bythemethod.com blog

Path to nowhere

We always seek the path of least resistance to achieve our goals. However this tendency means that we seldom actually achieve our goals. It’s this search for the ultimate path of least resistance that makes us do nothing. You might also call this laziness I guess.

You see when we are faced with a problem to solve or something we want to get we tend to settle for the least amount of effort to get it. Then when we don’t get it we persuade ourselves that we did try but it just didn’t work.

In sports there are plenty of people who play sports who take the easiest path to prepare for the sport. They do the very least amount of exercise and attend the fewest number of practices and then wonder why they don’t win.

This has always been the problem with setting targets. You see when you set targets people automatically work towards the target and put the least amount of effort in to reach them. It’s not that setting targets is bad – it is necessary – but the target needs to be a guide and not a reward.

So how do you avoid this path of least resistance?

I suggest the first step is understanding that it exists. That the next time you set out to do something recognise that you will be tempted to take the easiest route and not necessarily the best or most rewarding route.

Personal development involves learning to seek out the best route and commiting yourself to achieving it. When you set your goals think hard if you will be pushing your limits, if not then set them a little higher.

There is nothing magical about making a new year’s resolution. If there were then we would all be fanstatically rich, extremely healthy and have very deep and wonderful relationships. It would be nice to think there was some cosmic world force that would make things happen for us just be saying we want it.

Sadly there isn’t. Even God doesn’t respond to the trantrums of his spoiled children as they demand wealth and happiness. I believe God does answer prayers but that is a subject for another day – or even another website perhaps.

Anyway if you want something you have to go and get it. One of those life lessons we all have to learn is that no one else is going to do it for us we have to get up off our fat backsides and make it happen. Fortuneately every now and then you will come across people who will want to help but they will only help you to help yourself.

Breaks come because people make them happen.

When you mkae your new year resolutions make sure you intend to do something about making them happen so this time next year you aren’t left wondering what happened.

Do you want to be successful? Are you successful now? What are you doing to make yourself more successful? It can take quite a long time for a plan to come together and during that time you need to be persistant. However if you keep doing the same thing over and over again then you will only ever get the same results. If you want something different to happen in your life then you need to do something different.

This is such a simple, yet important, rule that you ought to commit this one to memory.

Let’s say you want to be more successful in life. Well you will only get to be more successful if you do something different.

Let’s say you want a better relationship with someone else. If you always treat that person the same then you will always get the same kind of relationship.

Let’s say you want to get fitter. If you only ever take the same exercise that you always take then you will stay at the same level of fitness.

Let’s say you want to lose weight. If you always eat the same kinds of food that you do now then you will always be the same weight (or greater).

Let’s say you want to win a race. If you do the same things that you do now in a race then you will continue to come in the same position.

People who don’t get this basic rule tend to talk a lot about luck. They will say that they will win or be more successful if they can get lucky. They look at others and comment on how lucky those people are to be successful. Luck has nothing to do with it – they are doing something different.

So when you know what you want to do make sure you have a plan to do it and if that plan does not work then change it. If your new plan is less successful you can always return to the first or try another way again. But if you always do the same thing you will always get the same result.

If you lack confidence or your self esteem is low then you proabably don’t need me to tell you to improve yourself. You need to understand that you are better than you think you are – the vast majority of us underrate our abilities and how much people like us. You also need to understand that it is important for everyone to build a habit of self improvement because no one is perfect.

Read the rest of this entry »

Short term goals are excellent but to have real control you need a long term plan. Lack of control is a main component in high levels of stress. Gain more control with a little planning.

Read the rest of this entry »

Setting goals is not just a good idea from a business perspective. We also need goals to help us reduce our stress.

Read the rest of this entry »

Learning to set goals can change your life. There are simple techniques that can make all the difference to success. Here I outline the SMART system of goal setting and add a little extra of my own.

Everyone sets goals whether they realise it or not: how you are going to get promotion, your plan to lose some weight or get fit, preparing for your next holiday etc.

However we all know that just setting the goal is not enough. Many people have good intentions and make good plans but goals and plans have to be acted upon to be of any use and few of us are successful at completing our goals.

Read the rest of this entry »

New years are always full of good intentions aren’t they. I don’t think you really need to wait for new year to do something good for your life but if dates are important to you then here is a good place to start making some changes.

My suggestion for this time is to take things slowly. Have a good aim but understand that changing the way you think can take quite a while. Challenge yourself but make sure you can manage the steps. If the steps are too big you will give up after the first few trys.

Don’t punish yourself if you have a couple of relapses. You want a trend of improvement but you have to understand that if you are trying to break an old habit it could take some time to do so. Learn from your mistakes, pick yourself up, forgive yourself and get back on track.