by Elaine Cercado
Discovery is the first step. Doing something about it – to develop and grow the power within is the next.
What do we mean by developing? It means critically reflecting, making a priority action plan, and then setting up for consistent execution.
First, critically reflecting. We tend to do things instantly nowadays. It’s quite hard to find that moment of silence and reflection as our attention span has decreased to 8 seconds according to a research done.
To reflect is to ask questions like:
- What did I do today that has brought me closer to fulfilling my purpose ?
- What can I do better, how, and to whom or with whom?
- What resources do I need to achieve these and how do I effectively use the resources?
If I apply these to even just one key thing, that is enough to start with.
I tend to be traditional in my reflection and write on post-it notes my thoughts and literally post it on my work desk or bulletin board – for work- or community-related stuff – and on the refrigerator for family matters. If I’m on the go, I write them on my mobile “Notes” application.
Second, making a chewable action plan. When my son was young, he would joke: how do you eat an elephant? And the answer was: you eat part by part, piece by piece.
To move forward, we need to identify the priority tasks, outputs required, specific timelines, and resources needed.
We gravitate toward our dominant thoughts through our day-to-day actions. Actions keep us moving forward , without which, our reflections remain thoughts, ideas or goals.
If my goal as a life coach is to take better care of my health, and I’ve identified regular exercising as one of my key priority actions, then I’ll sleep earlier to wake up earlier to be able to do my morning stretches and cardio. That might mean sacrificing a few things I enjoy in the evening like watching my favorite TV series.
Third, setting up for consistent execution. If the plan involves transformation, say to a new way of doing things to achieve a goal that brings us closer to a purpose, then the key is consistency. But how do we achieve consistency?
Let me share 2 personal examples, a successful and a not so successful one. Let me start with the successful one – at the beginning of 2019, my husband and I decided to attend daily mass at 6:30am at our Church. It was not easy for me, who’s not a morning person. Yet for most part of 2019, we were successful!
On the other hand, we’ve also said, as a couple, we will do a walking exercise every day for at least 30 minutes. But we’ve not been so successful in doing it regularly.
We are committed to both our spiritual and physical health. So what’s the difference? We have set up ourselves to waking up in time for the 6:30am daily mass. That included setting up the alarm for two of us, who have different sleeping & waking habits, and re-arranging our daily routines. It also included talking about it more between us and with friends, which reinforced self-discipline and accountability.
There you have it – 3 ways to develop the POWERinU! Pick one goal and one action plan now, and apply these. Try them! Keep growing the POWERinU!
You may also view in YouTube the Empower Bites 2 and the entire playlist “EMPOWER Bites“.
We invite you to subscribe to our YouTube channel “POWERinU Team“
