- those who make things happen
- those who watch things happen
- those who wonder what happened
- those that don’t know that anything happened!
I love that quote from Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics.
So, which group do you fall in?
Although most people fall into the second, third, or fourth groups, I made up my mind a long time ago to be someone who makes things happen.
And here’s how I did it.
Two secrets that changed everything
We think we see the world as it is.
We don’t.
We see the world as we were conditioned to see it. We see the world through the lens of our paradigm, which controls our effectiveness and results in most areas of our lives.
And there’s one more thing that governs our effectiveness…
Natural laws.
Examples of these laws include cause and effect, attraction, and transmutation. These laws exist and are always at work in our lives, whether we believe in them or not.
I knew if I wanted to become a person who makes things happen, I would have to take steps to change my paradigm and align my thoughts and behaviors with natural laws. This kind of change must come from the inside-out.
If you want to become a person who lives into your potential, developing these six habits will align you with natural laws, change your paradigm, and upgrade your life:
Habit 1 – Take Responsibility
Remember the four kinds of people?
Well, the last three groups—people who watch things happen, those who wonder what happened, and those who don’t know anything happened—are not taking responsibility for their lives. Instead of making decisions and acting on what they want, they’re letting conditions dictate their lives.
When you take responsibility for your life, you do not blame circumstances, conditions, or conditioning for your behavior or results. You decide what you want, and then consciously create a plan to be, do, or have it.
Habit 2 – Create a Mental Image
Once you’ve decided what you want, take the time to develop a clear mental picture of it. Then, keep that image in mind as long and as often as possible. To be able to do that, all you need is to know what you want and to want it so badly that it will stay in your thoughts.
The clearer and more definite you make your picture, and the more you focus on it and all its delightful details, the stronger your desire will be. And the stronger your desire, the easier it will be to keep your mind fixed upon the picture of what you want.
By keeping that picture in mind, you manage yourself every day to be and do what really matters most.
Habit 3 – Prioritize and Exercise Discipline
Habit 1 teaches you to take charge of your behavior and, thus, your outcomes. Habit 2 teaches you to use your mental power to visualize your desired results. Bringing these two ideas together, Habit 3 adds your ability to make your ideas a reality.
Most people complete all kinds of meaningless tasks each day to be able to cross them off their long to-do list. However, go-getters make a list of the most important things they must accomplish that day.
Make sure you do at least one thing each day that moves you closer to your goal. Every evening (or morning if you prefer), make a list of the top goal-achieving activities you can take the next day and then act on them, starting with the most important task.
Discipline is not about “forcing” yourself to do unpleasant things. Instead, it is about being willing to act upon your own deepest values. It’s giving yourself a command and then following through on it—even if it means making sacrifices like missing parties or other social events or not eating the junk food you crave.
Habit 4 – Commit to Lifelong Learning
Spend part of each day involved in self-development and self-renewal. In addition to taking care of your body, commit to increasing your mental, emotional, and spiritual health.
Study a book every day. There are tremendous benefits to be had by rubbing your mind against the minds of great authors. Continuing education is the answer to real success. However, in a different way than you might expect…
Rather than increasing the intellect, you must develop your untapped potential. Lifelong learning is the only way to do that.
Habit 5—Stay the Course
To make things happen, you have to pursue your goals and dreams relentlessly. You must overcome adversity and persist, sweeping aside anything that stands between you and your goals.
Persistence is an essential factor in achieving any goal that makes you stretch. So, get in the habit of pivoting or finding ways to navigate around impasses. Finish what you set out to do.
Habit 6 – Wake Up Early
The average person needs a lot of time to wake up and get out of bed. However, you can change your paradigm by getting up early so you can make the most of the day. Most successful people are early risers.
To make things happen, get in the habit of waking up early and getting out of bed quickly to act on your goal. Recognize what a gift each day is and be excited about what it will bring.
Start with Small Bites
These are powerful, life-altering habits.
And none of them are hard. You can start developing or strengthening these habits right now. But start small – make one change at a time.
Over time, you can experience a synergetic effect from your new habits. Synergy occurs when the sum is greater than the separate parts. Not only will you move closer to your goal, but you’ll also become happier, more prosperous, and more creative.
To your success,
Bob Proctor
