Creating the life you want involves understanding the Principles of Creating.
Once you understand Principles, there are “101” different tactics you can take.
Just remember this MAIN Principle: “Never Break the Laws of God or man.”
Energy moves where it is easiest to go – the Path of Least Resistance.
You are exactly where you are right now by following that Path of Least Resistance.
Just after I purchased my dealership, I hired two coach/mentors. One was Jay Abraham to help me develop my marketing skills and the other was Robert Fritz.
Robert Fritz had written a book called “The Path of Least Resistance” and created a system called Structural Thinking.
From this thinking I created 4 Principles of Creating:
- Begin with the End in Mind
- Honestly evaluate Current Reality
- Take Action
- Evaluate your progress & Adjust Actions and/or Clarify the End in Mind.
Robert Fritz taught me Three Important Insights:
1. You go thru life taking the path of least resistance.
We all do – all humans and all of nature.
You may try from time to time to change the direction of your life – your eating habits, the way you relate to others, your attitudes, etc. You may even succeed for a while, but eventually, you probably find yourself right back at the old habits and behaviors.
This is because your life – all of life for that matter – is determined by God’s Laws of Nature to take the path of least resistance.
2.The underlying structure of your life determines the path of least resistance. 97% of us are following old entrenched patterns.
3. You can change the fundamental underlying structures of your life.
Just as engineers can change the path of a river by changing the structure of the riverbanks so that the river flows where they want it to go, you can change your basic structure of your life (your business, relationships, etc) so that you can create the life you want.
How to Create the Results you want
Step 1. Begin With The End in Mind. Be very clear about WHAT you want. What does the Desired End Result look like? Ask why five times until you’re real clear and will recognize it when you see it.
Sometimes the idea is general and sometimes it’s specific.
Sometimes it’s like knowing you have to move in the direction of the mountain range you see 100 miles away and sometimes, you see the exact spot on the mountain where you want to End up.
Right now, you can only see the mountain range; the peaks of the mountains in this range are covered in clouds and fog.
But, you know where the mountain peak (GOAL) that you want is in that mountain range so you start moving toward it. As you get closer, you can see more detail; you can see the mountain you want so you move toward the base.
With each step, you can see more and more clearly. You adjust your course accordingly and start climbing the mountain and again as you climb higher, you see more details and eventually you come out of the fog and cloud cover and can clearly see the peak (GOAL).
The most powerful question you can ask yourself is WHAT DO I WANT?
It’s a question about results. What is the result or results I want?
If you focus on the “how” question before the “what” question all you can ever hope to create is a variation of what you already have.
Step 2. Honestly Evaluate Current Reality. Be very honest about Current Reality or the Actual State of things as they really are.
Honesty and Objectivity are critical. Good, bad, or indifferent, you need to develop the skill of viewing reality objectively.
It is critical you know what is going on with accuracy and clarity.
- SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)
- Paradigm Analysis: What is your worldview that affects the way you see/perceive things? REMEMBER: If you start with the wrong assumptions, you’ll come to the wrong conclusions.
- Circle of Influence analysis. Who do you surround yourself with that influences the way you think? Remember this axiom? Garbage in/Garbage Out. Surround yourself only with people who really support you and your cause; and eliminate from your Circle of Influence those who do not.
Essentially you are asking yourself what Strengths do I have personally or in my life right now that will help me attain this goal?
What weaknesses might I have to be aware of or overcome?
What opportunities and what threats are there that might help me or prevent me from achieving this goal?
This is where you ask yourself Why? Why am I in the position I’m in? What have I done in the past that has stopped me from attaining goals.
What, in my environment or cast of friends has prevented me from attaining what I want?
What do I have to learn? Or unlearn? What associations do I have to stop?or start?
Who is accomplishing what I want to accomplish and how might I model them? This is not an exhaustive list of questions but a starter.
Step 3. Take Action. Create ACTIONS to achieve Desired End Result. Creating is about innovation, invention, and learning; as opposed to following convention. Some actions will help move you to WHAT you want, but some won’t, in fact maybe most won’t….and that’s ok.
- Discipline yourself to Put 1st Things 1st
- Test & Evaluate are keys: Test small; test often: sometimes the action works and sometimes it doesn’t. Failure is ok BUT learn to Fail Fast.
- Learn to ask Smart Questions:
- What’s working?
- What’s not?
- What can I do better?
- What’s the Next Action required?
A good question to ask after you write out an intermediate DER/Goal or action step is “What is the next step required? “
EXAMPLE: One of your actions might be to take a class at your local technical college.
By asking yourself “What is the next step required?” you might answer “Call the school.” Again “What is the next step required?”
Answer: look up the phone number.
I have found this simple question to be tremendously beneficial.
It forces me to think “one step at a time”
You know the old saying “What is the best way to eat an elephant?”
Answer: One bite at a time.
Step 4. Evaluate your progress & Adjust Actions and/or Clarify the End in Mind. Plan – Do – Check – Adjust (Adjust the direction before you adjust your DER/Goal).
Here is the life-cycle of problem solving as taught by Robert Fritz and why it doesn’t work.
The Problem
Leads to action to solve the problem
Leads to
Less intensity of the problem
Leads to
Less action to solve the problem
Leads to
The problem remaining
What usually drives the problem is the intensity of the pain felt from the problem.
Once the intensity of the pain is lessened, 97% of us have less motivation to continue to act.
I run into this version of thinking all the time when I am helping people set and achieve goals.
The hardest part is getting them to admit to what they want, regardless of whether they think it is possible or not.
If I am dealing with someone who has never set goals, and I ask them what is the Desired End Result they want 5 years from now, or one year from now or next week, inevitably the answer is based on what they think is possible.
This limits your thinking. You want what you want. Go for it. Create a plan to achieve it.
9 Specific Steps to Attaining your Desired End Result or Goal:
- Make a Commitment that you are going to reach your DER/GOAL.
- Commit to daily accountability – You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Track EVERYTHING.
Every DER/GOAL has to be broken down into small daily actions.
Commit to no more than 6 BOULDERS a day. - Work on strengthening your strengths. We are all born with God-given talents and abilities. Some of these talents are a 2 or 3 on a 10 point scale; but every one of us has “NATURAL” talents of a 6 or 7;
Focus your lifetime on improving at least one of these talents/strengths to where you attain a 9 or better ranking.
It takes about 10,000 hours of practice to do that but the rewards are phenomenal.
A Talent of a ‘9” is worth about $1,000,000 a year. - Change direction before you change decisions.
- Get all the help you can. I have never been without a coach, mentor or advisor in all my adult life.
- Every day, think about your DER. Picture it; feel it; smell it. Make it as real-feeling as possible.
Whatever you want to Create, you must see yourself as already HAVING it, or BEING it or DOING
Always focus on what you DO WANT not on what you think is possible OR what you don’t want. - NEVER start your day without a clear list of PRIORITIES. Your To Do list. No more than 6 BOULDERS every day. Put 1st Things 1st.
- Learn to be DIFFICULT when it counts. This means being Assertive; standing up for yourself in an honest, positive, appropriate way…Your rights, feelings, thoughts and opinions.
How to be assertive:
A. Think Win-Win…or No Deal. Understand that you have the right to walk away from a situation or relationship if it isn’t mutually beneficial.
B. You must have Self-respect before there can be mutual respect
C. Listen with the Intent to Understand, rather than simply listening with the intent to reply and Expect The Same in Return.
D. Think ‘C’ mode: controlled, calm, centered, charming, composed, collected, and coolheaded. - 80/20 Rule: Identify the actions that contribute the GREATEST value. DO THEM. Eliminate or delegate all others.
For every minute spent in planning, you save 10 minutes in Implementing. That’s a 1000% Return on Investment.
The good news is that there is no rush to completing this Creating process.
There is actually tremendous benefit just in the process.
Make this a lifetime project.
I studied Qi Gong from a Master Chun Yi Lin. I once asked what the consequences were of doing a step incorrectly and he wisely said “There is no wrong way. There is good, there is better and there is best.”
If you are ready to take your life and your business to another level, contact me. I know of no way to do this without a coach.
History is filled with examples of individuals creating results that were previously thought impossible.
Our society puts a high premium on reasons and excuses.
Most people learn that if they have a good reason for not succeeding, they can sometimes avoid negative consequences.
Once you have learned the Principles of Creating thru Structural Thinking, you will naturally always follow the Path of Least Resistance.