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How to Achieve Greater Results

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In today’s Wisdom Note, I will ask you, “Why do some people seem to have the ability to get things done — to get results — while others seem to continually spin their wheels?” This is an interesting point to ponder. Clearly, we all have the same amount of time each day. We all have skills and abilities in certain areas. We all have the potential to achieve in our lives in some area.

As we study individuals who seem to achieve more than an average person, there are some common traits that reveal themselves. So, the question arises, “How can you become a high-achiever?” If we desire to be high-achievers, then we need to emulate, not duplicate, those individuals who are. The result-getters have three common qualities or traits: great self-talk, great alliances, and great ability. The complexity of these three traits is part of the mix.

1. Great Self-Talk

Great self-talk is driven by a number of factors including:

  • Your personal experiences – positive and negative
  • Your environment
  • Your personal goals
  • The price that you are willing to pay for your success
  • Your personal desire to continually improve
  • Your minimal concern for what others say about you
  • The love that you have for yourself

Together these factors will create in you something that most of us would identify as passion.

The question is, though, “Can passion or drive be taught or acquired, or does it have to be innate?” Many believe that you have to be born with passion. I, on the contrary, do not believe this. There are too many examples today of people who are fanatical and passionate after they have become involved in an organization or movement.

Even the conversion experience within a religious organization shows that one can become passionate about his or her cause. This is proof to me that passion can be taught or learned. If you are not enjoying the results you need or desire, positive self-talk is the first step toward results. What the mind dwells on, the body acts on. Positive self-talk will lead to positivity in your life. Negative self-talk will lead to negativity. Keep in mind, what the mind dwells on, the body acts on.

2. Great Alliances

Great alliances appear in many forms: camaraderie, friendship, partnership, networks, collaborative activities, mastermind groups, and mentorships, depending on the situation. The relationships you enjoy will affect your self-talk and also your abilities. Great alliance relationships are the glue between the first and third steps to results.

Building great relationships comes naturally to some people; however, it is a skill that can also be taught and learned. Some individuals are more naturally shy, so building great relationships may be more difficult, but not impossible. In fact, if you are shy, you will probably build stronger relationships, but maybe with fewer people. You must develop the skills to seek out and establish positive, mutually beneficial relationships.

3. Great Ability

Great ability is more than the sum of one’s God-given talents. Ability is the collective body of your knowledge, skills, experiences, and talent synthesized through your self-talk. The relationships you build greatly affect your ability.

Your abilities come from your practical knowledge and experiences. No one ever knew how to drive a car upon leaving the womb. Similarly, few people knew how to effectively achieve abundant and positive results when they were in third grade. These skills were taught to them. Ability comes from gained knowledge, and skills are achieved as you teach yourself, talk positively to yourself, and form positive relationships with others — paid or reciprocal or through trial and error. Trial and error is costly and time-consuming. It is better to prepare ahead of time.

You can be a person of influence, a person of results. As a Christ follower, I know that if I do what I am capable of, then God will provide me with what I am not capable of.

Psalm 37:3, “Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.”

Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”

Now that we have briefly looked at some common traits of individuals that consistently achieve high-performance results, let’s look at five practical tips that will have positive results instead of excuses for our daily trek.

· Right Things

Be accountable for doing the right things. This means the ethical execution of the activities that will actually support the goals you have chosen for yourself. For instance, if you are managing a team or leading a group or your family, you must model this skill by doing the right things yourself. You must then empower each person you are impacting to identify his or her own right things, and you must be willing to communicate about what’s working and what isn’t in an open, transparent way at all times.

· New Opportunities

Be accountable for managing your new opportunities. This means being willing to step away from things that are comfortable for you to make room for something that may be better. Yes, this is a risk, but it’s one that successful, results-driven people take because the return can be positive overall. Managing your opportunities takes time and practice. Sticking with old habits causes you to repeat many behaviors and initiatives that aren’t what you really want.

· Process

Be accountable for yourself when you hit an obstacle. It is inevitable that you will encounter adversity and setbacks when you pursue your goals. The question is “How will the adversities and setbacks affect you?” Will they keep you from making creative new approaches to attain your goal?

· Expectations

Be accountable for establishing the right expectations. The targets you set for yourself will have a huge impact on your actual achievement. How will you set the targets for yourself and those you impact? Will you set them based on old habits or what is possible? Will you set them too high, too low, or in the ideal zone where the goal is a healthy stretch?

· Relationships

Be accountable for your relationships and your contributions to them. The human touch in any relationship is the “lubricant” that makes communication possible and empowers individuals, groups, and organizations to accomplish great things. Without accountability for supporting and contributing to the relationship, there can be no true leadership, no effective implementation, and no result unless you are accountable for results.

So you need to “keep on keeping on,” as is referred to in Hebrews 10:35-36, “So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.”

Creating Results in Life

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There are some basic principles that you will need to adopt to achieve success and happiness in life. Additionally, there are some fundamental processes that will shape your reality, and you have the power to use and control those processes to create happiness, success, and peace, at least on a daily basis.

In life, we receive endless information input, or what we sense with our bodies. These inputs have a massive influence on our thoughts and on how we perceive reality. This perception of reality shapes our attitudes or how we feel about and relate to reality. Our attitudes have a huge influence on our actions, or what we do in the world, which ultimately drives the results and shape our reality. This reality then becomes input which perpetuates the cycle.

Using The Cycle of Success and Happiness

We have the power to take advantage of this cycle and use it to achieve goals of happiness, success, and peace. Each of these elements – inputs, thoughts, attitudes, and actions – can be used to our advantage.

Inputs

We can choose to place information that is positive and true in our minds. It should be positive and provide motivation to act in a proactive manner. It should be true or based on what is real and useful.Here are a few tips.

Do:

  • Read motivational, empowering books by authors, such as Stephen Covey, Zig Ziglar, and Jim Rohn.
  • Read sacred literature – the Bible.
  • Surround yourself with positive people who have similar goals and ambitions in life.
  • Listen to music and spoken words that are positive and uplifting.

Don’t:

  • Spend time with people who are negative or who complain excessively.
  • Watch mindless television or waste time excessively on the internet.

Thoughts

While our thoughts are heavily influenced by inputs, we can still choose what we think about. We are constantly “talking to ourselves” in our minds. Our minds are always thinking, and we can choose what we think about and how we think about it. Tips for creating empowering thoughts include:

Do:

  • Choose thoughts and beliefs that empower you.
  • Choose thoughts that bring success and happiness to you and to others.
  • Choose thoughts that are positive, true, and hopeful.

Don’t:

  • Dwell on negative things.
  • Ignore negative things, but live proactively to overcome them.
  • Focus your thoughts on the things you cannot control.
  • Focus your thoughts on things that will bring negative results.

Attitudes

Although attitudes are heavily influenced by our thoughts, we have the capacity to consciously choose a positive, self-sustaining attitude. By controlling attitudes through consistent efforts (and trial and error), we will find that our actions are more proactive and bring greater results.

Do:

  • Have a positive attitude about life.
  • Have a positive attitude about yourself.
  • Expose your mind to people and media that infuse a healthy, positive attitude into your mind.

Don’t:

  • Focus on the negative or on things that you cannot control.
  • Watch too much news or be exposed to people and media that are overtly negative.

Disciplined Action

Our actions are the most vital component to success and happiness in life. We must align our actions and habits with the results we want and realize we have the power to control our actions and habits. Habits are the vehicle through which success is attained.

Do:

  • Focus your actions on those that will bring you positive, lasting results in your life. This usually entails work of some kind.

Don’t:

  • Waste time or energy on habits that limit personal success, growth, and happiness.
  • Include addictive habits and gross time-wasters such as mindless television or internet.

By taking control of each of these components in our lives, we have the power to create the results we desire – success, happiness, peace, or whatever outcome we desire.

We don’t always have control over the inputs in our lives, but we do have control over our thoughts. From our thoughts come our attitudes and from our attitudes our actions, which will eventually affect the input in our lives. That is why it is important to “fix our thoughts” and follow the encouragement in Philippians 4:8, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

This view certainly isn’t absolute. Input from the environment and people we are in and around greatly affect our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. But, viewing the world according to the process described above focuses our energy on the things that we can control. It enables us to take control of our personal habits and to begin to move forward toward our desired goals. I welcome any input or feedback that you desire to share.

In our next Wisdom Note, we will explore how to remove the pebble from your boot.