Imagine a world where the first thought in everyone’s mind is “I’m going to achieve something outstanding today.”
We are often weighed down with the pressure of the expectations we put on ourselves. Ambition can be squashed by people around us who feel threatened and don’t want to see us shine. We can feel inundated with an overflowing inbox, meetings, social engagements, family commitments and a never ending To-Do List, to really create the drive we need to produce our best work day after day.
After all, that’s what we are aiming for, right? It’s no good doing great work for a day, a week, or even a month, if after that we let our standards slip. Consistency is king. We want to be the person others rely on to show up, deliver and make it happen. Be a doer not a talker. Be someone that makes it happen TODAY and doesn’t wait for that ever-illusive ‘one day’.
PC: Dean Alexander
How do we do this?
Harness Your Motivation
Focus on understanding what is important to you and why. Actively pursue the activities in life that ignite your internal fire, this fire drives everything else. This was got me hooked with adventure. I was always ambitious in my work but I found that climbing mountains, cycling London to Paris in 24 hours and completing triathlons ignited my fire, which fuelled my ambition. I harness my desire to be the best I can be, to help drive me forward when I find things tough.
Raise the Bar
Make the decision to raise the bar and commit to being the person that you want to be. Ask yourself “What can I do today that feels extraordinary to me?” That could be switching your phone off for an entire day so you have no distractions from your work all day. It could be committing to exercising before work three times a week. It could be saying yes to that big challenge you’ve been dreaming of/freaking out about for years, going on that trip you've always wanted to take, or starting your own business. Do it! Try different things out and see what has the greatest impact on your performance. Challenge yourself and you will see results. You will empower yourself to believe you can do more, and this will inspire and motivate you to raise your game.
Draw on your resilience
When life throws you a curve ball you have to find a way to soldier on. The only way to believe you are strong and resilient is to prove to yourself you are not a quitter. I learnt about my limits by challenging myself through adventure. My very first challenge was The National 3 Peaks. I remember thinking “If I can climb three mountains in 24 hours, what else can I do?” This empowered me to start exploring my limits, with seeing how far I could go, and then using what I learnt through adventure, to ask for more from myself and my life.
Today is your day
To achieve something outstanding today, we need to focus on TODAY. It’s the little things that add up to us reaching those milestones. It’s that daily commitment to who you want to be. I want to be a motivated and ambitious person who has the energy to invest in making stuff happen. That person is being built every day in small ways. Every time I exercise, every time I aim to deliver more than is required of me, every time I say yes to trying something that feels out of my league.
You are ready to deliver your best today. You don’t need to wait, you don’t need someone else’s approval, or for them to do it with you. This is your life and you know yourself better than anyone else does. You are ready and the world is ready for you.
I'm an Ambassador for PlanetK2 and The Performance Room. They deliver high performance coaching to help people like you and me think, prepare and perform like elite athletes. For more information and help on how to raise your game, check out their work and the infographic below. Have a think about the 'Performance Pie' and what you can do to give yourself the best possible chance to deliver your best!
Photo Credits to Tristan Shu from that incredible weekend when we shot at sunrise over Chamonix in the French Alps for my global campaign with Adidas Outdoor.