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So what’s holding you back from moving forward more quickly towards your goals? Likely you are reading this article because you want to learn something. You want to learn something that you can apply to your life or business, so that you can grow and move forward more quickly. You likely have goals that you have not achieved. One of the keys to moving forward will be to find out what is holding you back.

This is a question I ask myself from time to time. While I am making exciting progress towards many of my goals, there are some that I am not moving forward on as quickly as I would like. Self examination helps me look at these areas and ask: “What’s holding me back?”

While everyone will have unique factors that hold them back, there are a few things that many people have in common. Here are the things that most likely are holding you back.

1. No Clear Picture of the Destination

If you don’t have clarity about what you are trying to accomplish and where you are trying to go, you will not make significant progress. This is more than simply writing down a goal. It is having a crystal clear picture for what achieving this goal will be like. The difference is like the difference between a black and white photograph and a high definition video. Most people have goals that are like the black and white photograph. You know what you want, but you don’t have a vivid picture of it. Dream a little. Use your imagination. Turn that black and white photograph into a color photograph. Then dream some more and turn it into a movie. Then dream some more and turn your movie into vivid high definition. Your dream will have increased clarity and you will have more passion to move towards it.

2. You Don’t Know WHY

Another thing that might be holding you back is that you don’t know your WHY. Your WHY is the motivating reason behind the goals. It is the reason why you will spend extra time and effort working towards the dream. The WHY is not the dream itself, but all the reasons WHY you want to achieve the dream. The WHY is usually outwards focused – on the difference you can make for others, or the difference it will make for your family. Make sure you know your WHY clearly.

3. Self-doubt

This is a big one. It was the big one in the past for me, is still the biggest one today. While with success comes more and more self-confidence the self-doubt is still there, it is just in different forms. Self-doubt is the voice in your mind that limits you – that says you can’t achieve it, that suggests you won’t make it, that you don’t have the skills and that it won’t work. Self-doubt causes you to focus on your weaknesses rather than your strengths. Self-doubt is a deadly poison for people working towards a big goal. If you let this limiting belief take over you will slow down and stop pursuing your dreams. You need to recognize self-doubt as an attitude that you can control. Focus on your strengths, and remind yourself that you can achieve your goals. Have a support system around you and train them to give you positive reinforcement about your abilities and strengths.
Bonus article: Six Steps to Defeating Self-doubt

4. Lack of consistency

Pursuit of a goal requires consistent effort. While there are times when a focused spurt can be valuable, in general it is much more effective to work at something continuously over time.  Consistency helps you to maintain steady growth. The best way to improve your consistency is to have clear goals that you break down and pursue on a weekly basis and that you break down into daily activities. (For one example, see my weekly planning and goal setting system).

5. Procrastination

Everyone struggles with procrastination. Anytime you put off doing what you know you should be doing you are procrastinating. It is something that controls many of us more than we even realize. The more you are able to move past procrastination the more quickly you will reach your goals in every area of your life. Often people procrastinate on what they view as the little things; however these little things soon add up to become very big things. Procrastination occurs when you take your focus off the importance and benefit of doing the task at hand. When you do this, the negative aspects of the task appear larger than the benefits, and then you won’t do it. You need to focus back on the benefits of what you are doing. Often it helps to just get started, even doing a little. Once you are in the state of action, more action will easily follow.

So what’s holding you back? Is it one of these five things? Is it all of them? Is it something else? Take this opportunity to do a proper self-examination. Understand what is holding back, and work towards eliminating these.

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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Have you ever gone through a period where you just don’t feel like you are accomplishing anything?

Have you ever had a time where you suddenly are not doing the things that you know you need to do to reach your goals?

Have you ever gone from a period of high achievement to suddenly doing nothing at all?

Have you ever had a time when you seem to have lost your motivation?

Have you ever just felt drained and have been not sure how to get back into life?

It is easy to get into a slump in life. All of these situations are symptoms of a slump. In a slump you are not making progress towards your goals.  In a slump you get out of the habits that help you accomplish important things.  In a slump you feel like you are just treading water, not moving through the water.

There are several things that might move you into a slump.  You may get into a slump because:

• you overwork yourself
• you have gone through a major change in life and you have not adjusted your habits around this life change
• you failed to reach an important goal
• you are exhausted
• you had something interrupt your regular life pattern for a period of time
• you got distracted and started pursing things that are not important
• you set goals that were too high and unreasonable and you don’t move towards them because you believe you can’t achieve them anyways

The good news is that once you recognize that you are in a slump there are some concrete steps you can take to move on and back into progressing towards your goals.

1. Understand how you got into a slump

Moving out of a slump starts with an understanding of how you got into the slump in the first place.  Take some time to reflect on what got you into the state you are in.  Perhaps it was one of the things listed above, or perhaps it is something else.  You need to grasp the cause of your slump if you want to move out of it. Recognizing the cause will help you put in safe guards to protect it from happening again.

2. Pick a start date

Look a couple of days ahead on your schedule and pick a day where you don’t have anything major planned.  You don’t necessarily need an open schedule, just some free time.  Perhaps it is a day with fewer meetings and obligations, or a free evening.  Choose this as your REstart date. Don’t give yourself too much time ahead of your start date, two to three days is ideal.

3. Revisit your goals

Spend some time rereading your goals.  Look over your long term goals as well as the goals for the current quarter of the year.  If you don’t have goals now is a great time to write them down. If your goals are no longer appropriate, use this time to set new goals. Make sure that you have goals that you want to achieve, believe you can achieve and are committed to achieving.

4. Spend some time dreaming

After revisiting your goals spend some time dreaming about achieving those goals. Imagine you are living your perfect day, what would be like? What would life be like if you achieve the major goals you are working towards?  How would life be better?  To dream like this you need to get away from distractions. You may want to go for a walk, or go and lie down in a park.  You may want to talk a hot bath.  Find some way of doing nothing except dreaming.  Allow your imagination to take over. Get a clear picture in your mind about what achieving your goal will be like.

5. Get rid of life clutter

Before your REstart day you need to make sure you get rid of the clutter in your life. This involves getting your work environment and home environment to a place where you can function.  This might mean cleaning your house, doing those errands that you have been procrastinating on or cleaning your desk. You need to get rid of anything that is going to stop you or distract you from restarting towards your goals. Remember this must happen BEFORE your start date.  This is one of the reasons you should choose a start date a day or two out is that you need to make sure you get your life free of clutter.  Once your start date comes you don’t want to be worrying about the little things.

6. Set some basic starter goals

These should be small goals that will help you get moving, things that you can complete quickly and that do not rely on outsiders for your success or failure; in other words things that you can do yourself.  These are important because they help you start getting some successes under your belt, to get feeling good about yourself and start gathering momentum. These can be easy goals.  The point is not to make them too challenging, but to get you started on something.

7. Get started

Next you need to get started. You might not feel like doing anything, but you need to just start doing them.  Often action causes feeling – the more you do something the more you feel like doing something. The first step is often the hardest, the one that takes the most energy.  Take that first step and get started.

8. Build back into your daily habits

Once you start moving again you need to work on bringing back your daily habits that help you be successful. Start getting up at your optimal wake up time.  Develop your morning routine.  Set your daily to do list, and your weekly goals.  Get back into your work out habit.  Do whatever it takes to reestablish the key habits that help you move towards your goals.

By following these eight steps you will be able to break out of your slump.  You can get back on track towards your goals, and you can achieve success.

Written by:

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Ok, so now Danny must really be going crazy you think. Isn’t gravity what holds us to the earth? Isn’t that a good thing? Well yes, and no.  Yes it is good that we have gravity to keep us from floating off into outer space, but don’t you ever have times that you wish you could just defy the law of gravity and fly. I mean really fly! Fly above the beautiful earth we live on; fly through the valleys and over the amazing mountains. You would marvel at the beauty of creation and you would be away from all the struggles of life!

The same applies to you as you pursue your goals. If you want to FLY you need to break the law of gravity. The law of gravity I’m talking about here is the gravity that comes from negative people and things that are trying to hold you where you are at. They are trying to keep your feet on the ground and keep you were you are now– they are your gravity! There are several types of gravity to avoid: the negative family member or friend; the gravity of negative self image; and the gravity of life’s distractions.

The first type of gravity often comes from a negative friend or family member. This person is likely very well meaning, in fact the likely want the best for you. The problem is they usually want their best for you – not what you might know as best.  They are likely trained in the 40/40/40 mindset. That is the 40 hours a week, 40 weeks a year for 40 years – and boom you get to retire! They don’t mind the idea of spending 60000 hours of your life working for someone else! They don’t really mind having to leave the kids at home while you go to work!

Often the best way to handle this type of gravity is to prove them wrong – as Nike says, “Just Do It!” When they see you start to have the success you’ve dreamed about often this person will come around. If it is your spouse sometimes you will have to be a little more patient. It might be worth asking him or her for permission to give the your goal one-year, or at least six solid months of effort. There will be sacrifices in working towards your dream, and getting permission to make those sacrifices for a one-year period can often give you the time you will need to prove that the goal is worthwhile.

The next form of gravity that can prevent you from seeing success in life is a negative self-image. Not believing in yourself can actually be the biggest form of gravity you will face. I believe the first important step here is to realize that your negative beliefs in yourself are irrational and are going to hinder you from success. Choose NOT to believe those negative thoughts. Make a DECISION to move past it.

There are a few practical steps that can help you: First off, listen to positive motivation and self-improvement tapes and read similar books (see my top books choice here and my top podcasts choice here). These can really make a difference. Secondly, don’t compare yourself with the top performers. A golfer who is used to shooting in the 80’s does not compare himself with Tiger Woods – that would only be more discouraging. Instead he or she tries to beat their personal best. They can still make it all the way around the course (which is a success in itself), and they can still try to do better and better. If that same golfer shoots a 78, they have an even bigger success. A lot of times when I am coaching people towards a goal they get disappointed if they don’t immediately see success.  You should look for continuous improvement towards your goal, not necessarily getting there day one.

A third form of gravity that can hold you down and keep you from really soaring are the distractions of life. Everyone has them. The number of things we have to keep us busy naturally expand to the amount of time we have. There is no such thing as spare time – in my experiences it doesn’t exist. So the key is as Stephen Covey says, put “First Things First”. First things naturally need to include your faith, your family and perhaps you job. Immediately following those things, I suggest that you give your primary goal a high priority. Finally the idea of ‘First Things First’, can also be applied WITHIN the goal you are focused on. Know what activities are critical in moving you forward, and then focus on those activities. Do not focus on things that will not provide you with results.

What is the gravity that is holding you down? What is keeping you from soaring to new heights and reaching your goals? Is it one of the examples listed here? Is it something else? Whatever it is, the key is to realize what is holding you down and break past it. Make a decision today that nothing will hold you down from reaching your goals and do whatever it takes to move past the Gravity, and soar!

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache

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Self-doubt is one of the things that most holds people back from achieving more success in their life and business. It is something that everyone, even people who appear very successful may battle with self-doubt. The further ahead you are towards reaching your goals the more you will have conquered self-doubt. With more success comes more confidence and less self-doubt, but you need to eliminate some of that self-doubt before you can succeed in the first place. There are several ways to help defeat the demons of self-doubt from your life.

1. Make Small Promises and Keep Them

One of the best ways of fighting self-doubt is by making small promises. These may be promises to yourself or to others. This can be an effective technique in creating momentum in your life. What is a task that you need to accomplish? Set a plan for completing that task, give yourself a deadline and then promise yourself that you will do that task. Once you have made a promise to yourself in this manner, make sure you do everything within your power to keep your promise.

Making yourself promises has the opportunity to build fantastic momentum but if you make promises you do not keep it will result in increased self-doubt not diminished. That is why you should make small steps in your promises. The promise needs to be something that is easy and manageable for you. It might be as simple as making one sales call each day, or writing one blog post each week.

After you have completed what you have promised yourself you will build on that success by making another small promise to yourself and keeping that. Keeping one small promise after another eventually leads to momentum and big success in your business.

2. Turn the Promises Into Small Achievable Goals

Once you are comfortable choosing tasks, promising yourself that you will complete them and then finishing them by the deadline you have set, it is time to move towards setting goals. Make sure that you focus on setting small achievable goals. Nothing helps to erase your self-doubt than reaching a worthwhile goal. Start with small goals, achieve them and then slowly increase the challenge of the types of goals you set. As you progress you will build momentum and confidence in life.

3. Put Others First

Another way of getting rid of self-doubt is to take the focus off of yourself and place your focus on others. Instead of focusing on what you can do for your own business or to achieve your own goals, focus on how you can help others. One of Zig Ziglar’s most famous quotes is that,

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”

Notice here that the focus is on other people, not on you. Further, by focusing on others there is no time to dwell on your own limitations and concerns.

4. Focus on the Positive

Many times the reasons for our self-doubt is that we are focusing on the negative things of life. You may be focusing on everything that is going wrong rather than what is going right. We are focusing on our weaknesses rather than on our strengths.  Simply reversing this process can go a long way to eliminating much of the self-doubt from your life. You need to train your mind to only remember the positive. Focus on your success not on your failure. You need to learn from you failures and move on.

Successful people face rejection everyday. You face rejection when seeking financial funding for a business, you may face rejection when trying to make a sale, or you may face rejection from a boss or coworker. The reason for your success is your ability to completely forget about most of this rejection. Successful people learn from all of their mistakes but focus on their victories. After all if you dwell on the negative things that have happened to you in the past, you will never be willing to move forward. This same principle applies throughout life. If you focus on all the car accidents that happen in the world there is no way you’ll be able to drive your car – instead you focus on the fact that most times you go for a drive nothing happens.

5. Focus on Your Strengths

Make sure you are focusing on your strengths not your weaknesses. During periods of self-doubt you will likely find that you are irrationally focusing on all your weaknesses and ignoring your strengths. Chances are you have you have many more strengths than you realize. Work on continually thinking about how your strengths can be contributing to the growth of your business or achievement of your goals. If you have trouble with this take some time and meditate on all the strengths you bring to the table. Write these down. Take this even one step forward by having people around you tell you about the strengths they see in you.  You can also use this technique to lower the self-doubt in those around you. Many times you will see strengths in others that they do not see in themselves. You can make a big difference by helping them see the strengths that they might not see easily.

6. Attitude

Although the above ways of defeating self-doubt all are to some extent or another reliant on your attitude, it is important enough that it deserves attention on its own. One of my favorite sayings in business is that “attitude is everything.” Nothing affects your self-doubt more than your attitude. In fact self-doubt is an attitude of its own. It is a very limiting attitude that you place on yourself.

Thankfully attitude is a CHOICE. Each day you can choose what attitude you are going to follow. Make sure you start each day with a positive, “I can do it” attitude. Always believe that you can achieve your goals. Always believe the best in people, and always focus on the positives. Learn from the struggles and focus on the victories.

Always be working on your attitude. Manage your attitude by reading positive material, listening to motivating audio tapes and choosing to make it a daily goal, become the leader in attitude for your team. (See my article 10 Tips for Maintaining a Positive Attitude)

By making and keeping small promises, setting and achieving worthwhile goals, putting others first, focusing on the positive, focusing on your strengths and managing your attitude you can greatly diminish the effect of self-doubt in your life. Now take the focus off yourself for a minute and think about ways you can help eliminate the self-doubt you see in those around you. Encourage them to take these steps towards eliminating self-doubt.

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Earlier this week I took the GMAT. The GMAT is an exam similar to the SAT or GRE. It is designed for students about to enter business school, often for MBA studies, or in my case PhD studies. Preparing for the GMAT has been a primary focus in my life over the past month and the completion of it is an exciting accomplishment for me. In reflecting on the experience there are many life lessons that can be learned from how to be successful on the GMAT. Each of these life lessons can be applied as you look for success in any area of life.

1. Set A Goal – I am convinced that all successful endeavors start with a goal. Your goal should be clear, specific, and dated. For me, the goal was to score over 700 on the GMAT. This would put me in a high ranking and make me competitive for most PhD programs. Do you have a clear goal set for what you are pursuing?

2. Revise Your Goal as Needed – As the exam date approached, it became obvious that I could exceed my goal. On some practice exams I was scoring over 700. I revised my goal to 730. I knew that this would open up even more doors. In the end I scored a 750, putting my effort in the 98th percentile. Should you raise a previous goal because it is too easy for you?

3. Have a Plan – Based on my goal I established a clear plan. My plan involved one month where I would take three hours each day studying. I would focus on my areas of weakness while still giving some attention to my strengths. Early on I would do a few practice exams, but by the last week I would be doing practice exams every other day. Do you have a plan in place to achieve your goals?

4. Have a Support Team – My achievement would not have been possible without a sport team. This started with the support my wife gave me. She was an encouragement at all times, often believing in me more than I believed in myself. Beyond that, I enlisted a group of friends who encouraged me and spent time praying for me on the exam day. Who is your support team? How can you encourage them to help you achieve your goals?

5. Have a Fixed Deadline – After I booked my exam date I knew there was no going back. I had “burned the ships.” I had talked about taking the test for a while, but until I booked a date and established the deadline I never got serious. As soon as the date was fixed I got to work. There was no more wasting time. It would cost $250 to change the date and I wasn’t willing to do that. My deadline was fixed and so I got to work. Do you have a fixed deadline for achieving your goals? If not, set one now, and provide an external source of accountability so you can’t change your deadline.

6. Use all the Resources at Your Disposal – In my preparation I used many study resources. I purchased a study guide that had a CD-Rom to accompany it. I download free software and practice exams, and I went to free discussion forums online. I took every practice exam that I could get my hands on. Do you use all of the resources around you to reach your goals?

7. Don’t Neglect Other Areas of Your Life – Sometimes singular pursuit of a goal can result in dropping the ball in other areas of your life. In preparing for the GMAT it was important that I didn’t neglect things like my health and fitness. I worked out consistently, making sure that I would be physically prepared for the four hour exam. Many times different areas of your life are more connected than you think. I also continually pursued my other life goals, making some major achievements during this same time. My weekly goal setting program helps to keep a handle on all of these areas of your life. Are there areas of your life that you are neglecting?

Written by:

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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Imagine that you take the top archery expert in the world out to the archery range. This person has won Olympic gold medals and countless other competitions. You get out to the range and you take this expert to the firing line. You then pull out a blindfold and place it on the expert, spin the expert around several times, and have him take his shot. You don’t point him towards the target, or offer any guidance. How likely is he to hit the target, not to mention the bulls-eye? He is not very likely to hit anything, of course.

Now imagine that instead of blindfolding the archery expert, you take him out to the range on a very foggy day. It is impossible to see the targets in the distance. In fact you can only see a few feet forward. This time the expert is able to stand at the shooting line and aim in the direction that the targets are. He is not able to see exactly where they are, or how far away they are. How likely is he to hit the target? The bulls-eye? Certainly he is more likely to hit something than when he shot in a random direction, now at least he is aiming the right way. Of course, it is still very unlikely that he will hit the target or bulls-eye; at least not very often. He might get lucky once in a while, but that is all it would be – luck.

A third time you take this archery gold medalist to the range. This time there is fog, but not as thick. In the distance you can see the stand that the target is on. You can’t see the target exactly, but you know where it is. You certainly can’t see any of the circles on the target, or the bulls-eye. The archery expert steps up to the shooting line and fires. What would you expect this time? Likely the expert would find the target with most of his shots. He may even hit the bulls-eye once or twice, but for the most part he would just be somewhere on the target. Overall, he is getting closer.

A fourth and final time you take the archery champion to the shooting range. This time it is a clear sunny day. There is no fog, and there are no clouds. You did not bring a blindfold along or anything to impede the view of the archer. He takes his time setting up, moves to the line and fires. What would expect now? Naturally he hits the bulls-eye. He fires several arrows all of them hitting the bulls-eye or just off. He is the champion after all!

“You will me 100% of the shots you don’t take” – Wayne Gretzky

This story represents how people pursue and achieve goals. The first example of the blindfolded archer represents the person who has no goals. This person does not have any clear purpose or direction in life. They don’t know where the target is, or what they are really aiming for. Like the archer, they are unlikely to hit anything. They are unlikely to achieve what they really want in life. At some point in life they likely will remove their blindfold and realize that there was a target all along. They just didn’t know where it is. There was something they wanted to achieve in life, they just didn’t know it.

In the second situation the archer was in a deep fog. He knew the direction to the target but that is all. This is the person who has an idea about what they would like in life but have no clarity around the situation. They have not taken the time to think through what their goal or dream really looks like. Like the archer, this person may hit the target once in a while, but when they do it is simply because they got lucky.

The third story is a big step forward. In this case the archer was able to see the outline of the target stand, but target itself was still not clear because of the fog. This represents the person who has a goal, knows their goal, but has never written it down and clarified it. Their goal is only in their mind. As such, they may likely get close to their goal – getting on the target board many times – but they are unlikely to hit the bulls-eye, at least not very often.

The final story then represents the person who has crystal clear clarity about their goal. They know exactly what they want to achieve. Their goals are written, dated and specific. They have a plan in place for achieving it. This person will hit their goals most of the time. Sure, sometimes they will miss by a little, but even then they are at least close to what they were aiming for. They had a clear picture of their goals.

One final part of the story is the archery champion. What does it take to become a champion? To become someone who hits the bulls-eye most of the time? It takes hours and hours of practice, a support team and a motivation to be the best. The same is true for you. If you want to be a champion at reaching your goals, you need to practice. You need to surround yourself with a support team and have the persistence and motivation to keep going even when you face challenges. Then take the shot, and keep on shooting.

“The difference between a big shot and a little shot is that a big shot’s just a little shot that kept on shooting. “- Zig Ziglar

So how clear are your goals? Are you wearing a blindfold shooting aimlessly at a target you aren’t even sure is out there? Are you in a deep fog, only knowing the direction you want to go, but having no real clarity about what you want in life? Are you in a light fog, able to see the goal in your mind, but the clarity that comes from writing it down? Or are you out in the sunlight clearly looking at your target?

If you are anything other than the last person, today is the time to change that. Write down your goals, put a date on them, make them specific, and develop a plan for achieving them. Remove the blindfold, get rid of the fog, and stare down your goals in the bright sunlight that comes with perfect clarity.

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The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
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For years people believed it was impossible. It was impossible that a man could run a mile in under four minutes. Doctors and Scientists said that the human body could not possibly achieve such a feat; some suggested that the body would break apart before such a speed could be reached. Everyone agreed: the four minute mile was not possible.

Well, not quite everyone. After breaking the 1500m record (the mile is 1600m) Roger Bannister started to believe. He started to believe that the four minute mile could be broken. And that belief made all the difference. It led to increased training and an all out effort to break the barrier.

Then on May 6, 1954 this happened:

Roger Bannister had done it. He had broken the four minute mile; a barrier thought impossible. Now he had proven that it could be done. Other people now had the evidence that the four minute mile could be broken.  Other people had the belief.

In the days and years that followed, that belief turned into results:

• Just 46 days later Jim Landry of Australia broke the record again.
• Less than two months after that both Landry and Bannister both broke four minutes in the same race
• Since then thousands of people have run the mile in under four minutes
• In the next 30 years the record was broken 16 more times
• The record now stands at 3 minutes and 43 seconds
• Even high school students have broken the four minute mile
• In 1997 Daniel Komen of Kenya double the feet running TWO miles in LESS THAN EIGHT minutes.

Each of these feats took Roger Bannister breaking the record to show the way. To show them that it was possible. To break the barrier that others had put up. Once the barrier was broken by Bannister, everyone else followed suit.

What is your “Four Minute Mile”?

What is the thing in your life that everyone thinks is impossible? What is the thing that you keep hearing can’t be done? Maybe you even believe it. Perhaps it is a goal you have given up on, or a sales target you think can’t be achieved. It might be the next step to success in your field.

Your four minute mile might even be something that others have accomplished. It just might seem impossible to you. You need to treat this goal as a four minute mile, and know you can do it, that you can break your four minute mile.

“Every time I ran the mile I was aware of my own weakness, there was some opponent who could give me a hell of a fight, so I never went into a race with a sense of invincibility. I always had that feeling of fragility and nerves which made me run faster.” – Roger Bannister.

Lessons From Bannister’s Four Minute Mile

1. You need support

Bannister didn’t do it by himself. As you see when you watch the video, he had teammates to help pace him. They went out and set the early pace for Roger to follow. Behind the scenes he had coaches, training partners, and a support system. To break your four minute mile you need support. Bring the right people around you that can help push and encourage you towards success.

2. Facing criticism

Bannister faced significant criticism as he worked towards his goal. First, he faced criticism that came from having a goal that everyone though was impossible. He was wasting his time. Pursing an impossible goal is a waste! He also faced criticism about his unorthodox training methods. People had an understanding about how to best train for these kinds of races, and Bannister wasn’t following those methods. Roger faced this criticism and went right past it. He didn’t let the criticism affect his belief and the way that he saw his goal.

3. Push through the pain

Reaching any worthwhile goal requires pain and discomfort. In athletics that is often a physical pain, but your pain might be emotional or mental stress. Pushing through the pain and getting out of your comfort zone is vital to success. Bannister said:

“The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.”

4. Barriers are often mental not physical

Scientists believe that the barrier to reaching the four minute mile was a physical barrier. It was not. It was a mental barrier. No one broke the four minute mile, in part because no one thought it was possible. Certainly it wasn’t easy, but it was possible. The same is often true for our goals. What we think we can’t achieve is really only a mental barrier, not a physical barrier. If you believe in your abilities you can achieve far more than you imagine.

What is your four minute mile? It is likely something that you think you can’t do. A goal you think you can’t reach. It is mental. To break through and beat your four minute mile you need to start by believing. Believe that it is possible. Once you have that belief you will still need to work hard. You will need to train, face criticism and push through the pain. But by surrounding yourself with a support team and persevering, you can break your four minute mile.

I’ll leave you with this inspirational video that helps apply Bannister’s four minute mile to life:

Written by:
Danny Gamache – The Success Professor
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You can do a lot of things in 31 days. This is amplified if you focus those 31 days on improving one area of your life. By focusing in on one thing you want to change or do, and making it a priority for 31 days, you will make lasting life changes.

During the next 31 days you could:

• learn a new skill
• lose weight
• create a new habit (getting up early, exercising, etc..)
• start a new business
• put in massive action on your current business
• read several life-changing books (see my top ten book list)
• start, improve and grow your blog
• reinvigorate your marriage
• dramatically increase your website’s exposure
• start a debt free plan
• simplify your household possessions
• conquer a fear

Naturally the list keeps going. You can do so much in 31 days.

Guess what?

August is about to start, and it has 31 days!

What are you going to do in August?

The Success Professor’s 31 Day Challenge

During the month of August, this blog will be hosting a challenge. The challenge is for readers to pick something to focus on during the next 31 days to change your life.

The concept is pretty simple:

• You pick something in your life that you want to do or change in the next 31 days.
• You share in the comments of this article what you will change as part of the challenge
• You get started and do what you set out to do
• You report back how you are progressing

Throughout the month, this blog will feature several update posts. These will be opportunities for you to post your update and record your progress and challenges. The purpose is to provide you with the motivation and the accountability to make a change, to do something important and to make the next 31 days extremely valuable. Further, during each of these updates, I will profile one participant by sharing about their goal and experiences.

What I Will be Doing For the 31 Day Challenge

Naturally, I will participate in the challenge myself. My focus for this challenge will be to make improvements to and grow this blog. I will be following the guide book created by ProBlogger, Darren Rowse, called “31 Days to Build a Better Blog.” My hope is that you will notice the difference. I hope that you will see me in more places on the internet, and that many others will join us in this community. I will use the challenge updates to report on my progress as well.

If you are a blogger, you may want to join me in using the 31 days in the Success Professor’s 31 Day challenge to improve your blog. Pick up the ProBlogger workbook and comment below. There will be an optional email list set up for the people who are working towards a better blog this month. This will provide an extra support platform for this goal.

So what’s next?

Pick the one thing you will change, improve, or do in the next 31 days.
Share what you will work on in the comments below.
Get started!

The Success Professor – Danny Gamache
If you liked this article, leave a comment below, or subscribe by RSS!
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