We all want to have impact with the things we do. We want to get up and realize that we've helped people and sure many will call that success, but it's the impact to others that really brings the emotional payoff most people are looking for.
But what if you're working hard and just not achieving the impact you want? Not enough people are finding your material and getting their lives changed? Here are 4 reasons you may be limiting your own results.
1. Mediocre efforts
The place to start is to examine if you're really doing the work it takes to get the impact you want. If you're looking for business growth, are you really putting in the marketing effort to get people to know about your business?
If your goal is fitness related, are you working out the proper amount of times per week? Possibly harder, are you eating properly every day of the week?
Far to many people want to put in mediocre efforts and expect exponential results. The mediocre efforts they're putting in are really just barely enough to gain entry to the field so it's no wonder they're not seeing the results they expect. They need to do more so they stand out in the field.
Once you're doing enough to stand out you're ready for those exponential results you crave.
2. Poorly placed efforts
Are you focusing on the right things? The things that you're truly best at? If your goal is to be a writer then putting your focus in to choosing the best Web site design is a waste.
Sure your Web site is your presence and it needs to be decent, but if it takes you longer than a few weeks to get it setup then it's really just a procrastination mechanism. The reason we agonize over these decisions is that they feel productive. We need a new site or a new desk but spending months agonizing over these choices means that we are not being effective in any fashion.
With any decision like a new site give yourself a time limit of 2 weeks. Get that site up, or that desk picked in 2 weeks and then just get it done. Taking any longer is like the captain of a ship rearranging the deck chairs while the ship steams away out of control. Sure the captain is being productive moving the chairs but she is not being effective at all.
Freeing yourself up from agonizing over the decision for months will mean that you can stay focused on what you're best at. Staying with what you're best at is going to push your success forward much faster.
3. You have a poorly defined goal
Third, do you really have a goal? Is your goal some elusive version of 'I want to be successful and have freedom'. If it is then you really have nothing to plan a path towards.
Instead of making your goals elusive, make them concrete and measurable. If you want to be a writer then plan time to sit down and write every day. Some make the goal 1000 words a day and some make the goal 30 minutes a day. A concrete goal like this is something you can measure. At the end of the week you either have the words written or you don't and that lets you reset your plan for the next week.
Another goal trap is looking at the life someone else has and making their life and their goals your goals. While there may be some overlap in goals, you're never going to work hard enough if you're not truly passionate about the goals. It's rare that you're passionate about someone else's goals.
Sit down and look at your goals. Make sure that they're concrete and measurable. Make sure that they're your goals and that you have a passion to achieve them. A vague dream that the life you imagine would be nice isn't passion.
4. You blame others
Things don't always go as we plan. In fact, they quite often don't go exactly as we plan. When this happens what is your first reaction? Is it to refocus and figure out what went wrong or to blame someone or something else for the failure.
The truly successful among us, don't blame others. They take life as it comes and deal with it. They take the old saying about turning lemons in to lemon juice to heart.
If you're looking at a failure in life and you are spending your time thinking about how it's someone else's fault stop now. Instead you should be figuring out how it's your fault and then putting strategies in place to stop the same issues from cropping up again.
With these strategies in place you're next attempt is going to be so much better and if it doesn't quite fly as anticipated evaluate why and put in place more strategies to lead you to the results you want. This incremental improvement will get you better and better results every time. Blaming others will mean you don't build in these strategies to avoid your shortcomings and you're going to keep getting the same mediocre results you've been getting.
If you're not getting the success you want it's time to start putting in more effort but not just any effort. Make sure that you're focusing on the right things in your business, not just moving the deck chairs around. Make sure that you have a properly defined goal that you own and you can measure. When things don't go as planned, figure out how your actions contributed to the issues and put strategies in place to make sure the problems can be avoided next time.
If you can do these 4 things then you're much more likely to get the huge results you want.