How could you accomplish a big goal that you have? The thing that seems impossible right now.
I’ve accomplished quite a few huge goals in my life, such as running 6 marathons, singing to my wife at my wedding in front of all of our family and friends, and starting my own web design agency.
The “secret” consists of 3 ingredients: commitment, dedicated time, and accountability.
One of the many things I’ve learned from Scott Adams is that there’s a difference between wanting and deciding. Sure you want your big goal, but have you decided to actually commit and do it?
For singing to my wife, I committed to it because it was a huge thing I could do for her to show her how much I loved her. I also imagined what my 80 year old self would think if I had chickened out of doing it. I blocked out at least a half hour everyday to practice singing. I would either practice notes, run through the song I picked, or meet with one of my teachers who held me accountable.
For marathon training I set up a training plan, I put it on my calendar, and if I have to run that day I run. I’m committed to it because I want to keep my yearly streak going as long as I can. I have the medals on my office wall that hold me accountable, I don’t ever want to see a year gap between them.
For starting my own web design company, while I was working a job I consumed many, many business books and watched YouTube videos of people who did the same. I also took action and I was working freelance on the side while also working my full-time job. I was committed because I am radicalized against the idea of working for someone else my whole life and relying on them not firing me in order to feed my family. Every morning when I had a full-time job, I would wake up and visualize what it would be like working for myself, and that’s what kept me accountable to actually doing it.
Accountability isn’t always another person holding your feet to the fire to make sure you’re going to do the thing you said you wanted to do. Accountability could also come in another form such as avoiding the shame you would feel if you didn’t get it done.
What do you want to accomplish?
Do you want to become a dentist? Google “how to become a dentist”, find out what you need to do, then dedicate time to it everyday. Literally put a block on your calendar and make it a habit that at that time, everyday, you make progress towards becoming a dentist. Eventually you’ll get there.