plan your success

The Metamorphosis Challenge

The Metamorphosis Challenge

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Everyone wants to change their lives for the better. Most people fail to do so because they don’t have a vision for what they actually want. If you don’t have a vision for where you want to be in life; then you won’t know what you need to do and how to act to achieve your goals. You fail in your metamorphosis; you fail the challenge of transformation and you remain stuck where you are.

The best time to start changing your life is now. Do the Metamorphosis Challenge to help you figure out what you want in life and what you can do to start your transformation.

The challenge consists of only 3 habits that you need to integrate into your daily routine for 30 days or even more. Each habit can be used independently but they are best used together. You can also choose the order in which you do each one. The important thing is to practice them consistently.

Visualize Your Dream

Take the time to visualize your dreams. Set aside time in the morning upon waking up and/or before going to bed to visualize. This is how you create a vision for your future. Developing a meditation practice helps with this. During your meditation, imagine what your dream life will be like.

“Nothing happens unless first a dream.”

— Carl Sandburg

Pretend that you have already succeeded in your goals. Now, close your eyes and visualize what it is to live the life of your successful self. To get started, you can visualize your ideal day.

Imagine your ideal day from waking up to going back to sleep. How do you feel upon waking up? What do you have for breakfast? What activities do you do throughout the day? Who are the people you are interacting with? What do you do before going to bed?

Remember to use all your senses in your visualization. How do your clothes feel when you go to work? What is the taste and smell of the food you’re eating? How does your office smell? What is the texture of the fabric of your laptop bag? How do your bedsheets feel as you settle yourself to sleep? You can be as detailed as possible. It’s your imagination, so you don’t have to scrimp on the details.

You’re trying to craft your dream life, your successful metamorphosis, so challenge your imagination. If you are finding it hard to concentrate on your visualization, then try to relax your mind and body by immersing yourself in a pleasant activity or indulging yourself in a hobby. You can do something fun for yourself or enjoy games with the family. Then, when you’re in a better mood, sit down in a quiet place and visualize.

Put Your Dreams on Paper

Each one of us has an idea of what we want our life to be. However, we don’t take the time to document it so we end up forgetting them. Some of us want to wait for a sign from the Universe before making plans. Others want to make the perfect plan in their minds first, before writing it down on paper. Don’t wait! Arm yourself with a notebook and a pen and use them.

The Universe is always whispering to you but unless you learn how to recognize it, thru meditation for example, then you won’t recognize the signs. Sometimes, the sign is an inspiring thought or idea that just comes into your head without you consciously thinking about it. This is called “inspiration”.

You won’t see an actual “muse” and hear it speaking to you, but an idea just pops into your head and it may feel weird or you may feel good about it. It may also come from your dreams and you vaguely remember it when you wake up. Write that idea down. Don’t think too much about it. Just document it on paper. Make a list, write a paragraph, a phrase; just write it down. You will realize where it fits into your plans later on.

Don’t wait to come up with a perfect plan in your head – it will never come. The human brain is only capable of processing the facts and experiences that you have personally accumulated. One person’s brain can never account for all possibilities because no one has a monopoly on knowledge and experiences.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Work on what you can control. Write down your plan, no matter how rough, of what you want and how to go about doing it, with what you have at the present moment. Your plan might not be perfect but it is a good starting point. As a human being, you are capable of adjusting to the situation if your plan encounters some road blocks or needs to be changed.

From a rough plan, you can also plan your daily activities. Then you can make a weekly, monthly, and even yearly plan of the milestones you need to accomplish so you can reach your goals. Working on your metamorphosis is a challenge that requires a lot of effort but it will be worth it.

Change One Thing at A Time

There are many factors that need to be in place in order for us to succeed in transforming our lives. We won’t be able to put everything in place at the same time but we can start changing one thing at a time.

For this challenge, there are already 2 habits that you need to make room for in your daily schedule. Instead of doing something unproductive, swap your unproductive habits and replace them with visualization and planning. Then do one more thing – make one other change to your personal habits and/ or your environment.

“Dreams don’t work unless you do.”

— John C. Maxwell

A major factor that you can immediately do something about is your environment. If you’re working in the office, declutter and clean your desk so you can be in a calm state of mind when you work. You can even try dressing differently so you can look and feel as professional as you can as you go about your job.

If you work from home, then setup your work space to optimize your productivity. You may want to clean and re-arrange your room so you wake up to an uncluttered, and organized room. Decide on what you can do to change your environment to put you in the right mindset for a productive day. Your metamorphosis starts from within but you need to transform your environment, your own cocoon, and make it conducive to your growth as well.

Another change that you can start adapting immediately is to organize your finances by creating a budget. You can also start eating healthier by planning your meals, getting more exercise, drinking more water, switching to natural ingredients in your personal hygiene products, keeping a gratitude journal, taking a sun bath in the morning, and many more.

You know your own habits so you know what’s good for you and what’s not. It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out what you need to change. The most important part of this challenge is how determined you are to change.

“A dream doesn’t become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work.”

— Colin Powell

There are so many things big and small, that you can do right now to start transforming yourself and your surroundings for the better. Your metamorphosis needs you to challenge your imagination, put in consistent effort and maintain your determination to succeed.

Focus on changing one thing, take things a step at a time, and you will find yourself transforming your life little by little. This is your metamorphosis. Take responsibility for your dreams today.


Updated: First published on 2020.08.01.
Featured Image: Original Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.

Posted by H.J. Rangas in Spiritual, 0 comments
Failure is Part of Success

Failure is Part of Success

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Failure is not the opposite of success; it is a stepping stone towards it. Failure allows you to learn so that you can be better prepared for achieving success.

A lot of us feel down after a failed attempt at a business or a career change but this shouldn’t be the case. Failing at something lets you see what to improve to increase your chances of success next time.

Failure is just there to point you in the right direction.

— Oprah Winfrey

An Experiment

Scientists often make experiments in their laboratory expecting for most of their attempts to fail. However, each failure gives them more information about what to do next so they get closer to the results they want to achieve for the next batch of experiments. They understand that failure is part of success. So they never quit and they go on experimenting until they get their desired results.

Failure helps you realize what is truly aligned with your deepest goals. Failure can even pave the way for new and better ideas that will bring you closer to the opportunities to help you succeed.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

— Robert Kennedy

A Review

So next time you fail at something; get up and review why you failed. Don’t feel down after a failure. Get back up and get ready to fail again. Just like any experiment, success is learned thru trial and error. An important thing to remember is to have fun in the process.

If you learn from defeat you haven’t really lost.

— Zig Ziglar

Another Chance

Try again but be prepared to accept and learn from your failure. Those nuggets of wisdom that you learn each time you fail, are what will bring you closer to achieving your goals or show you another path to your life’s dream.

In the meantime, you may want to start by defining or reviewing what success means to you and what failure means to you as well so you have a clear idea of the two. Then you can review your plan on how to succeed in your goals.


Updated. First published on Pinoy Smart Living on 2018.11.24.
Feature Image: Original Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels.

Posted by H.J. Rangas in Intellectual, 0 comments
The Big 3 Challenge

The Big 3 Challenge

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Are you making time to work on your dreams? All of us have a dream but most of us are not working on our dream. Instead, we are working daily to make other people’s dreams come true.

Why not work on our dreams right now? Take the Big 3 Challenge and start working on your dreams even as you go about your regular work activities.

Unless we make time for the things that are important to us, we will never be able to feel satisfied with our accomplishments for the day. We may have done so many things throughout the day but they don’t really contribute to our long-term goals or to realizing our dream.

The Big 3 Challenge

Your challenge is to take the time to plan out your day so you can launch yourself into action as soon as your day starts. Before you go to sleep, take a notebook, your journal or planner and sit down to write. Write down all the things that you need to accomplish the next day.

From your list, highlight the 3 big things that you need to accomplish on that day. These items are your Big 3 and you need to prioritize accomplishing these tasks. This means that even if you don’t check off all the things on your To Do list for that day, as long as these 3 things have been done, you can be satisfied with your day.

You should be able to come up with a Big 3 list for your work but you should also have one for working on your long-term goal. You may even list down a Big 3 for other aspects of your life such as for your health and finances.

There will always be many things that you think you need to do each day. However, setting your priorities will allow you to feel focused on the most important tasks so you can actually see and feel your progress. This also helps you to jump on to the next set of important tasks for the next day.

Finishing major tasks also gives you more motivation and confidence to tackle the smaller, not-as-important, but still necessary things that need to be done.

If you’ve already been practicing prioritizing your Big 3 daily, then level up your progress by taking on any of the Launch Challenges. See how you can use them to get closer to your goals and dreams.


Featured Image: Original Photo by Jack Hunter on Unsplash.

Posted by H.J. Rangas in Intellectual, 0 comments
How to Survive This Economic Crisis

How to Survive This Economic Crisis

Reading Time: 5 minutes

We are nowhere near the end of the Covid-19 health crisis yet we are faced again with another challenge – the economic crisis that was brought about by this pandemic. Millions of people around the world lost their jobs. Many businesses closed. It will take years before we can ever go back to the way it was before. The challenge now for many is how to survive this economic crisis?

I recently attended an webinar on Transformative Leadership. It was about developing business strategies on how to survive a crisis based on lessons from a leading conglomerate in the country. The key point is transformation. There is no way to survive this crisis without making some changes. Abandon the old model and create a new one. I found the lessons applicable on both businesses and individuals.

Here are my notes on the transformation guide and some insights and lessons on how you can apply them not only in your business but in your personal lives as well:

1. Ensure Financial Sustainability

The very foundation for everyone right now should be financial sustainability. Financial sustainability means being able to meet the cash flow requirements of the operations of the business or the monthly household expenses of the individual. There is no telling until when will this crisis last. So, liquidity is very important. It is time to cut down any unnecessary expenses and preserve cash.

For Businesses: Do you have enough cash? Do you have access to capital to continue operating your business? Do you have enough funds to continue paying your obligations? How to continue earning profit amidst the crisis?

For Individuals: How was your income affected? Do you have enough savings? Do you still have enough money to pay for your monthly household expenses? Are there already warning signs that you are living beyond your means? How to continue earning amidst the crisis?

2. Serve Customers

The customers are the foundation of any business. Knowing and understanding the customer needs at this time is essential for any business.

For Businesses: How will you be able to serve your customers without sacrificing your financial sustainability? There is no point continuing a business without profit. You also need to take into consideration that this is a health crisis. So, it is best to consider how to continue serving customers without putting their health at risk?

For Individuals: If your income was greatly affected by the crisis, it is time to look for other sources of income. Ask yourself, how can I serve others now using the skills and talent that I have? What can you offer to the community? Instead of chasing the money, focus on how you can be of help to others. Money is a by-product of the service that you rendered. The most successful businesses in the world addressed and solved an existing problem.

3. Protect Your People

The employees are the most important resource of any company. In these trying times, it is important that you have motivated and healthy people around you.

For Businesses: How do you protect your workforce? They are the ones who has a direct relationship with the customers; so, it is important that you protect your people. The success of any business heavily relies on customer satisfaction. In order to stay motivated to do their jobs, employees must first feel safe. Is their work environment safe enough?

For Individuals: Protecting your family and those who are dear to you should be one of your main concerns. It is hard to adjust to the new normal but it is the only way to stay healthy and safe during this crisis. Always remember that first and foremost, this is a health crisis.

4. Abandon the Old and Create A New Plan

Change is a necessary part of life. It is crucial for growth and success. However, it is also one of the hardest things in life. There is always that fear of the unknown. That’s why many people choose to stay in their comfort zone simply because it is familiar and comfortable.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 is here to stay. The world will not go back to 2019. Unless your industry benefited from the pandemic, it will be difficult to stay afloat and survive this economic crisis without some changes. Yes, it is ok to abandon the old plan and change to a completely different one.

For businesses: Assess your business model. Is it still applicable? If not, you need to abandon the old business model and create a new business plan for your company that will adhere to the new normal.

For individuals: Was your work greatly affected? Were your future plans and goals disrupted? Instead of merely just waiting for things to go back to normal, it is now time to reassess your goals and make some adjustments or changes. Redesign your life through a bucket list.

5. Come Up with a Transformation Recovery Plan

A total recovery will not happen overnight. Recovery would be done in stages. Without a plan, it will take longer to recover. This is also the time to have tough goals in order to make it through. Remember, your main concern now is SURVIVAL.

For Businesses: The business transformation recovery plan should include strategies and timeline. It should also include procedures and responsibilities. Tough goals include reduction in workforce, following strict schedules and time frames and coming up with new goals that are totally different from the past. Once in place, regular testing and validation should be done to make sure that the plan is working.

For Individuals: The transformation recovery plan for individuals should start by the creation of SMART goals based on the bucket list that you just made. To ensure success, your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based. Tough goals may include doing work that you have never done before.

6. Transform Corporate Culture

Corporate culture pertains to the shared values, beliefs and behaviors of a particular organization. The transformation recovery plan will only be successful if there is cooperation of all members of the organization. It is impossible to do it alone.

For Businesses: There will be a need to retrain people.You need to work hand-in-hand with your staffs. Make sure they understand. Make sure you are on the same page. You need the complete support of the organization to make it through the crisis.

For Individuals: Just like in businesses, the whole family should be in the same page. Each member of the family should understand what is going on. Everyone should do their share for the common goal.

7. Embrace Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is basically using technology to reach customers, transform processes and implement business solutions. The new normal would be heavily dependent online. That’s why, an online presence is essential for survival. Digitize what you can.

For Businesses: Do you already have on online presence? Can you reach your customers online? What part of your business processes can you digitize? Integrate digital technology in several areas in your businesses.

For individuals: Whether you are selling products or offering your services, you need to take advantage of the digital world. If you are looking into changing careers, there are lots of courses available online. The possibilities are all in your finger tips.

Good luck and let us all emerge from this economic crisis successfully!


Feature Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Images.

Posted by A.L. Jonas in Financial, 0 comments
How to Plan for Your Success

How to Plan for Your Success

Reading Time: 3 minutes

How is your year going so far? How are you progressing in your plans for this year? Maybe you need to adjust your plan. Maybe you need to make new plans. A plan is an important part to your success. It serves as a road map to guide you towards your goals.

If you do not have one yet or you need to make changes to a current plan, here are some tips on how to do it.

Define

First, you need to decide what your goals are. You can start by defining your goals for each aspect of your life. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Where am I in each aspect of my life right now?
  • What do I want to achieve in this aspect of my life?
  • How can I improve this aspect of my life?
  • Why do I want to achieve this goal for this aspect of my life?
  • How does this goal benefit other aspects of my life?

If these questions don’t work, then try to use your imagination. Ask yourself:

  • How does it feel like to have a successful life?
  • What does it look like to be the successful version of me?
  • What are the things that I do when I have become a successful person?

Simply put, how do you define your success?

You can put your goals on a vision board to remind you of your goals daily. You will end up with several goals but you will need to prioritize. Decide which aspect of your life you need to take action on right now and which can follow later. Focus on 2-3 key areas so you don’t get overwhelmed. Remember, you’re taking baby steps to improve your life so choose the top 2 or 3 for now.

Divide

Now that you have your goals, you also need to define the milestones for each goal. These become your smaller goals which you can divide according to a schedule. For example:

  • Long-term goal – the major goal that you need to accomplish in a year, or 3 years.
  • Medium-term goal – the smaller goal that you need to accomplish in 3 or 6 months time to help you get closer to the long-term goal.
  • Short-term goal – the even smaller goal that you need to accomplish each week or even daily so you can reach your medium-term goal.

When creating these goals, be sure to follow the S.M.A.R.T. method of goal-setting. This way, you can ensure that your goals are realistic and can be accomplished in a specific period of time.

Give yourself space to adjust to the new schedule. Don’t expect that you can just do it right away or perfectly each time. You’re the one setting your target dates so don’t be too stringent on yourself but don’t be too easy on yourself either.

Dedicate

You have your goals and you have a schedule on how to accomplish them. It’s time to put the effort into getting things done.

The short-term goals can be considered practice. These help to set you up for the medium-term goals and so on. Your short-term goals may consist of daily tasks that you have to learn to do consistently. Dedicate yourself to this and try not to miss a day.

You’re trying to discipline yourself into your new routine but don’t be too hard on yourself. If you miss a day, don’t beat yourself up about it and just resolve to do better the next day. You don’t want to burn out while trying to accomplish the goal. Of course, don’t forget to have fun while dedicating yourself to your goals.

Debug

While you’re trying to accomplish your goals, you may find out that some things don’t work well for you or don’t suit you. This shouldn’t stop you from going forward in your goals. This is the debugging process where you work out the kinks in your plan to make it easier for you to accomplish them.

For example, if you find out that exercising in the morning doesn’t work for you, then reschedule it for the afternoon or evening. Just replace your morning schedule with something else on your daily goals.

You will find that you need to do this constantly for your short-term goals. That’s why it is important to incorporate some time for adjustment when setting your goal targets. You may even need to reset your target date for some goals and that is just fine.

You can use this method for whatever goals you have, big or small, and in whatever path you are in your journey to success. The important thing to remember when planning for success is to be consistent. Keep showing up to accomplish your plan starting with your daily habits.

Don’t be too hard on yourself when you fail at times. Accept that some things won’t work out; try a different approach until it works out for you and keep moving forward.


Feature Image: Original Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels

Posted by H.J. Rangas in Occupational, 0 comments
30-Day Just Do It Challenge

30-Day Just Do It Challenge

Reading Time: 3 minutes

If you want to change your life for the better, you need to start implementing some changes now. Don’t wait until tomorrow or next year to start making some adjustments. Success does not happen overnight. It is a product of all the little things that you do daily. The sooner you start making some changes. the sooner you will be able to achieve everything that your heart desires. Start now! Dare yourself to do the 30-Day Just Do It Challenge!

Before you begin, you need to figure out what it is that you want. Start by creating a bucket list. It is a list of all the things that you want to accomplish and do in life. From the list, identify your priorities through the 5/25 Rule Challenge.

Once you have identified your priorities, it is now time to create your very own 30-day challenge. All of us have different goals and priorities. Your 30-day challenge should focus on what is important to you and on what particular area of your life that you want to improve first. It could be about your health, your relationship, your spiritual life, your career, your finances, etc. It all depends on you.

You need to focus. You need to start on one specific area of your life first. It would be difficult if you are trying to accomplish so many things at once. Focus on a single goal. Do not be destructed by other things. You also need to do it for 30 consecutive days. As a general rule, it takes a minimum of 21 straight days for something to become a habit. However, not all individuals are the same. Other people may take longer.

Here are example 30-day challenges that you can apply in some areas of your life:

Health and Beauty

During this pandemic, we have learned that health is the most important thing in life. Thus, your priority should always be how to keep yourself healthy and follow the rules to combat diseases. Your 30-day challenge could be:

  • Get at least 8 hours of sleep a day
  • Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water each day
  • Do exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.
  • Eat a balanced diet.
  • Clean face and put moisturizer before going to sleep.

Home and Living

A clean and organized environment is a necessary component of your overall wellness. Now that you finally have the time to stay at home, take this opportunity to declutter and clean your surroundings. Your 30-day challenge can include:

Money

Maybe you want to save for an emergency fund or for your retirement fund.Whatever your money goal, now is the perfect time to start setting financial goals for a better tomorrow. Here are sample challenges for financial improvement:

People and Relationships

Your relationship with yourself is important. It is the basis of your relationship with others. Equally important is your relationship with other people. A happy and healthy relationship with oneself and others are vital to our mental and emotional well-being. Here are some things that you can do to improve this aspect of your life.

  • Start a gratitude journal.
  • Call a friend or family member that you have not been in touch for so long.
  • Say “I love you” to people who are dear to you, “thank you”to those who have always been there for you and “I am sorry” to people whom you have offended.

Your future begins today so act now.


Feature Image by Sasin Tipchai from Pixabay Images

Posted by A.L. Jonas in Intellectual, 0 comments