Perhaps you’ve heard people say in order to be successful you need pure grit and determination. I translate that to mean that if I apply enough “will” in a certain direction that I will make it to my goal. While that motivational psychology may fire a football team or others to want to run through a wall, in my experience just wanting something or pulling hard in one direction isn’t the only show of force that is needed to succeed. Over the years in business and life I’ve learned that restraint, coupled with will is just as deadly for reaching goals and progressing you forward. Why is restraint so powerful? Restraint allows you to be able to step back and apply your force in the proper way. To illustrate: When firefighters arrive on the scene of a fire, they don’t simply kick over the fire hydrant to get the maximum amount of water to flow out as possible, they attach a hose to the hydrant which allows them to harness the power and pressure of the water into a controllable stream that can extinguish a mighty blaze. Likewise it’s incumbent upon us as individuals to bridle whatever passion, energy, will, focus, whatever you want to call the “force” behind your intent into well meaning actions that work.

How do you rein yourself in?

For me personally it’s been a lifelong lesson to restrain my all out assault on my goals so that I can focus on actually achieving them. I know what you may be saying in reading this, why would you choose to restrain your power to accomplish your goals? Very simply, the phrase “work smarter, not harder” comes to mind. When crafting a business or plan for long term strategy it’s important to move at the pace of progress. This implies that there will be times when you have to speed up and times when you’ll have to slow down. Becoming one of those rare people who accomplishes their goals ultimately comes down to achieving little wins every time you make a decision. The “little” wins mean a lot when you start stacking them on top of each other. Bringing yourself under control in order to accomplish your long term vision comes down to three things in my opinion (of course, my blog my rules).

1.) Don’t be a procrastinator

2.) Don’t even attempt to multi-task (most can’t do it and if you think you can do it, science has proven that you’re not doing it as well as you thought)

3.) Get yourself a Coach along the way. There will be times when you simply have lapses in energy, motivation or knowledge and having a coach will help you push beyond your momentary limits.

The answer to the question of is sheer will enough to push you to your goals is, maybe. However, along the way you could lose out on being more well rounded and understanding your goals better. I’ve found that it’s better for a person looking to be successful in business or life to work on weaknesses more so than their apparent strength. It will make you more well rounded but also you’ll be able to maintain your accomplishments longer.

Here’s to your success

Micah