Hi there!
There’s SO much I want to say to you…which is why a few days ago I had to put off the “final” message as the time was just not available. When there’s a lot to say, much thought has to go into ‘how’ and ‘why’ and ‘what’ in order to get to the essence of what is needed. No need to be so excited I say way more than is relevant and you get far less!
But really C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S to YOU!!
You have achieved something significant; something huge and life-transforming.
Even if you have not done/completed the program as you would have liked…you took it on and continued to try. Of course you can always do a thing better…and that’s what THIS moment is for: Living life the way you want to RIGHT NOW. Right now determines the next moment and the next and the next…
I’m sure you noticed that each day I asked you to repeat some action steps: Three steps were always the same. The messages always ended with the same call to action, the exercises were all to do with taking action, even if to be still.
The reason for this? Habit is created by repetition; purposeful action taken consistently for at least 21 attempts or 21 days; as you probably already know. I wanted to demonstrate the consistency of thought and action by providing you with a template, a ritual so to speak. Rituals are powerful. Discipline is about rituals and consistency. Habits are only created through daily discipline.
I am interested to helping others create habits that help. 21 days of action is great but I don’t think you signed up to do 21 days of action, accountability and extreme achievement in order to be a person who takes action, is accountable and able to achieve at the highest level possible, just temporarily, for 21 days. My guess is that you want, at will, to be able to go after and achieve your goals at the highest level for the rest of your life. Even if you signed on just for a little extra boost in your already self-disciplined and high-achieving life, your goal was still not temporary excellence.
It’s my hope that you continue nurturing the following habits and continue to work on making them a part of your success mindset:
A) Remaining in a highly resourceful and empowered state by forgiving yourself daily for things left undone.
B) Writing your goals, creating action plans and ALWAYS being accountable…to your partner, coach and to YOURSELF! 🙂
C) Creating a strategy for responding to “mistakes” – see them for what they are: Material to learn from and move from. Learn from the lessons mistakes uncover and move from the negative emotions of guilt and shame by engaging your memories of success. Resist pessimism like the plague! It is contagious and pervasive [and so is success/optimism.] See mistakes as opportunities for growth.
D) Using the power of your visualization, imagination and relaxation techniques to nurture and grow your self-image regarding your goals in particular and excellence in general
E) Organizing your thoughts, your space and your life with regular systems of order and mental practice – declutter, declutter, declutter…
F) Deep Breathing & Stillness – perhaps I should have listed this one first? SO important! 🙂
G) Gratitude – when you set goals, be clear on what you already have and are grateful for – gratitude opens the pathways…
H) Growing your self-discipline muscle through daily work in the area under development
I) Walking towards challenges not from them – seeing them as opportunities
J) Planning for distractions – be prepared and ready to respond
K) Having FUN every day! Even if only for a few moments…laugh often
L) Being kind every opportunity you get and create
These 12 success habits will create lasting and profound joy, productivity, peace and love in your life. Guaranteed! 🙂
A little bit about ‘self-image mastery’: We all – us humans – have access to the same success apparatus – brain, nervous system, memories, neural pathways, the power of thoughts and emotions, etc., etc. How we choose to use it is what decides our fate.
You can choose to benefit from an automatic success “machine” (ASM) and not an (AFM) – automatic failure “machine.” You choose an ASM by having your imagination/visualization and self-image work FOR YOU and not against you. You feed it desired thoughts/emotions and engage those chosen thoughts/emotions in powerful visualizations and relaxation exercises to the point that your brain and nervous system begins to work automatically to achieve your goals even in the midst of chaos and inevitable obstacles – automatic course correction is one of the best benefits of self-image mastery. Your ASM has the ability and capacity to take you far beyond what you can even think about today.
Another word on Accountability: More than having a partner to check in with, you need to be accountable to/with yourself. When you say you will do a thing and only you know you have said it, be sure to honor your word. The brain and memory centers recall these episodes of accountability and ‘happy’ thoughts and memories are created when you do a thing you have said you will do. The opposite occurs when you constantly say one thing and do another. You begin to have a self-image of an Unaccountable person and there is simply no success (and forget about extreme achievement) with such a self-image. Honor your word and commitments to your daily activities and rituals.
Here are 4 parting exercises for daily excellence:
1) Take another step every day towards your ideal life –Do something specific. There is no knowledge without action. Don’t say you know a thing if you are not prepared to do it or act on it. Knowledge is doing.
2) Relax: As often as possible, preferably daily and at the same time, spend 15 minutes relaxing your body. A relaxed body leads to a relaxed mental state and attitude which enables you to better control your ASM. Learn more about relaxation techniques and meditation. Go deeper with this information until you have solidified this habit of relaxation. You will get to a point of being able to call on this relaxed state in the midst of chaos and urgent decision making. [A relaxed mind makes a much better decision!] These relaxation sessions will empower you; you will remember the sensation when needed most. Do this consciously – remember throughout the day the precise sensations of relaxation you felt either in these scheduled sessions, vacations or at other spontaneous times. The more often you call on these memories the more solid a habit of relaxation you will be creating.
3) Imagine: Spend a minimum of 15 minutes in deep imaginative play…daily – preferably at the same time. IMAGINE all the details of your success, see how you look, how you feel, what you will say, what others will say…let your imagination take off. See yourself acting, feeling and being as you aspire to be. Add as many details to this imagination feast as you can. If your imagination is vivid with details and specifics, this will count as an actual practice session and ALL research indicates that more practice does lead to better outcomes. Use your mind as a theater and put on the most amazing production of YOU achieving and celebrating and benefiting from your success!
Remember, visualize and imagine smart, visualize vivid, visualize in 4 B’s ►►► Big, BOLD, Brilliant and Beautiful!
We act, feel and perform in accordance with what we imagine to be true about ourselves and our surroundings so IMAGINE well. Imagine truthfully (no self-doubt or untruths allowed) and optimistically and yes, imagine powerfully.
4) Affirm: Spend 1 minute 5x each day – preferably at the same time, facing a mirror speaking out loud 2 or 3 of your favorite most empowering affirmations about you and your goal…By now you know what you speak to yourself, what you mumble and what you say has a powerful impact on your behaviors and determines whether you will achieve a specific goal or not. So choose wisely what you say. Create affirmations that are powerful.
I challenge you to take some time each week to create ever more powerful “I am” statements. Statements that will propel you forward and jump-start the imagination. You want statements you believe in strongly and you know in your heart are truthful. Say them with absolute conviction and power.
Speak and think your customized, empowering affirmations as often as you think of them throughout your day. And as you speak them, recall your many earlier achievements.
A bit more on affirmations: When you’re speaking affirmations you need to be a very resourceful and powerful state – the more potent and passionate you are the more you will BELIEVE what you are affirming. Of course the more you believe the more you will ACHIEVE.
And here’s another thing to remember: When you recall previous major successes and how you felt about them, try staying with those memories for awhile and enjoying the sensations of success and then, in THAT STATE of joy as you connect to previous successes, speak your affirmations with as much passion as you can muster. By linking your affirmations to prior states of exhilarated success, you are building on the neural links in the brain, making them deeper and literally thicker. Those affirmations are then far more likely to reach into your sub-conscious mind, having more impact, sooner with more credibility.
Relax, Imagine and Affirm your way into a successful self-image every day!
This strategy will create the space to exceed even your own expectations.
On a trip last year I purchased a small plant along the side of the road that had seen brighter days – a little potted coleus, with some broken leaves and weak stems – I love nurturing plants back to health! I didn’t have a small clay pot to transfer it to so I placed in a much bigger pot than “needed” – I thought. Three weeks later – so sorry I didn’t take pictures [not one of the tools I usually take to the garden :-)] the plant was vibrant and beautiful. It hadn’t grown into the big pot yet but it was healthy and had lots of baby leaves on their way.
That morning as I looked at it, the life lesson of dreaming big, providing your mind with a big enough dream to imagine, a big enough goal to excite you came home to me in nature’s way.
Give yourself the mental and physical space to truly blossom and have your talents multiply.
You have many people to help in this world, you wonderful extreme achievers :-). I pray you have done this program with an ulterior motive of service. To become better just to serve our own needs is hollow. Grab a huge purpose in life, like serving others and you’d be amazed at how much more motivation, resources and energy will flow your way.
I encourage you to dream/do big things, be kind and invoke the power of love in all you do.
Wishing you an abundance of love, light, peace, gratitude, grace and joy…. in every thing you do.
With much love,
Julette
♥~
P.S. This message is a part of the 21 Days of Action & Accountability – a free event. Day 1 was Thursday May 19th and previous preparation exercises can be found here.
Creating Habits that Help the World…