“Success is not so much what we have, as it is what we are.”
~ Jim Rohnn

Sometimes our inability to achieve our goals comes from a lack of skills or knowledge but often, we actually know what it is that we need to do but for some reason, we simply don’t do it.

Why is that? And how can we become the kind of person that does the very things that will bring us the success we so dearly crave?

I’m going to give you my best answer to these questions.

As I see it, there are 3 main reasons we don’t do what we know we need to do or what we say we want to do.

1. Lack of desire — We don’t actually want to do it. It’s not something we enjoy or have any true desire to do.
2. Lack of knowledge — We don’t know how to do it. The desire is there but the knowhow is not.
3. Presence of fear — We want to do it, maybe even know how to do it but there is some level of fear about what will happen if we do it.

Take a moment now to think about something you set out to achieve this year in your business but failed to do so. Do any of these three reasons apply?

What all of these three have in common for me is they relate to how we’re thinking about the task at hand and how we think about something directly affects how we show up to that thing.

One woman in my business planning workshop shared this comment and it felt so apt:

“I thought I really hated doing administration, marketing, planning, and all of that, for my business. And that I was bad at it. And I have to admit, with my ADD, HSP and possibly autism, it’s a big challenge. But if I take my time, stay in touch with my gut feeling, stay true to my values, accept that I have my own pace, my own way of doing these things, I actually kind of enjoy it. And I feel proud when I’m doing these things. I really do get better at it.”

Can you see how by changing how she showed up to those very tasks she thought she hated, how she felt actually changed?

Consider now something you want to do, know how to do and feel excited to do. I’d guess that nothing would stop you from doing something you feel this way about.

Now consider something you know you should do but have zero desire to do, have no idea how to do and/or feel some level of fear around doing it. My best guess is that it would be nothing short of a miracle if you managed to do this thing.

So let me ask you this. Where in your world do you need to change how are you are thinking about things to change how you are showing up to them?

I’d like to share with you something that’s coming up for me around this question of who I need to become.

Over the past few years I have had a financial target I’d like to hit, which, after several years of stable and steady financial growth, would be a stretch for me. And whilst I have increased my income year on year, I’ve yet to hit this particular stretch goal, which has been frustrating to say the least.

As I’ve been working on my business plan for next year, I’ve done just about as much thinking as I can about what I’ll need to do and how I’ll need to change my business model in order to achieve this goal but if I’m honest with myself, I’ve been feeling anything but excited about the prospect. Instead, there’s been a serious lack of desire or motivation to tackle these things head on.

As I contemplated my word of the year, which is what I suggest speaks to how you want to feel in your life and business, my mind kept going to a desire to feel more motivated or inspired. For a while, I thought INSPIRED might be my word of the year, but as I sat with it, I also couldn’t see how I was going to magically feel more inspired in 2024.

Then, this word dropped in.

BRAVE.

And I couldn’t shake it, it felt scary (in a good way) and big (also in a good way) and that’s when it dawned on me…

In order to do what needs to be done to hit my stretchy financial goal, I need to feel excited, inspired and motivated and in order to feel those things I need to be brave.

I need to push the edges of my comfort zone, challenge myself, do new things and be bolder and braver.

So my answer to who I need to become in 2024 in order to achieve my goals?

I need to become brave.

Now I’m here, it feels so obvious, some of my best life moments have come from leaning into being brave and I realise now that once I achieved a level of success in my business, I got scared of doing anything that might rock the boat. I now see that becoming brave again is exactly what is needed to take my business to the next level and, more importantly, feel inspired and excited in the process.

Shifting my thinking from what I need to do to who I need to become is such a simple shift but one that has the power to change everything.

It’s oh so easy to tell ourselves that we’ll never be able to do something, that we’ll never be able to be something but I’ve experienced and witnessed myself and others achieving what felt like the impossible time and time again.

So, my lovely, as you consider all that you would like to bring forth in your life and business in 2024. Who is it that you need to become?