It’s May 5, 2020. I am living the most challenging time of my life. I have been a wandering generalist for too many years, failing to reach my potential.
But not anymore: Today I determined by my own volition that I am now a meaningful specific.
I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos with some fantastic content on many topics – sales, marketing, philosophy, religion, self-development, leadership – and I have been reading and listening to copious amounts of great information that has been sitting on my shelves.
Television is not much more than reruns of old shows and sporting events with some news tossed in. This otherwise sorry situation turns out to be a gift; had the NHL hockey playoffs been on, I would have been engrossed by the Stanley Cup excitement and not invested the time in myself and my business.
One of my guilty pleasures during the lockdown is to drive 10 minutes west of my home and park in an almost empty church parking lot that has a wonderful view of the Rocky Mountains. It has become my staycation sanctuary. I listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, go for walks safely distancing myself from anyone. I also have read, meditated, contemplated, and journaled.
One of the books I am studying – yes studying, not just reading – is Brian Tracy’s Maximum Achievement. In it, Brian says, “Success equals goals and all else is commentary.” (Chapter 5, The Master Skill.)
There is a 12-step process in Maximum Achievement that is like a recipe for success. In the chapter you’ll read about a couple who set out to do the seemingly impossible in a seemingly crazy short amount of time. Their goals included getting married, buying and paying for their dream house before they got married, have Reverent Robert Schuller marry them at the Crystal Cathedral, and have their reception on a ship, specifically the Love Boat.
[quotes]They came up against obstacles along the way, things like no money to buy the house, Reverend Schuller wasn’t doing weddings anymore, and the Love Boat wasn’t available for them.[/quotes]
They attended a weekend event, known then as the Phoenix Seminar. The groom felt that he knew pretty much everything that he could know because he was well-read and participated in events like this but went with his fiancé to support her. It was at the weekend event that they decided to go after their three goals: buying their dream house, getting married, and holding their reception on the Love Boat.
They followed Brian Tracy’s 12-step recipe to achieve these seemingly unrealistic goals.
Let’s stop for a second and look at the principles Maximum Achievement teaches. As you review this excerpt, notice the incredible power these two people put behind their goals by following the 12-step recipe. They activated all the mental laws and got them working in harmony behind a major definite purpose, their Why.
The 12 Step Recipe
Step One: Desire. They knew exactly what they wanted. It was intensely personal. They felt very strongly about it.
Step Two: Belief. They were absolutely convinced that they could have their wedding exactly as they dreamed it could be. They remained confident and optimistic in the face of adversity. They had complete faith that everything would work out for them. Perhaps most important, they demonstrated their faith by taking specific actions to achieve their goals, even when they had been told that nothing could be done.
Step Three: Write it down. They crystallized their hopes and dreams on paper, thereby committing themselves to them. And by writing them out in detail, they reinforced their desires and deepened their beliefs in their ultimate ability to attain them.
Step Four: Determine how you will benefit. Define the beneficial outcome from achieving your goal. They were perfectly clear how every part of their planned wedding, and their dream home, would contribute to laying the foundation for their happiness in the years ahead.
Step Five: Analyze your starting point. They sat down and took a serious look at their lives. They assessed where they were relative to where they really wanted to be. Then they made some clear decisions. Everything followed from that.
Step Six: Set a deadline. They picked a specific date for their wedding and then worked back from that. When they ran into difficulties, they refused to change the date. They dug in, as soldiers do when they come under fire. They refused to be put off by the initial resistance they encountered.
Step Seven: Identify the obstacles that stand in your way. They first determined that they wanted to buy a home in which to start their married life. Their main obstacle was that they did not have the money to purchase it. They began with that. The money for the home was their "rock," their limiting step.
Step Eight: Identify the additional knowledge or information you will require. They got busy and began finding out what they needed to know. They asked questions. They wrote letters. They took action.
Step Nine: Identify the people whose cooperation you will require. They made a list of all the people they would need to work with to achieve their goals on the schedule they had set. He went to work with his prospective clients and they jointly went to work on the details of the wedding.
Step Ten: Make a plan. Once they had worked through the first nine steps, they had all the ingredients of the plan worked out, like the ingredients in a recipe. It was then a relatively simple matter to put the plan together. With a complete list to work from, they had a unifying force for the next four months that brought them together and brought their goals to fruition.
Step Eleven: Visualization. They got a clear mental picture of what they wanted. They walked through every room of their dream house. They got brochures with pictures of the Crystal Cathedral. They watched services conducted there on Sunday television. They looked at photos of the Love Boat and saw it on television as well. Throughout the day, and whenever they were together, they imagined and fantasized about their perfect wedding and their ideal home.
Step Twelve: Persistence. They never considered the possibility of failure. They held to their dreams. They looked for ways over or around their obstacles. If one thing didn't work, they tried something else. They persevered until they finally succeeded.
[quotes]What happened to their seemingly impossible dreams?[/quotes] They achieved every one of them! And then, when all was done, everyone stood around and told them how lucky they were!
As a result of studying this particular excerpt, I am crafting my own 12-step recipe to tackle these COVID-19 challenges and emerge on the other side in the best possible way.
You can do the same if you are wondering how you can survive and achieve something in the current environment.
As I write this, I have started developing a “90-Day Flight Plan.” It is a plan for me and created by me to put the same 12-step process to work for me.
I don’t have any results from the 90-Day Flight Plan to share yet. What I do have is the understanding that being proactive, being a victor more often than being a victim, and taking responsibility for myself is my responsibility – no one is coming to save me.
Studying and consuming content that improves my resolve and helps me develop my skills so that I am able to transform myself and my business, is the best medicine that I have come across. This is an investment I am currently making and will continue to make as part of my Flight Plan.
When I get to the other side of this – 90 days out – I can and will share the outcomes and the challenges that I faced during this process.
You don’t have to wait to read about how my 90-Day Flight Plan worked to change your situation for the better right now. Get a copy of Maximum Achievement for yourself. You can buy a copy online, borrow from your library or check out Scribd*, it’s one of my favorite apps for books and audible books.
*Total transparency here, this is an affiliate link, if anyone uses it to get Scribed I receive one month free.
-by Phil Gilkes
