I should spend more time with my family. I should eat healthier, I should work less. All these sentences have in common that they are important things to strive for in life. While they are golden goals to strive for we always think about instead of focussing to work towards them .
Using the thought of “I should” promotes the thought that if everything lines up perfectly you are working towards the goal. Turn the thought into “I must”, force yourself to think about the obligation to work towards it. However don’t force yourself to eat like a top athlete but only to eat healthier. Your must has to be a little step, so you are not obsessed with your goal. From the moment you are thinking with these different thoughts you are allowing yourself to finish goals instead of only dreaming about them. Dreaming helps you to prioritze what is important for you, but sticking with dreaming causes more problems than that they solve.
Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. – Thomas Jefferson
The first step to achieve goals is by setting goals for yourself. Turn your “I should” into “I must” so you are transforming the thought into a goal. Solely setting the goal is no guarantee of completing it. Next is taking action from the moment you act on striving for your goal you are a step closer, make sure to take small steps regularly. The more frequent you act the more you are working towards your goal. Taking small but regular steps are preferred over big but infrequent steps. When you are focussed on taking steps frequently you are constantly working on it. Rather than think you are doing something great by taking a big step a month you are taking tiny steps but with greater results. For example if you are learning how to drive a car you can choose to go on a long drive one day a month or you can go on a short ride every weekday. It is the latter that seems smaller but will give you the best results.
When you have to do something you are forcing yourself to take the next step instead of allowing to remain the same person. To determine the results that can be obtained think about when you are following a course and you “have to” prepare a task for the next day. The homework will be obligatory, if you don’t complete the homework you will feel the consequences. While you may not have wanted to do the homework you are doing it because you feel the pressure. You finished the homework and you are receiving the benefits of attempting to complete it correct. Obviously when you are not the one forcing yourself but rather have someone else pressure you the results will be not the greatest. Instead of needing pressure from others get yourself to perform the work so you are also getting the full benefits of the “I must” .