Here Are 9 Shortcuts to Mastery In Anything!

In my last article, I noted to set this up..."For the first 2 years of my over 41 years in sales, business, speaking, training, coaching (and whatever else in between) … I finally realized that there were no shortcuts … just shortages in my bank account and my levels of maturity."

Now, you may have seen these 9 Shortcuts all at once or piecemealed to you via videos, pieces of training, webinars, coaches, your team leaders and the like to get you to believe that ... "If you just do this one thing ... then that one BIG thing will happen..." Of course, that would be great and so is fantasy land!

As a coach and mentor, I have an obligation to tell you the truth vs. what you may want to hear. I get the lashings from my partners and yes it sucks to hear it [the truth] but I thank God that they see what I may not see or WANT to see.

The Reality?

I'm sure you'll agree that we have to face the truth about what needs to be done in order to achieve extraordinary results in business and life. The so-called shortcuts I eluded to in my title is not BS...and yes...to achieve those extraordinary results, does take hard work, going through tons frustrations, success, anger, and some questioning of yourself about what you're doing. The good part? It's ALL GOOD! No stress means no growth.

The 9 Shortcuts - You Have to Chop The Wood!

As I said, you may have seen the 9 Shortcuts, however, I have my own take on how I and those I coach have applied these shortcuts in our business and life. Although these are presented as shortcuts...you must do them in the order presented. This is fundamental to your achieving those extraordinary results as you apply them.

As the great thought leader Earl Nightengale said... "Most people want the fire but they are unwilling to chop the wood."

My friends, doing what appears to be easy now makes your life hard now. However, doing what is hard, pragmatic and fundamental now will make your life easy in the long-term. It's simply a choice... isn't it?

One final thought before you continue. It's on "the fundamentals." Like anything worthwhile achieving, there’s a beginning, a middle and an end.

We all would like to start out as masters, but let the truth be known, it takes some simple yet powerful, time-tested steps, a commitment to understanding those steps and putting in the “real work” to insure our dreams become a reality. The fundamentals tell us that if you want the success...however YOU define it...you have to chop the wood!  

So, as you begin to put the 9 Shortcuts into action …remember it's not 7, 8, 1, 3, 5, 9, 2 and so on. It’s 1,2,3,4,5,6,7, 8 and 9! Remember…It’s Fundamental!

Let’s cover the first 4 of 9 today …

1.    Desire – What is your Why? Your reasons? What’s on the other side of the bridge that’s pulling you in that direction? Are you willing to put up with and climb over the obstacles to get you there?

 If you have NO desire, then why the heck are you doing this in the first place?

 This shortcut starts with DESIRE! Do you have one?

 2.    Decision and Commitment – You must decide to now move forward with the commitment to do whatever must be done to achieve your desired goal? Let’s keep in mind that a “Commitment” is something we keep long after the time we made the original commitment! 

This shortcut requires a Decision and a Commitment…are you in?

3.    Formulation – “Clarity is power!” (I credit Tony Robbins..we worked for each other)

You Must: Not should ... You MUST!

• Create a clear vision for your goals
• Create a step by step plan
• Formulate by reverse engineering your plan
• Look into who needs to be involved with you (both personal and professional)
• What will you need to learn and from whom?
• Make an announcement about your intention to anybody and everybody (the universe)

This shortcut does require that you Formulate your roadmap…got it?

4.    Concentration – Taking Actions and Developing Habits

(Since habits take time to create… this stage may take close to 90 days before you can get to step 5…be patient and don’t stop!! (IT’S THAT IMPORTANT)

 You Must:

• Start taking action (get to work)
• Work with your plan (modifications or small changes may be needed)
• You get the ball rolling
• Consistency is what will be the decisive factor to take you to the next phase [critical]
• You’ll be doing a lot of work and see little to NO RESULTS
• This phase is compared to you being a hamster on a wheel

This shortcut does require patience, perseverance, and Concentration…make sense?

Your Actions: Dwell on these 4. Print them out, internalize them, check them off, in order as you use them and commit to the FACT that they are necessary before moving on.

See you next time for the final 4 …

Until then, make it a great rest of the day!

Mike