Stuck in a Rut? Action Steps to Create Amazing Results in Your Life

Experience shows me that many entrepreneurs suffer from the same obstacles and challenges: organization, employee issues, generating cash flow or driving revenue, increasing profitability, providing leadership, crystallizing their overall mission and vision of their company and life, and lack of time to name just a few.  Recently, I whisked some of my most successful entrepreneurs and clients away to a beautiful setting on the Pacific Ocean and we had a one day Mastermind Meeting.  This was an opportunity for them to get very specific on their current obstacles and challenges that were preventing them from getting their business or life to the next level.  It also allowed them the time to create a strategic plan to overcome their challenges to improve their performance.  What I discovered in this meeting was that many entrepreneurs have the same fears, challenges, and obstacles in business, marketing, and life.  The great ones have the ability to overcome obstacles and turn them into positives to improve their life.  Here are some of my “Top Teaching Points” that I have gathered to create amazing results and success in your life.

• Commit to a Goal.  Write down a short term goal and put it on an index card.  Than post it in your office or next to your computer so that you see it all the time.  This could be something like “I want to earn an additional $3,000 per month for the next 12 months.  I am going to do this by ….”   Another example could be “I am going to lose 10 lbs in the next 7 weeks.  I will achieve this by working out 5 days per week, eliminating desserts and soft drinks from my diet, etc.”  Goals should be S.M.A.R.T.—Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Driven.
• Have specific times that you open your email.  If you find yourself opening emails throughout the day, you probably get diverted from your “To Do List” and “Action List”.  Open your emails at select times and set guidelines for WHEN you will respond to them.  Don’t just always react to emails as they come in.  Again, emails can rob you of your precious time and distract you from accomplishing from tasks that may be more important.
• Create “bubbles” in your schedule that will allow you to get things done.  This could be done daily or weekly.  It might be from 1:00-3:00 pm everyday or from 12 Noon-5 pm on Fridays that you don’t take phone calls, don’t respond to emails, and you shut out the outside world.  This is your time to focus on completing projects that NEED to get done and keep getting put to the back-burner.
• Simplify your Lists.  Maybe have only 10 items on your “Things to Do List” for the week.  Accomplish those items before moving on.  Additionally, how about creating an “Accomplished List” to see all the things you accomplish in a day or a week. 
• Prioritize your Lists.  Once a list is created, be sure to prioritize it and take action on the most important items first.  Don’t necessarily take action on the ones you enjoy the most, will be easiest, or take the least time.  Prioritize your list by order of importance and take action on the most pressing items first.
• Use a timer.  I do this all the time in my personal and business life.  I allot a certain amount of time for a project, I set my timer for that amount of time, and that’s all I do on it.  It keeps me on track so I can budget out my time and achieve everything I need to.  Go to the local store, pick up a “cooking timer” and apply it to your business and personal life—it will do wonders!
• Change your environment.  It is amazing what a change in décor  will do for your office or home.  Adding sufficient lighting, green plants, a new piece of artwork, or a waterfall can all do wonders for sprucing up your place and boosting your energy.  Getting rid of papers, purging your files, and organizing and cleaning your environment will all do wonders for your productivity.  We had one Mastermind member that had a Feng-Shui expert came into his office and the next week he brought in several hundred thousand dollars worth of business.  A clean environment promotes a clear mind which fosters productivity, energy, passion, and LIFE!
• Pick your Opportunities.  It is more important to be a strategist than an opportunist.  Make sure all your opportunities fit into your long-term strategy so that you don’t waste a lot of time, energy, and effort on things that aren’t really that important to you.  Focus on 1 or 2 “big-ticket” items or opportunities at a time.  If you have more than that going on, ask or hire help.
• Do What You Do Best and Hire the Rest.  Enough said.
• Workout.  Busy people often have a difficult time getting their exercise in and develop a lifestyle that isn’t conducive for optimal performance or optimal health.  If you want to lose weight, feel great, have energy, and be at your best, you must exercise at least 3 times per week.  Four or Five times per week of exercise (combination of resistance training and cardio) is better but at least 3 days per week will suffice.  This will help you burn stress and improve your overall fitness.  Build it into your schedule, find a workout partner, hire a trainer, attend a class, get some motivational music on your iPod or listen to a motivational CD while doing cardio are all ways to help increase your accountability.
• Get Away.  As my mentor Wayne Cotton would say, “Mellow Yellow” time.  This is absolutely imperative that we get “down time” in our weekly schedule and that you plan for trips, etc in your calendar.  We all like to see “carrots” in the calendar where we can work hard for a while to know that you will be getting a reward at the end.   Plan a trip, a day off, a weekend away, or attend a retreat.  Write it down in your calendar and watch what happens.  Your energy improves just knowing that you have some time “OFF” coming up.  Than when you get there, the time off will refresh, rejuvenate, and re-energize you.   Additionally, you often get clarity about your life when you are “Away” from the daily hustle and bustle of everyday living.  Make the commitment to GET AWAY!
• Try something new and adventurous.  While you don’t need to go bungee jumping or jump out of airplanes to create adventure, it is amazing that when you do something to create an adrenaline rush, it can provoke other areas of your life to wake up and get going also.  If you are feeling flat or in a rut, some of the things you might try include mountain climbing or rock climbing, white-water rafting, sail-boarding, cross-country skiing, going on a “fantasy ski camp” where you can try bobsledding or even better, the “skeleton”.  These are just some ideas but find things that might get your blood flowing.  Sometimes we need those adventures to prompt us on in ALL areas of our life.
• Surround yourself with successful people.  If you want to be successful, one of the best ways to create results in your life is to surround yourself with other successful people.  It doesn’t necessarily matter if they’re in the same field or not.  You are trying to get in the right “mind-set” of a successful person because it is the mind-set that sets the tone for you to create amazing results in all areas of your life.     

When all is said and done, much of the success in creating results in your life comes down to this:  commitment, connecting, and conditioning.  Commitment to your clients or customers…Creating the best customer experience you can so they find results.  Regardless of your occupation, we must commit to our client’s and customer’s success.  Also, you must honor and commit to yourself.  Design and set up your environment the way you deserve, organize your space and time that is most conducive for fostering energy.  Commit to “time away” and taking time for you.  Do the best you can with what you have everyday.  Connecting…Reach out to help your clients and customers.  The more you connect with other people, the more successful you will be.  Whether creating a system to write referral cards, thank-you cards, weekly emails, phone calls or you “gift” your customers a small token of appreciation, find ways that you can connect with people and good things will happen.  Conditioning…if you want to be successful, you must be in great shape.  Commit to your routine, commit to exercising more, eating better, having devotional time, and quiet time.  Plan for “mellow yellow” time or “get away” time so that you can re-energize your batteries.      Life is so much about energy.  Having the energy to do what we want, when we want, at a very high level.  When you take some of this information found in the article and apply it to your life, watch what happens to your energy levels.  When your energy is up and your thoughts are clear and concise, your true potential is unleashed.  It is than that you can sit back and be proud of the results that you have created.

Todd Durkin is a 2 Time Personal Trainer of the Year and Founder of Fitness Quest 10 & Todd Durkin Enterprises in San Diego, CA. He trains people from all walks of life, but is best known for the work he does with over 25 NFL Superstars. He trains the likes of LaDainian Tomlinson, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer, Reggie Bush, Alex Smith, and Donnie Edwards amongst others. His expert staff of 30 trainers, coaches, and massage therapist/bodyworkers perform over 400 weekly sessions and help educate, motivate, and inspire the world to greater levels of health & fitness. Todd has 17 DVD’s on fitness & sports performance and has been featured in many national magazines and media outlets. His ezine newsletter “TD Times” is his way of connecting clients, trainers, coaches, colleagues, and friends from all over the world. He can best be reached via his websites ToddDurkin.com, FitnessQuest10.com, or by using the contact form below: [easy-contact]