Real Resolutions That Stick: Importance

Resolutions That Actually Stick

There are six pieces to the performance formula that I’ve been using since I was a sniper instructor to turn out high levels of performance; but, it wasn’t until I read the responses to the three questions I sent out to those on our mailing that realized the true importance of importance.

To understand this is… well, important, because if you’re after big things in life, this “Gatekeeper” element of the formula will make or break your ability to set and achieve important goals.

If you remember, the first...

...question on the survey asked you to assess the importance of your “New Year's Resolution” using a scale of 1-10.

1 = “My life will actually be okay if I don’t achieve this goal.”

10 = “I’ll suffer, die and cause others to do the same if I don’t achieve his goal.”

Would it surprise you to learn that only 14% of the goals listed were considered to be a matter of life or death?

We had things like increasing income, career changes, learning how to defend one’s self, eating a healthy diet and dropping deadly excessive weight assessed as low as 2’s & 5’s. These low assessments of importance led me to two conclusions.

First: We have been lured into and fooled to think we can use up the precious and finite space in our lives on unimportant goals.

Second: We are unaware of the actual importance of our goals and the real impact they’ll have on our lives as well as the lives of those around us.

Because we all exist in a world of marketing noise that really needs us to believe that we have an abundance of time and money so that we will purchase their products and services, we all tend to settle into a collective false sense of security in regards to our actual capacity.

We’re operating as if things like increasing our incomes, so we’ve enough to care for ourselves when the time comes when we can no longer work, or shifting to career that is aligned with our authentic selves so we’re not miserable and fatigued, or losing deadly amounts of toxic body fat that saps our energy and confidence are not a matter of life or death for ourselves and our loved ones.

Whichever category you may or may not fall into, it brings us to the first element of our formula. Importance.

Understanding or focusing on that which is…

...truly important, a matter of life or death, produces focus, power and tenacity in our lives. It also has us show up as valuable to others, which increases our self confidence, ability to lead and produces the new opportunities and resources we need to grow and thrive.

When we spend our time and resources on that which really doesn’t matter, we show up as foolish and expendable which creates external (others) and internal (self-image) assessments of doubt, fear and hesitation. And when the bulk of our time and attention is focused on the insignificant, people just don’t tend to take us seriously, which really just kind of sucks. Especially if we need to lead people.

When we approach a goal by first…

...assessing its true importance, we’re able to prioritize it by its impact on our lives rather than the impact on our moods or feelings. This “CheckPoint” blocks our tendency to set goals, make commitments and say yes to things that don’t really serve any purpose beyond managing the excitement or feelings of guilt and obligation in the moment. Goals and commitments generated by temporary emotions are weak, superficial and inauthentic.

You see, we don’t often fail at fulfilling our New Year's Resolutions because we are weak, incapable or lack discipline. We fail at these resolutions because the resolutions themselves are weak and incapable of impacting our lives or the lives of others in any meaningful way.

Most “New Year’s Resolutions” never had a chance because we were all put on this planet to do very specific and very important work. And unimportant goals just can’t compete, nor should they even try.

When you use this “Gate Keeper”…

...element of the performance formula and start dumping or blocking that which really doesn’t impact your ability to live a good life, you’ll experience an instant uptick of the time and energy, as well as an increase in the capacity and focus, you’ve been so desperately craving to deploy into your authentic self and purpose on this planet.

Consider how life will feel when others, as well as yourself, take you seriously, trusting you to manage resources in the most effective and loving ways possible. Think about the new opportunities that will present themselves as your capacity opens up to both see them, as well as seize them.

What’s Next:

Remember, it will be the last thing we cover at the end of this series that brings this entire formula together into something that will be workable for the rest of your life. But, where we’re going next is one of my favorite parts.

I’m going to help you understand why you have had certain goals, dreams and aspirations for years that have just never gone anywhere. I’ll help you understand why you keep coming back to them only to leave them sit unfinished again and again and again.

I’ll also explain to you why it’s likely that they will never get done, and why that’s probably a good thing.

Eric