personal growth – Alphadog Success

Perfectionism is Really Just Procrastination

Let’s explore how perfectionism is really just another form of procrastination. If you continue finding yourself locked into being a perfectionist, it will waste a lot of your time and energy. At a certain extent, the more energy you put into making something perfect, the less real productivity you’ll experience. Everyone has some measure of perfectionism within them. We set our own high goals and then push ourselves to achieve them. We have high personal standards and integrity, and that always makes us want to do our best. This dedication to perfection helps us get the results we want and enjoy the success that comes with achieving our goals. But perfectionism, in an extreme sense, has more negative repercussions than positive results. Some examples of how perfectionism aids procrastination: Math shows perfectionism can turn into procrastination. A bell curve is commonly divided into standard deviations. There are 3+ standard deviations in each curve, where each standard deviation takes the same amount of time/energy to accomplish. So, in order to reach 70% it’s 1 standard deviation, from 70% up to 95% is the 2nd standard deviation; and the 3rd only brings you brings you from 95% to 99.7%. With that knowledge, we can see that it will take us the exact same amount of time to get 3 products/offers to 70% completion, as it will to bring 1 product to 99.7% completion. Nothing will ever actually reach 100% complete. There will always be something you can do differently. This is why many large companies, like Microsoft or Apple, have been shown launching products at that 70% point, and then making additional refinements and updates as they learn of different bugs or issues. I’m sure you can see why they may take this strategy! Now, surprisingly, we’re not saying that you should stop being a perfectionist. But you should, however, be aware of when your perfectionist tendencies go overboard. Keep tabs on yourself so you can be honest when you are instead procrastinating by using the excuse of wanting to make something perfect. Always keep a balance between perfection and productivity, and procrastination will become a thing of the past! This starts by increasing your awareness and empowering your mind. This free course is a great place to start. You may also enjoy this blog post on the power of focus.

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Develop a Growth Mindset & Do Everything Better!

When deciding what new habit to pursue, it’s easy to look at all the things we shouldn’t do as a place to begin. We want to stop smoking or stress eating. We want to learn how to say ‘no’ or to quit spending so much time on social media. Have you ever considered the flipside of all that by building a habit that’s positive? What if the habit you formed was one of growth and personal development? Having a growth mindset positively impacts your life in multiple ways, so it’s a great healthy habit to build into your life. What are the benefits of developing a growth mindset? 1. You keep learning. Learning is important as you not only discover new ways to do things, but by making a practice of constantly learning, you develop new ways of thinking, and start having new ideas. Learning connects you with more of the world and helps you see things with a deeper significance than you ever thought possible. But more than that, people who stop learning very quickly become stagnant…and unfulfilled. Studies have shown that the practice of learning new things when you are older helps ward off problems related to dementia. In short, learning is good for your brain! 2. You expand your awareness. As we learn new things, we adapt and change how we think. That gives us the ability to see other solutions to problems that would have frustrated us in the past. In a sense, this expanded awareness allows us to think out of the box and become more resourceful. By challenging yourself to grow, you learn how to find new paths and overcome previously impassable obstacles. How about some more actionable benefits? 3. You learn how to embrace challenges. Growth can be challenging, and scary. But by pushing yourself to grow, that means you’re also pushing yourself to look at everything differently; your personal abilities, your influence in your life, the world around you is working for you, previous “challenges” no longer cause stress, anxiety, or overwhelm. An obstacle now becomes an opportunity to learn something new and to do things in a way you haven’t tried before. That’s exciting…not scary. 4. You learn how to embrace failure. When you’re interested in growing as an individual, you start to see failure differently. Everything becomes a potential lesson in a way that you didn’t think would work. For every failure that you make, you figure out something that didn’t work, and you are one step closer to finding the solution. On to the next one! 5. You become more open to criticism. By embracing a willingness to grow, you start to see that sometimes the input of other people has significance. You see their words not so much as something negative, but something you can use to develop as a person and learn something about yourself, or how you engage with others. You might not always like the lesson, or agree with it, but that’s part of growing too. Keep in mind: life doesn’t happen on your schedule, things are not always linear, and sometimes the lesson isn’t always clear…until later. Who doesn’t want to be…better at everything? By embracing personal growth, you uncover and fortify the best version of yourself. You’re able to become more than you ever thought possible, and then surprise yourself again by finding out that you can become more still. You’ll find that the furthest edges of yourself are far beyond what you thought you ever could be. To jumpstart your growth mindset – check out my free Mindset Shifts mini-course.

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3 Reasons Your First Step Is Essential for Success

”A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action. If there’s no action, you haven’t truly decided.” – Tony Robbins. For some reason, many people believe they can simply coast through life and still end up successful. They envision success, maybe even meditate on it, but never take the necessary action to reach the next level. It’s probably the reason why many people fall for get-rich-quick scams. Imagine doing minimal work and raking in bags of cash in return! If you really want to succeed, you’re going to have to put in a lot of time and effort to make it work. You will need to take action, consistent and focused action. Here are 3 reasons why taking action is important if you want to succeed: 1. It’s your first step towards success If you don’t take any action, you’re never going to take that first step towards achieving your goals. You’re never going to go anywhere. As they say, it’s always the first step that’s the hardest…but it’s also the most important. It’s relatively easy to choose the right goal and to make a grand plan on how you’re going to achieve that goal. But actually going out there and taking that first step, is when that plan actually begins. Many people have fun at the planning stage, but the moment they actually need to do something, then the reality will sink in. “That’s a lot of work,” they’ll say. They’ll start procrastinating, or they’ll start thinking it’s a bad idea. Maybe the limiting beliefs set in and you think that you will do it wrong, or that nobody will respond to you, or that you could even end up in a worse position than you’re in now…And they’ll just stop there. That’s all they do – just plan things, but never really take action out of fear or discomfort. 2. No amount of prep or knowledge compares with first-hand experience. When you take action, you will find out that whatever you’ve planned isn’t always going to happen the way you imagined. It isn’t always going to be feasible even. Sometimes, what you think something is may be different from what it actually is in reality; but you’ll never know until you get started. This is why being flexible and knowing when to adjust is so important. Your plan, no matter how long you spent on it, is still just a general guide – you don’t have to take it at face value – and probably shouldn’t. When you take action and go out into the real world, you find out what’s working and what’s not. You will improve your ability to go with the flow. You will learn there’s almost always another option out there that will help you achieve your goals faster, more efficiently, or with less stress than what you initially anticipated! But, with consistent and dedicated action, you are guaranteed to put yourself in a better place than you are in now, even if you fail first. 3. You will grow as a person Taking action is important if you also want to grow as a person. On the way to success, you’ll encounter so many obstacles, glitches, and challenges. Those are the opportune times to grow as a person. When you learn how to overcome all these obstacles: you gain new skills, you develop resilience, you become more patient, you develop a new level of self-awareness, and you grow as a person. If you don’t take action, you’ll remain as you always have been, doing the same things you’ve always been doing, thinking the same thoughts, and feeling the same feelings. So, what are you waiting for? Take the first step!

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You are NOT perfect...Just the way you are

You Are Not Perfect the Way You Are

There are more than enough songs telling us we’re perfect just the way we are. There are also many self-help books telling us that there’s really nothing to change. Lastly, we’ll find no shortage of motivational speakers or “coaches” who tell us, “You are perfect just as you are.” But, we need to set all that aside. In fact, if I wasn’t being polite I would call them lies because that’s what they are. They are actually doing you a disservice because the more you believe in that, the more you wall yourself off from meaningful change in your life. I’ve got some news for you. The only constant in life is change. That’s the only thing you can rely on occurring regardless of your actions beliefs or choices. It’s true right now and it will continue to be true long into the future. It’s a good thing change is the only constant in life because, with change, we can continue to grow and improve. Change is actually a promise for better. It doesn’t matter how small you feel, how defeated you think you are, or how incompetent, ugly, and desperate things may seem to you. With change, you can turn things around to create a situation you are happy, proud, and confident about. Life would be so boring without change! I once met a homeless man on the streets of Worcester, MA while I was the broker for an apartment rental agency and he said something that really blew my mind. He would come in for a cup of coffee or to use the restroom when the office was quiet. Occasionally, I would buy him or others lunch. Those conversations gave me an enlightening new perspective. He was a guy who just had newspapers as his bed and lived a block or two away from my office. He used to say, “This too will pass.” I looked at him. I looked at the situation and looked at how desperate things seemed for him. It didn’t take long for my analytical mind and questioning ways to arrive at the same conclusion. This too will pass… There I was wearing an impeccable shirt, a nice silk tie, and yes, I was incredibly connected to that homeless person. This was the truth that connects all of us. What we think our reality is will always pass because of time and change. Instead of looking at life as something that’s scary, or something we have to run away from, it’s there for us to learn to work with. Easier said than done though, right? How do we just change our perspective like that? What’s the best way to make a change?How do we make the deep and profound reality of change work for us instead of against us? Well, it all boils down to perspective and expectations. Choose your thoughts carefully because when you assume that you’re perfect you cannot deny that change always happens. Change is kind of like a fire. We can’t intimidate it or deny it’s existence. It will continue raging. burning. and marching forward. It doesn’t care if you acknowledge it or not. Sadly, when you think you’re perfect the way you are, you end up getting burned by change. This doesn’t just happen once. It will happen again and again and again until you learn that lesson. What lesson am I talking about? First, if you are assuming you’re perfect it means you’re less likely to want to learn or grow or adapt. I don’t care how smart you are. I don’t care how well you have it together. You need to keep updating your knowledge, skills, perspective and awareness. Otherwise, you will get left behind. Living in the Internet Age is both a blessing and a curse. Information is more readily available, but it also spoils quickly…Take the case of sales and sales training. You may have been at the top of the sales game ten years ago. But sales strategies from 10 years ago will only get you reported or ignored by people today. Unfortunately, if you think you’re perfect, you already know everything. It prevents you from learning what you need to learn to level-up. Assuming you’re perfect also means you’re less likely to want to adapt. Think of it like dodge ball. The world is chaotic and throws many dodge balls at us. We need to move, we need to be quick on our feet. But, to assume that you’re perfect means that you’re just going to stand still and get hit with one ball after another. Soon enough, you’re bruised all over the place and you are lying flat on your back, exhausted, rundown, and feeling stuck. It’s not a happy ending. Assuming you’re perfect also means you’re likely to blame others instead of taking any responsibility yourself. “They’re imperfect. It’s not my problem. I’m perfect.” Do you see the backwards logic of that? It’s sad on so many levels. Most of all, it’s sad because when you blame other people, you give them power over your happiness, your success, and your life. How so? Well, if they’re the one who caused the problem, typically this means they are also the only one with the solution. It’s time for a reality check! It can be hard enough controlling oneself. Can you imagine trying to control other people too? Forget about it. If Bruce Almighty taught me anything – it’s that you can’t influence free will, no matter how powerful you think you are. Life can be rough. It’s chaotic out there. But, the good news is that despite all this imperfection, there is beauty. There are sublime truths. There is profound peace and prosperity to attain, but you may need struggle for it. You should uncover it. You should work for it. You’re not perfect, none of us are. Life isn’t about being perfect – it’s about being real. By accepting your imperfections and never failing to adapt, learn, or grow…you’re setting

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The First Thing You Need To Do To Become More Successful

What is the first thing you need to do to become more successful? If you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking, “Okay, I will buy a book or I will sign up for some course.” Other people might think they have to find the right guru or mentor to help them achieve success. Those are important but you’re putting the cart before the horse if that’s your line of thought. There’s something more fundamental you need to do. There’s something more basic you need to attend to first. What am I talking about? I’m talking about beliefs. Pay attention to your mental inventory because until and unless you believe you can change, nothing will happen in your life. This is a powerful form of belief. This is the most important ingredient in the process of changing your results. You’re trying to become more successful, aren’t you? Obviously, if you’re not happy with the results you’re getting. There is the simple matter of changing your results. You want to be more successful but, you don’t automatically assume that you can change. Learn to embrace the possibility of change. Recognize its full features. Stare it in the eyes and let it in. Absorb it. Most people don’t go through this. They subconsciously assume that they can’t change. What happens? They buy book after book, sign up for course after course, take many steps, and end up with a lot of nothing. Why? They built their empire of change on a faulty foundation. It did not occur to them. Change cannot take place unless one truly believes that things could change. Did they truly believe they were worthy of success? No, they didn’t believe they had full authority and ownership of every aspect of their lives. Please understand that you should believe you can change because it is the key that turns the lock of that mental prison you’re in. You’re not locked in the past. Instead, the self-fulfilling prophecies playing out in your subconscious paralyze you and that becomes your future. You should analyze what you’re thinking and what you believe about yourself. If your beliefs are not completely in line with the reality that you want to produce, then you are wasting your time. What do you need to believe to become more successful? Start by believing you can change. Believing you can change means you can effect change all across your life by creating a change on the inside. This means greater power over your circumstances, greater power over your life, and greater power over your opportunities. Say to yourself, “I can change.” Now, repeat it again and again. After you’ve done that, I want you to come up with three solid examples when you decided to make a change. Most people can do this fairly easily because we are highly capable of change. If you want something basic, look at how you learned to ride a bicycle or drive a car. That is change. Why? Because at a certain point in time in your life’s history you did not know how to ride a bicycle, or drive a car. Then you decided that you wanted to learn, and believed that it was within your reach, then you made it happen. Find that point where you switched from not knowing how to ride a bicycle to one who can ride a bicycle. Look for these monumental changes in your life. It doesn’t have to be big. You don’t have to be a hero. It doesn’t have to be overly grand or dramatic but once you base it on the truth of how you’ve changed in the past, it reinforces the means that you can change now. Are you ready to change? If you’re ready to take the next step in your life or business. If you’re ready to stop feeling stuck, insecure, anxious, not good enough, or any other self-deprecating belief…then check out this free email course, or consider signing up with a coach. In this journey with Drew Kairos, you will get access and learn mental frameworks, mind shifts, and powerful successful training needed to unleash a world-class, enlightened, high-impact, abundant, successful entrepreneur. ~Wishing you success!

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