This week’s question from our portal “Ask Us Anything” comes from someone who wishes to remain anonymous.
I have certain goals that I want to reach. I know the exact action steps I need to take, in order to reach them. I have the right information and know it works—now I just need to execute.
But I can’t get myself to follow through consistently. I’ll take the actions half the time… the rest of the time, I won’t do them. I wish I could have my mind straightened out . Or maybe have “magic fairy dust” sprinkled on me, to force myself to take the actions I know I need to take. Is that possible? LOL.
Hi, thanks for the question!
The closest thing to “magic fairy dust” would be to turn “following through” and “taking action” into a habit, so that you don’t have to think about it.
When you turn something into a habit, you do it automatically. Following through becomes a part of who you are, because you’ve made it a habit.
If you can’t get yourself to follow through or be consistent on something, there’s a reason.
Deep down, you don’t actually want to do it.
Ask yourself: “Why don’t I want to do this?” How can you get yourself to want to take the actions needed to hit your goal?
Who do you need to BE to take these actions? (That’s part of your identity and your belief in yourself.)
Whenever we consciously say we want something, but we’re not taking action on it, there’s often a subconscious reason underneath. We don’t want it bad enough.
We have a negative association attached to it, or we’re getting some benefit out of NOT following through. Or it simply doesn’t match what we believe about ourselves.
But to go back to your question—the answer would be to turn the action into a daily habit. Then you don’t have to think about it.
When something becomes a habit, you don’t have to question whether or not you’ll do it, or force yourself. You just do it. It actually becomes uncomfortable NOT to do it.
You have to change not only your habits, but also your belief about yourself.
Once you see yourself taking action every day, your belief also starts to change. You begin to trust in your own ability to follow through on something. This is as close to “magic fairy dust” that you can get.
Once an action is dialed in as a habit for 90 days—with no days off—it becomes MUCH easier to do it without any conscious thought. This is why I created The Elite Mind 90-Day Experience (TEM90) , to help entrepreneurs make successful behaviors a daily habit.
In TEM90, you’ll take DAILY action towards your goal, for 90 days straight—so that it becomes a habit for you. It works, because we operate on a philosophy of “no days off.” If you miss a day, then you have to start over. This trains your mind to take the goal seriously. It’s like, “Hey, we’re actually changing something here.” Whereas before, you might have been okay with missing a day—now you’re programming into your subconscious mind the idea of “no days off.” This becomes part of your new identity.
