The following list reflects on what I have learned so far during my academic, sporting, professional and personal journey.
1. Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone
It’s been very interesting to me seeing how society tries to “mold” everyone into believing what’s acceptable and what isn’t. But I challenge you to NOT listen to what they say and go after what YOU want! Even if it scares you.
It’s when we step OUT of our comfort zones when real success and growth happen, or else how would we evolve? We can’t sit still and expect results to happen. On the contrary, it’s a dynamic process where we must be willing to fail and make mistakes.
Will it be easy? NO! But that’s the beauty of it and what makes everything worthwhile.
Sometimes just getting committed to a training program like the ones at www.medpointfitness.ca is a great start!
2. Not Giving up When it Gets Hard
Think about a time where it seemed like everything was against you. How did you feel? Odds are pretty overwhelmed!
However, I want you to reflect on how you responded to the situation. Did you rise to the occasion? Or did you throw the towel?
Often, it’s a LOT harder to roll up your sleeves and get the job done. But to me, these are the moments that define success because only YOU have the power to choose what to do.
3. Enjoying the Process
I admit this one was VERY hard for me to develop. Being somewhat of a perfectionist, I often find myself not satisfied with my performance. At times it can feel like my work wasn’t meeting the standards I had set for myself.
RESULT? No progress and no success (based on my definition of course).
So, what changed? Well, I finally had enough and said: “you know what, I’m just going to focus on what I CAN control (my effort) and see what happens”.
The improvement in my overall performance was REMARKABLE! Not only did I have a lot more confidence in what I could do, but I felt that I was serving myself and others monumentally better. Now THAT is what I call success.
Success to me means letting go of the things I can’t control and simply being present. It’s the little moments that ultimately contribute to the whole process.
4. Acknowledging the Small Wins
The reason WHY I started enjoying the process the realization of the importance of small wins.
It was very challenging for me to admit (due to my stubbornness and drive to improve) the inadequate mindset of “if I don’t reach our goal on *this* day, then it won’t be as satisfying when it does happen”. THANKFULLY, I could not have been more wrong….
Even though I wasn’t at my desired “destination”, I started noticing that the process really is all about baby steps which eventually lead to the end goal. Each “baby step” is a DIRECT result of the day-to-day mundane efforts! It’s what I’ve come to know as imperfect action :)
It took me a while to realize the importance of our day-to-day choices and how they all contribute to the result. At the end of the day, that’s what success to me is ALL about!
Our Dietitian speaks a lot about small wins and habit changes. You can check out the Dietitians page here... www.londondietitians.ca
5. Doing What You Enjoy Right NOW
Doing what you enjoy can do wonders for our overall motivation towards a goal. Why is that? The answer I have deduced from my past experiences is this: Everything is a LOT more enjoyable when you’re having FUN!
It’s so easy to get lost thinking about what the future will look like, what your next steps will be, etc. but what’s most important is that we NEVER lose sight of what truly brings us joy. Where’s the fun in that?
The reason why this is the fifth and final item on this list is because I believe it’s an aspect of our lives that often gets overlooked. We often think that we must stay at a job where we feel “miserable” because it’s the only way we will ever be able to pay our bills. But I believe that true success comes when we let go of the status quo and go after what truly makes us happy!
My ultimate hope is that you can use this to reflect on YOUR definition of success and think about how you can make that happen. Remember, you don’t need a final destination, you just need to keep moving forward!
By: Danny Carrillo
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