Daily Boost — Motivation and Personal Growth

Beyond Your Why

Since the beginning of time, successful people have given this sage advice; you must set goals. 

In the human mind, setting goals are the heartbeat of your life. Setting a goal will harness your focus, give you meaning and purpose, and drive you forward. It gets even better if you place a deadline. If your goal is essential, timely, urgent, you will likely do anything possible to get it.

Yes, likely. 

You may have also heard that understanding WHY you want to achieve your goal is critical to your success. "Knowing your WHY will allow you to deal with every challenge along the way,” is what they said. But sometimes, you fall short. Losing weight is a good example.

Every year, millions of people set the goal of losing a few pounds. Most end up failing. But if you think about it, that makes sense. Nobody ever wants to lose anything. That's against every survival instinct you have in your body. When you set a goal that takes something away, your mind will fight you every step of the way. 

So what's the fix?

If your goal is to lose 10 pounds, focus on the real reason and the benefits you will receive when you reach your goal. That will become your mission beyond your why.

It's not losing weight. It's feeling better inside and out.

It's not losing weight. It's building your self-confidence.

It's not losing weight. It's having unlimited energy and stamina.

Any goal that focuses on loss alone lacks the positive motivation you need to succeed. No matter how bad you want it. 

When you think about your daily process as steps on a mission beyond your why, everything changes. More success and happiness are in your future, and your possibilities are endless. 

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Goal, Pilots, and Donuts

Have you noticed that airplanes fly crooked?

Heading to their destination, winds attempt to blow them off course. That’s why pilots turn their aircraft into the wind. They call it Wind Correction.

The same thing happens when you set a Goal. While you prefer the straight path, you will likely run into winds that will blow you off course.

Your spouse disagrees with your plans. Your boss demands more hours. Your kids, friends, and responsibilities keep blowing you further away from your dreams.

It’s time to start thinking like a pilot setting a flight plan to a distant city with a Kristy Kreme donut store about to turn in the ‘Hot Donuts’ sign.

Keep an eye on your final destination. Always set goals that factor in winds that will blow you off your course. Make minor corrections until you get where you’re heading.

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Common Sense Laws of Success

Everything we do is guided by what we think is logical in our minds. I call my way of thinking Scott LOGIC.

Is it common sense? Is it experience-based? Is it how I choose to live? Yes. But mostly, it is an endless list of thoughts that make my day better. Here are a few that will no doubt do the same for you.

Life is long enough. But not for everybody. Recognize the difference.

Life goes quickly unless you are bored. Stay busy.

Life passes slowly when you are going fishing tomorrow. 

Some people are too serious. Others are not serious enough. You get to choose who you are.

Standing in another person's shoes before opening your mouth a best.

 When you turn your phone off, it won't ring.

Most things in life should be in moderation. Excess is good now and then.

It takes a fraction of the time to read a good book than to write a book. That makes reading a book a good investment of your time.

People who read more earn more. People who don't read don't understand why.

Saying "I don't care" means you do care. Do you know what that is?

Everything you experience is filtered through what you hold as the truth. Make sure you are correct in your thoughts.

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It's Time to Get Off The Fence

Okay, I'm feeling a little bit lazy today, so I will cut to the chase and bestow upon you the secret to success you've been seeking.

Success requires that you do the hard work.

It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that if you want more, you will have to do something to get it. Still, we live in a world that makes it seem like it should be easier, and it's not. Success takes a lot of hard work - even if you don't see it.

Successful YouTubers make it look easy - after thousands of hours of trial and error.

Musicians seemingly live their dream - after years of living in a tour bus and making pennies.

Even people who do nothing but accept the generosity of society to make their way are working hard at a life you would never want.

It doesn't matter what you want, good or bad, prosperous or not, happy or sad; it will take a lot of work to accomplish it. If you have a choice, and you do, why wouldn't you choose to work hard to bring goodness into your life?

You become interested in making a change. The problem is interest is only the beginning, and you never get beyond your fascination.

You decide what change to create and work hard to get it. Then, life gets in the way, and you stop.

What's missing?

Commitment. Life doesn't guarantee it, but you tend to get what you want when you commit to your mission. That's just how it works.

I'm interested in many things and work hard at making magic happen in my life, the lives of my family and friends, and even yours. Only a solid commitment to how I spend my decades on this planet allows that to happen.

Whatever you do - get committed, and you'll see how things change.

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Empowering Emotional Triggers

I love it when we miraculously put together the perfect day, and life decides to get in the way. 

Well, it's not life, and maybe I don't love it, but occasionally, something or someone will cross your path and get in your way.

I don't know anybody who doesn't get hit smack in the face with a situation that triggers a feeling deep inside their soul, stirs emotion, and results in a reaction or response that makes you say, "Why did I say that?"

Of course, we are emotional creatures, so it makes sense that robust emotional responses are common for most of us. Still, common sense will tell you they don't always serve us. It gets even worse when people sedate their emotions to protect themselves. Not only do they miss great opportunities, but when they are triggered, it becomes an 8.0 earthquake.

So, how do you deal with it?

The way I handle it is to understand that triggers usually happen when I least expect them. Still, my ScottLOGIC tells me that once I experience the trigger and learn the lesson, a little discipline in my actions tends to smooth things out the next time. 

Here's what happens.

When I get triggered, a feeling emerges inside of me. Like me, the problem is that most folks jump from a feeling to an emotional response before their mouth knows what's happening. A better way is to recognize the feeling, pause, review the emotional dialog running in your mind, and then allow your thoughts to become your words. 

Life improves when you have the discipline to recognize what you've learned from a previous trigger, audit your reactions, and deliver your response. Strangely, it becomes as if you were never triggered at all.

Look, we live in a world filled with shoot-from-the-hip opportunities, many of which are purposely put in front of us to get a response. Please don't fall for it. Keep your mind on how you want to experience and see the world. You'll be amazed how all the drama goes away.

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Stop Calling 911 on Yourself

A few days ago, I was on with a client making significant progress toward smoothing out the rough edges of her career, relationship, and personal life. 

When we began, she consistently banged her head into the wall in every area of her life. 

Relationships were challenging, job performance was up and down, she had no personal life, and her vision for the future was non-existent.

She was, in my words, being an arsonist.

However, unlike most arsonists, she was also the 911 operator, drove the fire truck to the incident scene, grabbed a hose, and put out her fire.

After a few weeks of working together, I noticed the pattern and called her out. She even surprised herself when she admitted that she was the cause of most of the issues in her life, but she didn’t know how to stop all the self-inflicted pain. 

I gave her a different way of thinking about it -

What if, instead of being an arsonist, you were in charge of preventing those life-getting-in-the-way moments?

What if, instead of driving the fire truck, your job was to make sure it was ready to roll, even if it is never needed?

What if, instead of calling 911 on yourself, you decided to help other people improve their lives through your interactions?

“That sounds exciting. But how do I do it?”

There are two steps: become aware that you are causing your issues and discipline yourself to stop doing what you know is not working for you.

“Oh. Discipline. It sounds like you’re saying I need to grow up and act like an adult in charge of my own life.”

Did I say that?

I didn’t hear myself say that?

Did you hear me say that?

The very next week, we spoke on the phone, and she felt in control of her life for the first time. Yes, she was still a little shaky in her approach, but her self-confidence was returning.

She was noticing, and so were others.

Frankly, it was nice to see somebody go from firing things up to being fired up herself - and winning the day. 

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Escaping Your Past 

My mind is constantly searching for a simple process for anything that will help me get what I want, and that usually comes down to something I talk about a lot: making a decision. 

I speak about decision-making much of my day because it’s the most dynamic tool in your personal growth tool kit. 

It should be easy —

Almost everything you will ever want to do in life has already been done. The solution to getting what you wish to should be based on logic and proven steps. In other words, figure out what works and do it.

But, as much as we can all agree that it should be easy, using logic to get what we want doesn’t have much to do with being a human—that’s where emotions and a more psychological approach come into play.

“Come on, let’s just do what we know works?” You say.

“No. I’m not feeling it. Let’s go with the flow and figure it out?”

Logical vs emotional thinking is an epic battle that Stephen Spielberg could tell in a blockbuster movie. Oh, wait, it always is!

Let’s take a side trip to the movies and prove my point.

The Hero has a problem in a movie, and something has to change, but they don’t know what to do. Professionally speaking, they are an emotional mess, no matter how real it may be.

Then, in a movie, their situation suddenly thrust them into taking action to solve their problem.

Logic kicks in, and they get busy fixing life.

But, in a movie, life gets in the way, their actions are not working, and their emotions take over.

It seems that all is lost, but never fear.

Before any good movie ends, our Hero figures out precisely what needs to be done. One. Two.

Three. Victory is at hand. Somebody, please roll the credits.

What’s the lesson in the story we are writing?

Everything that you want to do has already been figured out. Your job is to set your emotions aside, go into logical mode, and take the fewest steps possible to reach your dream. They’re no need to wait. Hero’s, don’t wait.

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Scared and Excited at the Same Time

Over the weekend, I had a few hours to waste at a local car dealership and found myself in conversation with a very motivated young man.

After seeing my email address, he asked a few questions about what I do for a living, and we were off to the races. Eventually, he said the same thing I hear many times a week –

“I’m trying to figure out what I want, but I want more. That excites me AND scares me.

Sometimes I wonder when I’ll get started and how long it will take — so I never get started.”

Like I said, I hear that every week, and I have for years. 

Here’s my answer.

You’ll never stop trying to figure things out. Life is an endless cycle of figuring things out, getting comfortable, and getting uncomfortable, and figuring things out again. It never ends. You may as well play the game.

Excitement and Scary can feel the same. Emotionally, they are not that different. If you find that it is one or the other, look deeper. If it’s both, I would move forward as fast as possible.

You’ll get started as soon as you are more excited than scared.

As long as you are excitedly moving toward your goal, how long it takes won’t matter.

That’s something that is hard to remember… but it’s a good thing if you do.

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Creativity on Demand

Over the years, I have produced over 12,000 podcasts, and everyone began with the written word. Even though that makes my mouth and fingers my most exercised body parts, it has also given me many opportunities to learn to keep my words flowing.

Like most people, you have sat before a blank screen, praying for inspiration. It could be writer's block, procrastination, or maybe you stayed up late watching Netflix. In any case, there's a simple solution to always having a starting point.

Any project I need to wrap my head around begins by capturing the ideas that flow into my mind throughout the day. Even turning the radio off on a 20-minute drive can provide a treasure-trove of useable nuggets.

Next, I tuck those ideas away safely without organizing, editing, or re-writing. I just grab the thoughts, jot a note or record a memo, put them away, and let them simmer.

When I'm ready to get to work, I take 15 minutes the day before to review my creative genius list, toss out what is not relevant, create a simple outline, and walk away knowing I am ready to begin.

The next day, I can't wait to sit in front of a blank screen and let the magic start flowing from my fingertips with complete ease.

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Unlock Your Goals with Accountability

Over the years, I've witnessed dozens of people set themselves up for failure by following seemingly wise advice -

"When you set a goal, make it public and tell everybody you know so they can support you."

In my experience, that could have worked better - especially on long-term goals. The reason is that nobody outside my close relationships knows me well enough to understand why I'm doing what I'm doing. That makes it challenging to provide support in meaningful ways, difficult for me to accept, and unneeded pressure on everybody.

It takes little thinking to realize the best accountability relationship needs to be based on respect and a sincere connection to have the most impact. That means there is no need to crowd-source accountability when you only need two people to keep you on track.

The first partner is the one you listen to the most - YOU! Accepting responsibility for your accountability is the most potent skill you own.

But since you are the boss of YOU and don't always listen to yourself, you need somebody else you trust and respect who is willing to call you out on your stuff. Once they agree, let them do their job.

Getting what you want begins and ends with you, but having an accountability partner is a great way to keep you on track in the messy middle.

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