As you read this blog entry, you may be reminded of some goals you’ve had for quite some time, whether they relate to your health, career or creativity. You may find that you’re reading this at exactly the right time, as the message serves as a reminder to do at least one thing today that brings you closer to your goals.
You’ll likely find that taking one just step (even something as seemingly simple as updating your resume, 20 minutes of exercise, trying a healthy new recipe, meditating for 15 minutes, or signing up for a self-improvement class) has an immediate effect on your esteem, raising it higher.
Habit Formation
Perhaps there’s a healthy new habit you want to create in your life (whether it’s juicing or jogging or journaling). You can pick one thing and do it every day for 21 days (a recommended time frame for turning productive behaviors into habitual ones). As you continually engage in that activity and it becomes an important part of your life, your self-esteem will grow as a result of your personal achievement.
But don’t try to take on too much at once. You could grow frustrated or overwhelmed. If you’re interested in habit formation, you can simply start with one thing on your path to personal empowerment. Then 21 days later, you can introduce another beneficial habit.
Releasing Procrastination
You may already have a high sense of self esteem, but you can begin to experience even more as you release procrastination from your life.
Procrastination is often the curse of the perfectionist, who might want to wait until conditions seem ideal before beginning an undertaking. Perfectionists also often want to have a high certainty that they’ll excel at a particular activity before getting started.
There is likely a little perfectionist in all of us, but we can always remind that part of our being that it’s okay to experiment and make mistakes while trying new things. That’s just part of the learning process. You can begin calming down that perfectionist part of your personality by simply saying, “I give myself permission to learn as I go. I can always shift my strategy as needed.”
As you consider what action step you can take today to bring you closer to your goals, you can understand how it can be helpful to outline an action plan of further steps (whether it relates to a personal development goal, a creative undertaking, or a business or home-improvement project). You don’t have to accomplish them all today. You just need to begin creating a sense of what they are, setting both priorities and realistic expectations for yourself.
Action Plans
Too often we procrastinate because we don’t have an action plan in place. A motivational affirmation to get going can be as simple as, “I make my plan, and I work my plan.”
As we get in the process of working our plans, we can rejoice in the small steps – and forgive ourselves for any missteps – along the way to making great progress.
You may be someone who dreams so big that a major goal can seem overwhelming. But perhaps these words from motivational speaker Earl Nightingale, known as the “dean of personal development,” may calm you now:
“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”