Aim Higher, Achieve More

HOW high are you aiming and more importantly, what target are you aiming for?

With many students returning back to school or further education, some may be feeling anxious with the challenges and stresses that lie ahead, my article this month is with them in mind, although it most certainly applies to us all when it comes to following our dreams, achieving our goals and succeeding in things we may never have thought possible before.

Author, Norman Vincent Peale once said; “shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

But all too often our dreams remain just dreams as we believe they are too far out of our reach and therefore perceived by many of us impossible. We feel more at ease remaining in our comfort zone and aiming and shooting for the things we feel we ‘can’ achieve. We keep ourselves small, we play small, think small and therefore achieve small results. The pattern continues as the lack of belief in our abilities quietly prevails bringing us straight back down to earth. Those little fires of hope are soon extinguished when they try to re-ignite any notion of that dream becoming a reality.

So, what’s the answer, what do we need to do to dismiss those moments of doubt when they arise and all too often consume us?

The first step in breaking the mould and eradicating this all too familiar pattern of behaviour is to start the practice of changing your self-image.  This isn’t always an easy task because our self-image is constantly running in the background without consciousness.

It only decides to remind us once we’re challenged with something out of our comfort zone. That little voice will say to us ‘I can’t do this.’ ‘I’m not good enough.’

It creates such an impression and a very believable reminder convincing us that it knows best.

The way to tackle this is to start editing that self-image. Create an image of success, belief and faith in yourself until it becomes more powerful than the current image. It’s a battle we can all win if we decide to practise doing, however, never forget to be kind and patient with yourself.  All habits can be broken and so can self-image.

It takes as much energy to see yourself succeeding as it does failing so why waste your energy on something that does not serve you to its best ability.

It is time to aim higher and think bigger and believe that you are the person who can do it, not anyone else. Yes, you!  To change a situation, you need to change yourself as that’s where the power lies. Those disempowering negative feelings are certainly real but the belief around them that we alone created, is not.

A little trick is to know that ‘a positive thought starves any emotion created by a negative thought.’

If you can stop feeding your mind with negative thoughts and replace them with thoughts and images of success, it will soon diminish becoming weaker each time it tries.

So, with the tools to have a new found belief in yourself, you now have a reason to aim that little higher. If you shoot and miss then keep shooting as practice makes progress, which is the path to reaching where you wish to be.

Our lives are based on the results of the choices we make, therefore, make the choice to change the most important person in your life, you.

Rob Shallis – www.robshallis.com

Robert Shallis’ opinions are his own and are not necessarily representative of those of the publishers, advertisers or sponsors.