Having a holiday! YAY

The other thing I’m doing is finishing book number 2.

Book 2 is all about the challenges that executive women experience with self promotion – and (super importantly) what they can do about it.

It’s been a long time in the writing. My editor wanted to get it finished before Xmas. Great in theory, but ….. it simply didn’t eventuate.

So I’m using the quieter weeks in December and January to tick this off of my to do list.

There is a saying “fortune favours the well prepared”.

So I’m highly prepared
✔️ Notes
✔️ Reference material
✔️ 15K word draft already written
✔️ Editor & publisher on standby
✔️ Chapter outlines
✔️ Willpower

But I know that willpower simply won’t be enough.  It’s the end of the year and I’m tired. My willpower is flagging. I’ll need something else.

DESIGN BEATS DISCIPLINE
Science tells us that willpower is a diminishing resource and despite best intentions, even with the best will in the world, unless you place great structures around your big goals and ambitions, willpower alone won’t be enough.

Just like a muscle, it can get worn out when over used.

Especially when it comes to self promotion – if you are tired and worn out at the end of the year, the last thing you might feel like is selling brand you.

Dan Gregory, speaker, commentator and acknowledged wit, says “design beats discipline.”

He goes on to explain that despite great intent and strong willpower people still struggle to do what they know they should.

For example, we know a lot about the link between exercise and being healthier and happier, yet many of us resist exercising.

Design beats discipline – so be sure to design out temptation, distraction or failure points –

• you wouldn’t keep Tim Tams in the cupboard if you were going on a diet

• you don’t order a delivery of Wine Selectors when you are doing Dry January

• and you don’t stay in a noisy holiday home with lots of distractions and competing family obligations, and no daily word targets, KPIs or accountability measures, when you want to finish writing your book!

SUCCESS IS NO ACCIDENT 
Why is it that we still believe that success is accidental? That we were lucky in some way, or that there were universal forces at play? Yet worse, when we miss a goal or deadline that we start believing that it’s our fault, we’re not good enough and asking “who am I to aim so high“?

Stop beating yourself up, feeling bad or giving up. Maybe it was that you were relying on willpower alone when you needed something different.

Instead, make your success your only viable option, by designing accountability, rigour and structures around your big goals and dreams to make them more easily achievable.

With that in mind – what structures, designs and accountability can you put in place to help you succeed more easily in 2019?

Vive la révolution!

#ambitionrevolution #LookOutCSuiteHereSheComes #feminineambitionrocks #success #career #executivebranding