If you are to perform at a high level, it is important for you to build and maintain momentum on a daily basis over a long period. Note that momentum builds over time, so it usually gets easier for you to perform at a high level once you overcome the initial inertia and start building speed (momentum).
Here are three easy steps that you can complete each day to ensure that your momentum doesn’t wane once you get started.
Step 1: Write Down 3-5 Empowering Questions
These are questions which get you excited to act on your goals and dreams. Asking yourself empowering questions helps to put you in the right frame of mind to take action that leads to the achievement of your set objectives.
Some examples of empowering questions include:
- What is exciting about today?
- What can I possibly accomplish today?
- What actions can I undertake today to bring me closer to achieving my long term goals?
- What maximum value can I get out of this day or this moment?
- What would I be most disappointed about if I didn’t complete it today?
Step 2: Post The Questions In Multiple Locations
Once you have settled on your list of about 5 empowering questions, write or type them up and post that list in several locations, such as in a conspicuous part of your bedroom, on the refrigerator door, in the living room and in several places at your workplace.
The idea behind posting these empowering questions in different locations is to give you multiple opportunities to look at those questions as you go about your day.
Step 3: Read The Questions Aloud & Answer Them
This step is important, because it will provide immediate motivation to take action. For example, when you read your empowering question about what would disappoint you the most if you left a certain task uncompleted that day prompts you to focus on your main priority of the day, and you will get to work to finish that task.
As the days of accomplished priorities accumulate, you will notice how steadily you are moving towards achieving your goals. That is what high performers are known for!
For these three steps to yield maximum results, you need to have done some background/preparatory work upon which the 3-step plan is based.
That background preparation includes the following:
Set & Chunk Down Goals
You can’t hit a target you don’t see, and the same applies to living a purpose-driven life. Start by setting clear, quantifiable goals that have a timeline (SMART goals).
Once you have those goals set, proceed to chunk them down in half until you get to the level of what you need to do on a daily basis as you journey towards a set 5 or 10-year goal.
These chunked down goals can then be the focus of your answers to some of the empowering questions that you have formulated and refer to at different times during your day.
Create A Supportive Network
Being a high performer on a consistent basis calls for having a support system that enables you to be your best on a day to day basis.
For example, it would be counterproductive for someone trying to keep off alcohol to keep going to the bar daily with their friends who drink. The temptation to take “just one drink” would be too great and they would sooner or later resume drinking.
A support network helps you to have conditions that make it possible for you to attain your goals. If you want to save and invest more, be in the company of people who don’t only discuss but are also actively involved in saving and investing.
If you want to improve your public speaking skills, join toastmasters or other such groups to make it possible to reach your goals.
Take Calculated Risks Despite Your Fear
Growth is on the other side of your fears or comfort zone, which is why it is important to take calculated risks from time to time.
For example, if you would like to increase your results as a salesperson and yet your public speaking skills aren’t where you would want them to be, keep looking out for opportunities to talk to strangers and small groups.
As you gain confidence and polish your skills, you can stand before larger groups and make sales presentations.
Improve Your Time Management
High performers learn how to squeeze maximum value from the time they have available. We all have 24 hours in a day, so what differentiates our results is how much we can get done in those hours.
It is therefore important for you to learn how to be a better manager of your time so that the empowering questions drive you to constantly achieve more in the areas of your life that you have earmarked as priorities.
For example, having a to-do list as well as a day planner helps you to create time blocks specific to doing particular tasks rather than just taking up a project and going with it with no notion about how long you need to spend on it before you fall behind on other priorities.
Get Help Where Necessary
High performers build A-teams and systems to help them achieve their goals. You too should put together the help and resources that you need if you are to get maximum benefit from the 3-step system of using empowering questions to supercharge your momentum.
For example, delegate repetitive tasks and outsource those you aren’t good at and yet they are vital to the smooth running of your business or life. Why not take your car to the carwash and be back in half an hour instead of spending 3 hours washing it yourself and doing a less than stellar job?
The ability to put together a team or systems that support building momentum will distinguish you from average performers and place you in the ranks of high achievers.
Wrapping It Up…
It is important to increase your momentum if you want to achieve more than you have ever achieved. Those results and that momentum will come from the habits or routines you follow on a daily basis.
Incorporate empowering questions and the 3 steps to using those questions to increase your momentum in everything you do.
Remember, results may not show immediately, but once they start manifesting, you will become unstoppable!