Category: Ambition

Dream Big; Reach for the Sky; Dream, Believe, Achieve; You Can Do Anything You Put Your Mind To and Other Pointless Quotes

Goals.

They are important right?  I mean if you are on Facebook or Instagram you get the idea of working towards your goals, knowing what your goal is, never losing sight of your goals thrust in your face daily.

I include me in that by the way.

I really do believe that having a goal that you really care about drastically increases your chances of adhering to your plans.  A goal is good, but it has to be one you are passionate about and that holds a genuine meaning for you so that it acts as your motivation.

Equally, saying to people don’t aim high, don’t set big goals would be limiting.  It’s cheesy to say if a goal doesn’t scare you it isn’t big enough but there’s something to be said for aiming higher than you currently think you can reach, thinking big if you like to encourage you to progress.

But we need to be entirely honest.  Not all goals are achievable.

So whilst you should aim big, you should also be realistic.

Let’s say you want a BMI under 25.  According to the NHS 25 or above is overweight.  So perhaps that’s your goal.  On paper that sounds reasonable, a healthy goal.  Is it realistic?  For me, not massively.

I’m 5 foot 11.  To have a BMI of a healthy range I should apparently weigh 140-170lbs (10 stone to 12 stone 1lb).  I actually weigh 13 stone 7lbs at present.  I’m not overweight, I’m not fat.  But to reach what at first sounds like a very reasonable goal I’d need to lose a minimum of 1 1/2 stone, that’s a lot given i’m not actually unhealthy or overweight at the moment.  I weighed 10 stone a few years ago for a while.  I sort of had had that lolipop look and could only maintain it by eating very little and exercising a lot.  It wasn’t in any way enjoyable or sustainable.

So for me a BMI of 25 or less might sounds reasonable but it isn’t really realistic.  To do what I do for a job, to train a I enjoy training and to keep as busy as I do I need fuel.  Naturally i sit around my current weight, happily, without restriction, with chocolate and alcohol.  So that reasonable sounding goal isn’t actually realistic.

You need to make a goal work for you. So it needs to be personal yes, it’s good for it to be big sometimes, but it also needs to be achievable or it serves about as much benefit as not having  goal – in fact probably less because it could have a negative effect on you if it makes you feel like you’ve failed.

Sometimes we can ignore the Social Media motivational quotes and be safe, boring and sensible with our goals and still get results.

Just Get Going

At the end of February (feels like a life time ago now) I travelled to Belfast to attend the Only Just media Summit.  This was just as Corona Virus was starting to become a ‘thing’, before Social Distancing had become a ‘thing’ and the week that Northern Ireland had just had their first case.

The event was a full day of speakers, all experts in their fields, talking to a room full of bloggers, Vloggers, content creators and brands.  My plan immediately after the event was to write some blogs on the speakers and my key takeouts.  Life then got in the way, CoronaVirus exploded and took up all my time at work and this idea got left in the notes section of my phone.  Until now.

Today is the first blog of ten where I want to outline my key take outs for the day.

Why?  To be honest it’s probably multipurpose (like that kind of cleaning product you but to clean the kitchen and bathroom if like me you are not a ‘Mrs. Hincher’.  Partly I think it will help me solidify the key points I took away from the day, because although I’ve not written about them here until now I have started to take action.  But also because I think you as the reader could also benefit from these takeouts.  You might not be interested in branding or social media or content creation but some of the ideas I took away could just be useful for your approach to your job or you life in general.

So introductions over today’s blog will focus on the talk given by Cody Wanner, a YouTube content creator for Pennsylvania, USA.

Cody talked about how he got started with Vlogging and creating a YouTube channel and providing lots of tips for budding Vloggers, but for me they were not only relevant for Vlogging, they are key mindset tips for whatever project your are currently working on or about to start.

Lesson 1 – If you have an idea – Just Get Started

This goes for everything.  You have a business idea, a hobby you want to try, a fitness goal to work towards.  You could wait forever, for the perfect time, perfect conditions, this to happen, that to happen, to have spare cash, to get Christmas out the way, the list goes on.  But the sooner you start the nearer to that goal you.  It doesn’t have to be the perfect plan, things could go wrong or change along the way, but ideas themselves do nothing.  Successful people are the ones with the most creative ideas, they are the ones who act upon their ideas.  Which leads me to lesson two.

Lesson 2 – Let go of perfect

You don’t need to have the perfect conditions or be super polished.  You can get started and let things evolve.   See what works and build on that, see what doesn’t and learn from it.  This blog wasn’t like this at the start, I wrote about different things and as I learnt, I changed my content, but had I kept my writing unpublished at the start it would never have evolved, I needed the feedback, the ideas, to know what people liked to read about.  Same with my podcast.  I’m much newer to Podcasting than blogging.  My podcast is still very rough around the edges, but only by publishing it can I learn to make it better each time and find my style.  Waiting for the right time or when you think you’ll do something well reduces the chance that you will ever do it well, because it’s the practice that helps make perfect right?  By the way this includes your fitness goals.  Are you planning on doing that class once you’ve lost a few pounds?  Waiting to be a certain size or shape to do something that would actively help you get to that size or shape is utterly bonkers when you think about it logically.  Stop waiting for the right conditions and just get started whatever that looks like right now/.

Lesson 3- Consistency is better than perfection, in all walks of life.

So from lesson two, if we aren’t looking for perfect what are you looking for?  Consistency.  One amazing blog, post, podcast, Vlog will not establish you in your field or as an expert or the go to person. Consistently useful content can. One excellent result at work won’t establish you as a vital part of the team.  Consistent good work will.  People like people they can rely on and trust, in all walks of life.  So be the person who produces consistent results or content with a consistent message.  Do that and it won’t matter if sometimes you have a technical hitch.  Content really is more important than what it’s wrapped up in.  Beyond social media, think about your fitness goals or diet.  Maintaining your routine most of the time will always produce better results than being perfect for a few days then going spectacularly off the rails.

Lesson 4 – Focus on connection and engagement

An amazing piece of content is all well and good but people will lose interest if you never engage with them.  We naturally interact more with people we feel connected to, who share our ideas and views or engage in debate.  So whatever job you have, whether you want to grow a brand online or just be more effective in the office, focus on the quality of your engagement with people, how you make people feel and what you can offer them instead of take and you should see an improvement in the outcome of your interactions.

Lesson 5 – Authenticity is important

Finally, be you.  You can shift and shape how you convey your message depending on who you are talking to to help it sit better with that audience, but your overall message should always sit within your values and be comfortable for you, it will come across more effectively.

So in summary my take out from this talk was, to improve your success in whatever field you are thinking about:  Take action however messy it may be to start with, be consistent and be you.