10 Moves to Help You Stay On Your Game & Win

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. - Marcel Proust

How many times so far this year have you kept your mouth shut when you had a fresh perspective on a situation that would have added value to a conversation?

In what ways are you holding yourself back from pursuing something you really want to experience this year because you are afraid to fail or be ridiculed by others?

Have you bought into the “not enough syndrome” or the “imposter syndrome” identity in such a way that you've disconnected from the power of your true SELF?

I’m not denying that many of us are challenged with disempowering thoughts that limit us from having the courage to face our fear head on and demonstrate the bravery that's necessary to rise above these limiting stories and soar with our strengths.

What I believe and has experience is that too many of us don't perceive many of the actions we take as brave when in fact they are. Such as:

• Taking responsibility for our lives.
• Ending any blame story we tell ourselves about others.
• Speaking up for yourself.
• Being our authentic self.
• Establishing healthy boundaries in our relationships.
• Standing up for someone who isn't being treated fairly.
• Setting goals and creating a plan to achieve them.
• Being vulnerable to connect with others in a deeper way.
• Sharing our stories so that others can be inspired.
• Apologizing when we are wrong.

By not remaining conscious of how brave we have been and we are everyday, too often we think and believe we are not brave enough to do something that is not familiar to us, or something that requires us to develop new habits and skills in order to achieve a big goal.

One of the ways that we can empower ourselves to be braver as we move forward this year to new levels of well-being and success is to remember key moments in our lives when we felt fear, uncertainty and doubt and took action anyway.

One of the most common threads among those who are brave has to do with the following trait. In the midst of the naysayers, the haters and critics and daunting odds, when their passion for what they want to achieve creates a burning desire to bend their reality through consistent and effective effort, they are willing to be vulnerable and brave in pursuit of creating a new reality.

Instead of believing that their fate is beyond their control, they make a conscious choice to believe that their destiny is defined by the power of their choices and their willingness to initiate aligned actions in a consistent manner.

After writing my books, Lead to Succeed and Get Unstuck Now, I became aware of how many of us adopt this attitude that "I'm just doing what I have to do" without the awareness and connection of how brave we are. This disconnect from the strength and courage within our spirit that many of us just demonstrate out of habit isn't valued as much as it should be.

This dismissive attitude of our?personal brand of bravery?has too many of us playing small when we know we’re capable of more. It is this disconnect from those brave moments in our lives that quiets our voice when we should speak up and prevent us from sharing our ideas because we fear the comments of others. I believe it is this disconnect from our brave moments that have many of us living our lives below our potential.

What I Know for Sure

I know that by taking action towards a meaningful goal, no matter how small, consistent action fuels our intrinsic motivation. I feel that too many of us spend too much time focusing on what we can’t do and undervalue what we can do in most of the situations we face.

When we focus too much of our energy and attention on that which we cannot control it frustrates us and zaps our energy. We spend time talking about what needs to change in our life, our work, our family and community, yet, we allow what is familiar to us prevent us from initiating change beyond our comfort zone.

Unfortunately, too many of us have allowed fear to create a wall around our hearts, so we aren't able to create authentic connections with people we are not familiar with. We know showing kindness and compassion toward others is not just for the other person to benefit. When we are kind and compassionate toward others, we boost our body's feel good hormones: oxytocin, dopamine, and serotonin. All of which are great for our mental, emotional and physical health and wellbeing.

When we embody and express unconditional love toward ourselves and others, we expand our capacity to attract more of what we love in our lives.

The month of March is often when a lot of people who set goals for the new year begin to lose their motivation to stay in the game.

I'm sharing the following moves with the intent to inspire you to stay on your game toward the accomplishment of goals you want to experience this year.

10 Moves to Stay On Your Game & Win

I dare you to start initiating any of the actions below that you aren't currently executing on a consistent basis for the next 90 days to bear witness of your bravery and stick-to-itiveness.

1.Decide on what you stand for. Margie Warrell writes in?Brave, “Knowing what you stand for is the foundation stone upon which?bravery?is built.”?

Insight to Action - When you take the time to write down what your life will stand for based on your values and desire to make a difference, your efforts will help to build your influence and have impact from a place of genuineness and authentic power. This state of being will influence you to make powerful choices and take bolder actions to be in alignment with your authentic truth and power.

2. Expand your vision of what’s possible in this area of your life. A vision of new possibilities will expand your capacity to lead yourself and influence others as you make moves beyond your comfort zone into your courage zone.

Insight to Action - Expanding your vision of what’s possible in your life requires you to challenge limiting beliefs, assumptions or opinions that diminish your sense of worthiness about what you desire to experience. ?

3. Stop overthinking?and be decisive.?When you get in the habit of overthinking actions you felt inspired to take, you start to rationalize your excuses as to why you can’t do something, i.e., “It’s not the perfect time,” “We don’t know the right people,” and “I’m not ready.” These thoughts can cause you to miss out on opportunities and develop the habit of procrastination. Oftentimes, your efforts toward your goal begins to stall.

Insight to Action: Taking daily action, no matter how small, toward what you truly desire?in life prevents you from going down this path. Make a list of the inspired actions you've sensed you need to take toward your goals. Determine which of these actions are related to the area of your life you want to create momentum in for the next 90 days. Decide on which of these actions are necessary for the forward progress you intend to make in the next 90 days and schedule them in your weekly planner. Make them a priority and do your best to complete them as scheduled. Instead of waiting on inspiration, begin to take action on the inspired thoughts and ideas you've already had.

4.?Interact with brave hearted individuals on a regular basis.?The people you associate with have a huge influence on your mindset and behaviors. It’s easier for us to get comfortable playing in our courage zone when we develop and nurture relationships with like-minded people who are stretching themselves beyond their comfort zone on a regular basis.

Insight to Action - Identify people within your circle of influence that you see as individuals making bold moves and who you respect. Determine if you have common interests and goals. Reach out to them. Figure out how you can interact with them or others on a regular basis. Iron sharpens iron. Courage is contagious.

5.?Seek advice but never allow someone’s perspective overshadow the wisdom of your inner guide.?Great teachers and leaders help those they serve connect with the seeds of greatness within them. They understand that living a life of significance is not a cookie cutter process. They will equip you with information that inspires and enables you to discover what works best for you.

Insight to Action - Schedule time on a daily basis to tune out distractions to manage your time, focus and energy. And to get quiet and tune-in to the wisdom in your heart and soul.

6. Volunteer your time and energy toward a cause that's important to you.?So many people underestimate the power of volunteering. Their limited mindset would have them believe that because they are not getting paid for their time, there is no benefit for doing so. The opposite is true.

When you volunteer your time and energy to create meaningful change in the lives of others, the results that you experience from your efforts will boost your confidence, help you develop leadership and communication skills and build supportive relationships and develop new friendships.

Insight to Action - If you aren't already volunteering in your community in some way, why not let this be the year that you be about the change you want to see and start doing something about it? What's the best that can happen?

7.?Develop a personal learning and development plan.?Your capacity to be more and do more is linked to the quality of the information you use to make choices and decisions, and the effectiveness of your daily habits and skills toward the achievement of your goals. Developing the habit of lifelong learning helps you to sharpen your sow and discover new ways to contribute more value and create impact in ways that resonates with your soulful purpose.

Insight to Action - Make time this week to determine the following: Who do you need to become to manifest the change you desire to achieve in the next 90 days? What additional information and skills will you need to be successful? What do you need to do to acquire the information and skills you need to be successful? Your answers to these questions will help you determine the actions you need to schedule in your daily planner.?Remember, what gets scheduled gets done.

8.?Reclaim your daily agenda.?Your level of effectiveness toward the management of your daily agenda will play a major role in your ability to achieve the milestones necessary to reach your goals. Think about the vision you have for yourself. What routines do you need to establish to increase your effectiveness in planning this quarter, month, week and day? Do you normally plan your next day in the morning or night? What strategic activities do you need to take on a daily and weekly basis to accomplish your 90-day goals? Which activities do you need to stop doing to make sure your most important strategic activities take center stage this year? Where do you need to establish boundaries in your relationships? What activities do you need to engage to keep your mind renewed, spirit strong and physical body energized? As you organize your daily agenda, and schedule your activities in a daily planner, be sure to include the activities you’ve identified.?Focused and effective action toward a clear intention increases your progress and builds momentum toward a desired outcome.

9.?Celebrate small and big wins.?Any win that you experience involves a process of actions executed consistently over time. While you strive to achieve a?specific goal, be sure to make it a habit of celebrating your wins. Making progress fuels your intrinsic motivation. Celebrating your progress helps you to bear witness of the effectiveness of your efforts. Do not underestimate this action. It will increase your capacity to embody more confidence, generate your body's feel good hormones and demonstrate your commitment to showing up for yourself.

Insight to Action - Don’t wait for others to acknowledge your progress. Respect the time and energy you are expending toward your goals. Mae it a habit of celebrating your wins.?This habit helps you develop a “can do” mentality.?Logging your wins in a journal, daily planner or as a memo on your smartphone reinforces the positive effect of your effort in your life.

10.?Keep the BIG picture in mind.?Who do you intend to BE this year? What experiences will you have this year? What new relationships will you be intentional about developing and nurturing this year? What habits and skills will you need to develop to increase your effectiveness and productivity? What impact do you want to create from your contributions of time, energy, and resources in the lives of others??Your answers to these questions should be closely tied to the question: what do you stand for?

Insight to Action - Keeping the end in mind helps you to stay clear about what you stand for and the impact you want your life to have this year and beyond. Clarity reduces internal resistance and frees up your energy so that you can move forward with a quiet confidence built on a foundation of brave actions.

Brendon Burchard wrote in?The Motivation Manifesto, “When our hearts yearn for action and growth, we should care little about what society says is possible or prudent. Let us judge for ourselves what is worth the risk. Let us decide what progress really means in life, as it surely means more than inching along like snails. Let us decide to take our first steps without knowing how the journey will turn out. If that defines us as reckless and crazy, then let us accept that fate and celebrate the fact that we shall not be cowards.?Let us declare:?We Shall Advance with Abandon.”

In Conclusion

Establish an intention about what showing up for yourself and your goals look and feel like to you. Create and maintain a self-care regimen that keeps your mind, body, heart and soul renewed and invigorated. This helps you to remain passionate and committed toward the achievement of your goals.

Refuse to be refused. When faced with a setback or roadblock, step back and ground yourself in the truth of your wisdom, knowledge, experience, skills and habits. Then tune in to the intuitive intelligence in your heart to access insights to help you navigate your comeback.

Stay in the game. Play and have fun. You got this!

Thanks for taking the time to read this article. I appreciate YOU!

Success Becomes You,

Jackie B

P.S. Don't forget to share this article with those in your network who would benefit from it. Be sure to subscribe to the Empowered Mind, Empowered Life Newsletter so that you receive LinkedIn notifications when a new article is published.