychology of excellence
Step 4: Have behavioural flexibility
Step 5: Take action
We covered principles #1 and #2 in that blog, so if you haven’t read it I suggest you check the archives and read blog #29 before continuing with this one. The link is below.
The average human apparently has 60,000 thoughts per day. That’s nearly one per second! Clearly we have no control over whether these thoughts enter our mind or not, our unconscious mind takes care of that. Most of these thoughts never make it into our consciousness and are overtaken by other thoughts and priorities – how often do you think of something you need to do only to forget it a second later because something else happened?
As with most things in life, we should focus on what we can control and not what we cannot, and that is also the case with our thoughts. Of the 60,000 thoughts we have, whether we ‘choose’ to focus on empowering, happy thoughts with momentum, or whether we focus on demotivating, heavy or sad thoughts is very much in our realm of control.
Some people ‘choose’ to believe that they have no control over their thoughts and are constantly worrying, in a bad mood, or negative. We all know people like this. If you are one of them, what I am going to write next is really important...
When we operate from a psychology of excellence we make a conscious choice to focus on the thoughts that will benefit us. Thoughts that help us to feel energised and help us achieve our goals. People who operate from a psychology of excellence are not immune to having negative thoughts, they just choose not to focus on them. It therefore follows that if we are to succeed in life it helps if we operate from a psychology of excellence.
Step 4 in the 5 principles of success is to have behavioural flexibility. What this means is to be able to adjust to your situation. In business this is often referred to as a ‘pivot’ which is when a change is strategy is adopted to address market shifts. We need to be able to pivot as individuals. When circumstances change, we should review our current position and strategy for achieving our goal (which requires us to use steps 1 and 2), and then make the changes that are needed.
Many people are resistant to change, they are comfortable with the status quo and with what they know. Change can be especially stressful for older people and those who have worked at one company for a long time which is then acquired by a competitor, often with a different culture. In such situations, the ability to display behavioural flexibility can be the difference between survival and termination. However, even in less dramatic circumstances, the ability to adapt to a changing world is advantageous and is an important step in achieving success.
Finally step 5 is taking action. This should be obvious; we will never achieve much if we don’t take actions to make things happen, however many people talk about doing things but never do them.
When someone regularly does this it impacts others perception of them in a very negative way; why would you want to have your results dependent on someone who isn’t good to their word? Sometimes we have no choice but to deal with that person because they are a client or an important supplier, however when we do have a choice it is human nature to gravitate towards people who do what they say they will do.
In order to make sure you are taking the action that is necessary to achieve your goals, it may be necessary to set triggers for yourself that activates when you are inactive. I will demonstrate this by putting myself on the spot. I am guilty of not practising what I preach when it comes to completing the writing of my first book. Despite writing the first 100 pages over a year ago, I have procrastinated ever since and there is no good reason for this apart from fear of failure; which is me focusing on the wrong thought and thus not following through!
I had no idea that in writing this blog I would finish with a public written commitment to complete writing my book by the end of 2022, however that is what has happened. Time for me to now take action!
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To catch up on previous blogs and make sure you’re not missing out on some great insights, check out the archives here.