Get the WINning Edge

Here’s an acronym that can change the course of your life:

WIN stands for “What’s Important Now?”

As the old saying goes, “The squeaky wheel gets the oil.” That statement may be true, unless you consciously ask yourself this simple yet powerful question: What’s important now?

Your response to this question can help you decide if the squeaky wheel deserves the oil. How often do you give your attention to a squeaky wheel, whether it’s a priority or not?

How often do you give your attention to “the squeaky wheel,” whether it’s a priority or not?

For example, how often do unimportant phone calls and text messages take priority over having an uninterrupted conversation with an important person sitting across the table from you for a meal? Are smartphones having a negative impact on your relationships? If so, it’s not the smartphone’s fault. It’s your impulse control that is at issue. Blaming a smartphone for damaging your relationships is like saying a fork made you fat.

If you want to improve your impulse control, ask yourself this clarifying question: What’s important now?

Identifying what’s most important now can help you make a quick shift from feeling overwhelmed and unfocused to feeling clear about where to invest your resources of time, energy, and money.

Here’s a three-step process that will help you get the WINning edge:

1. Articulate your vision.
2. Clarify your priorities.
3. Plan and track your actions.

Let’s review each step of the process…

Articulate your Vision

The clearer your vision, the greater your chances of honoring your intentions.  Having a clear vision and purpose will also keep you in touch with the motivation behind your intentions, which is essential for sticking to any plan.

Focus requires knowing what matters to you and then committing to it.  When you focus on what you want, you are more likely to attract it into your life.  When you target your thoughts, your actions will follow, and that is the surest way to craft your future.  We attract whatever we choose to give our attention to — whether wanted or unwanted.

Clarify Priorities

We’re almost three-quarters of the way through the year–a great time to clarify your priorities so you can realign your actions with your vision for the remainder of 2017. Honoring your priorities is about doing more of what really matters by doing less of what doesn’t.

Clarifying your priorities is an important process because it’s so easy to get caught up in the busyness and overwhelm of day-to-day life, which can knock you off course easily.

One of the best ways to realign your actions is to get clear about what you want and choose. I invite you to find a comfortable and quiet place to sit, so you can write in a journal. As you write, suspend judgment. Simply let your answers flow through you and onto the page.

If you want to go deeper, ask yourself “What else?” for each question.

Here are some questions to get you started as you journal:

• What’s working in my life and what makes it work? (Include personal and professional things.)
• What am I most grateful for at this moment? (Take time to feel gratitude at a core level.)
• What is my vision for the end of the year? What do I want my business/personal life to look like on December 31^st? (Describe in detail.)
• What do I want that I do not have now? (Be specific, using tangible results to answer this question.)
• What am I committed to? (Commitment is the bridge between intention and action, and offers a powerful way to create what you want!)
• What information or knowledge do I need that will help me bridge the gap between intention and action?
• What daily action will I take so I am unstoppable in honoring my intentions?

Plan & Track Your Actions

Clarifying priorities and setting goals will help you get a clearer sense of the future you want to work toward, and I promise you this…

Nothing will happen unless you take action.

The work of bringing your plan to life – and it is work – means developing not only the action steps, processes, habits, structures, and systems that best support you, but also tracking and measuring your results. That’s going to look a little different for every person, and it’s a critical part of the process. Having an accountability partner or coach will help you stay “on purpose” and can keep you focused on honoring your commitment to take necessary action.

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”

— Zig Ziglar

Align your life choices with your values and passions by checking out my free webinar, Managing Priorities. You’ll learn a powerful process that will help you stay focused on what’s important now.

Are you struggling to find your motivation and achieve your goals? Learn how to get over those motivational blocks in just four weeks with my self-paced e-course, Guide to Getting Motivated & Achieving Your Goals. Participants will also receive a private coaching call with me.

What’s the next step you’ll take to get the WINning edge? Please comment below.