Self Mastery is Key to Achievement

I have BIG goals. Short and long-term financial goals, family goals, spiritual goals, and career goals. My tagline, “I take business personally” reflects my desire to help others grow their businesses and change their lives so that they are serving others in an authentic way. In order to live by this, it’s not enough to simply tell others how they should go about their business. I’m a firm believer that you should practice what you preach. You wouldn’t go to a restaurant where the chef won’t eat their own cooking, would you? That’s why I’ve spent years studying and implementing the habits and strategies that I now coach my clients on. I want to be sure that my clients are going to grow as individuals, grow their business or career, and achieve the results they want.

One of my favorite authors and experts on self-development, specifically in selling, is Brian Tracy. If you haven’t read his book “The Psychology of Selling,” it’s definitely worth a read! Brian says, “The biggest mistake we could ever make in our lives is to think we work for anybody but ourselves.” Powerful words! It doesn’t matter if you own a business, freelance, or work for someone else: your accomplishments and lifestyle are almost entirely determined by internal factors inside yourself, and not external factors of your environment. It’s when we work harder on ourselves than we do anything else that we start to see incredible results. As we improve our own lives, we also become more capable of helping others in a greater capacity.

Taking on the job of “self mastery” may seem a little overwhelming. In the dictionary, mastery is defined as “control or superiority over someone or something.” That doesn’t mean you have to have complete control over every aspect of your life, but rather overall control of your actions and thoughts. How can we get started on the road to self mastery?

Know what it is you want.

“The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

We become what we think about all day, every day. If we spend most of our days in panic mode, our life becomes a series of stressful and unfulfilling days. Likewise, if we constantly focus on our goals, the world makes way for us. The trouble is, most people can’t specifically state what they want in life. They have a general idea, but thinking about general ideas won’t do any good. It’s too easy to lose focus and too difficult to make plans for general ideas.

Those who practice self mastery are laser focused on what they want in life. They have written down all of their goals: financial, career, spiritual, family. Their goals aren’t generalized, either. They are specific and definable, and always have deadlines. Knowing what it is that you want to accomplish is the starting place for all achievement.

Develop habits that align with your goals.

Once we know exactly what it is we want to accomplish, we then need to focus our efforts on becoming the type of person that is capable of achieving those results. They way we do that is by developing habits. For example, if your goal is to sell $5 million of real estate a year, some habits you’d want to develop would be:

• a pleasing personality – to gain clients, gain trust and be able to express your enthusiasm for real estate
• constant learning – to continuously improve your knowledge of the local real estate market and effective advertising techniques
• personal interaction and networking – to stay in front of potential clients and others who may be able to refer business to you

Of course, these aren’t the only qualities you would need to achieve the results you want, but the point is to develop yourself into someone who is able to reach your goals. It helps to study the habits and strategies of others in your industry who have already achieved the results you’re seeking, and try to implement them in your own life.

Stay focused on your own development.

It’s fun working on self mastery when things are going well, but tough to keep improving when you don’t see results right away. If you’re struggling to make progress toward your goals, it’s common to examine someone else’s life who has already achieved those results and think, “They made it look so easy. What am I doing wrong?” What you don’t see are the weeks and years those people spent mastering themselves, long before they reached the results you see.

Staying focused on your own development is the secret to making continuous progress toward your goals, even if it appears to be slow progress. Don’t distract yourself by focusing on what others have, or worrying about what others think about you. It won’t help you get any closer to your goals.

“Keep your mind on the great and splendid things you would like to do.” – Dale Carnegie