Ep 71: Three Steps Critical to Success

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Action is a factor for success

Dawn McGruer:

Welcome to Episode 71 of Dawn of a New Era with myself, Dawn McGruer. And I will be sharing with you three ways that you can influence your success. And these three things are really special to me because during the pandemic, during growing my business, during any time of my life, I honestly believe that I’ve fallen back into understanding how I am motivated, how I can impact my clients, how I can impact the growth of my business. They all stem from the same thing. It’s all about taking action. And I am a firm believer that the more I take action, the more I achieve.

And what I mean here is that implementation is key. Learning is a very valuable thing and something I treasure in life, but if we don’t actually do anything with that learning, I don’t feel that we move into our true power of creativity. Now, when we take action, I’ve often been referred to as a very pragmatic person. And I think it’s true. I think that I have a very decisive nature. I’m very determined and I’m very disciplined. And I think this has lent itself to me being a digital marketer, but also a very effective person in a business.

Now, it doesn’t just mean me working on my own business, but in a client’s business too. Because when I take action, I am focused on every activity I do, every effort I put out by doing the best I can. And so are most people in the world, but this becomes or can become a little bit of a frustration where you become a doer. We were brought up in a world where we are told that if we work hard, we will get the fruits of our labor and good things will come. It took me a very long time to realize that it was specific actions I needed to take and not just being busy, but being very strategic about the actions that I actually implemented.

And what do I mean by this? Well, I mean stepping back and actually looking at my day-to-day, and looking at what actually has built my business, what has achieved my goals, and removing all of the futile actions, the tasks that don’t do anything, the tasks that just make me a busy fool. This is something I constantly have to work on because I’m a people pleaser. I want to deliver and I want to excel, and I want to do the best for me, my friends, my family, my clients. But this can often lead me into a trap whereby I just end up doing, doing, doing, doing.

And because I’m very disciplined, I wasn’t really taking the breaks that I needed to do. My diary was filling up. So action is definitely a factor for success. So when I think about the three things that you or I need to be successful, action is definitely number one.

Belief in what you do

Number two is, belief. And this again is something that you may relate to. I have utter belief in what I do. I have utter belief in the results I can get for my clients. I have utter belief that when I put my mind to it, I will do what I set out to do. But sometimes I don’t have the inner belief in myself. And this sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Because I look at what I’ve done. I look at the things I’ve achieved and people might say, “Well, Dawn, you do speaking, you do consultancy. You’re out doing things all the time. How would you not believe in yourself?”

Well, sometimes it’s about the confidence that you have and understanding the perception of you versus other people’s perception. I think when, I maybe walk on stage. People are saying, “Oh gosh. There’s lots of people in the audience, or I couldn’t do that. Or that would be really scary.” And it’s not to say that I’ve never thought that myself. When I first started out was something that I really, really would do anything to avoid at all costs, but then I stepped into it. And I now really enjoy public speaking.

But what is this belief system? Sometimes I focus more on other people. And again, this is something you may do yourselves, than I do on myself. So I believe that I can transform a vision into reality. And I have the confidence behind that ability, but sometimes my own self-confidence is not where it should be. And what I mean by this is, that we forget to celebrate some of our successes. We forget what we’ve achieved. Sometimes we have to take a step back and actually believe in ourselves, because if I’m doing something for a client and I’m implementing a strategy, or I’m doing a VIP strategy or running a retreat, I know that I’ve put my absolute into that.

And sometimes we beat ourselves up with our inner voice, don’t we, that maybe I’ve not done enough exercise that day. And I start to focus on the negatives and forget all of the amazing positives I’ve done. And sometimes people have to step out and say, “Dawn, you’ve done X, Y, and Z.” And just because I haven’t done one thing on my list, doesn’t mean that I’m not successful. It just means that today that those tasks didn’t win, but so many other things did.

Visualisation is a critical step

And then the last and final one is, visualization. This is such a critical step. It is so, so important because when I visualize something, that is when I truly step into it and I get so excited. I visualize everything I do. Even when I’m preparing a training course, I visualize delivering it. And I come into the voice in my own head where I’m talking it through and I’m getting some of my best ideas. When I go for a walk and I visualize something, I’m stepping into that situation and always playing a movie in my head. And for me, the visualization process is all about understanding what that looks like. What does it feel like?

So imagining that I’m able to do something, okay, and imagining what that would give me, that gives me the drive to actually set the goals, but also the drive to make it happen. So it becomes part of your life when you can visualize this entity and you start to live it and breathe it. And without visualization, I don’t think I would’ve been anywhere near as successful as I have been for me or my clients. Because for me, it’s understanding what the desired result is and really understanding that the aim of the vision and what that does. So when I think about vision, I think about, how do I want this to play out? What is it that I can see?

So it’s being immersive and really thinking about what does it feel like? Not just what does it look like? What does it feel like? And from a feeling of an emotion, to what it feels like. If you are visualizing going on holiday, you’re visualizing the sunshine and what that feels like on your skin. A little activity that I think will help with this, is that when you are looking at your three areas, your three things you need to be successful, is step into taking action.

Think about one thing that will bring you closer to achieving your goal

And just every day, think about one thing that will take you closer to achieving your goal and just have one thing in your mind. Don’t over complicate it. Don’t give yourself too many big things. Just give something that feels truly achievable and then believe in yourself. Remember what you’ve achieved, remember where you came from, what you overcame, the challenges and the struggles and embrace those as part of the journey. Don’t get hung-up on them, but use them as the power to step over and move forward.

And last but not least, visualize. Visualize what you want, dream big and make it happen. Now, I hope you enjoyed this episode because this one is really dear to my heart. And these three factors that influence success really do make a difference. And there’s something that if you are into journaling, or writing things down, or keeping track in some form of goal setting or diary situation, track how you feel and track how you take action. Track how you believe in yourself and track the visualization. And each time you visualize, does it feel like you’re getting closer and closer to it? Can you add something more exciting on and keep pushing forward?

And remember if anyone believes in themselves more than yourself, it is the people around you. So share the actions you’re taking, share your visualization. And I promise you, they will believe in you as much as you should believe in yourself.

So I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please come and share your stories of how you’ve taken action, and some of your visualizations and some of your dreams. And remember today is the start of something really, really exciting. And every new day holds new opportunities and new things that you can achieve for you, your friends, your families, your clients, and your business, and anything is possible.

Thank you for listening to Dawn of a New Era Podcast. And for your free checklist to find out how to boost your business for growth, profit, and success, and join our community, go to dawnmcgruer.com.