Freedom! What does it mean to you?
Perhaps it’s having plenty of money in the bank. Perhaps it’s being able to travel all over the world with no worries. Perhaps it’s having time to rest, relax or learn something new.
Whatever it means to you there are some steps you can take to achieve that freedom in your life.
Using each letter of the word FREEDOM, I have created a mnemonic to help you to Find Your Freedom in your life, however you perceive it.
F – Fear
The biggest obstacle to your success is your fears. Fear of success, fear of failure, fear of what ‘they’ will think of you, fear of the extra responsibility you might face.
To make headway towards Freedom you must recognize them and then overcome them.
Reframe your fears. Consider that FEAR could stand for Feeling Excited Anticipating Rewards. Because fear and excitement have exactly the same physiological effect on your body and your hormones. The only difference is how you interpret the experience.
Imagine being on a roller coaster ride – for some people that’s a very frightening experience, for others it is totally exhilarating and exciting.
Another thing to do to overcome your fears is to work on your self confidence and self esteem. You might like to check out my book The Strength to be Yourself: 50 Powerful Ways to Boost Your Self Esteem for ideas and ways to build your feelings of self worth.
R – Results
What do you want? Without a clear goal you have no direction. You won’t know if you’re getting closer to what you want or further away. You’ll have no way of measuring or adjusting your progress.
So set goals. Decide what you want. You could start by writing a wild ideas sheet – write down absolutely everything you can think of that you want to Be, Do or Have. Then consider Why you want each of these things. How will having them affect the different areas of your life? Upon consideration you may decide that you don’t actually want a Ferrari because there isn’t room in the back for the children!
When you’ve decided which of your wild ideas you want to make into an actual goal, format the goal as a SMART goal. Specific: ‘more money’ is not specific, $100,000 by December 31st this year is specific.
Measurable: Be happy is not measurable – how will you know you are happy? How can you measure it?
Agreed: Where other people are involved – family, work colleagues or the boss – you need to get their agreement in so far as your goal will affect them.
Realistic: It’s not realistic for a 65 year old to have a goal to win an Olympic gold medal, but it could be realistic for that same 65 year old to run a marathon. Make your goals a stretch but keep them realistic.
Time phased: Have a deadline. This gives you a time to aim for, without a deadline our actions tend to just drift. The deadline may only be your best guess at the start but having it there will draw you towards it.
Remember, most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss, but because they aim too low and hit!
E – Expectations
In life you get what you expect. So if you are expecting problems and difficulties then that’s what you are most likely to attract to yourself. And you prepare for what you expect. For example, if you order new furniture for your home you prepare a space for it because you expect it to be delivered. If you have not prepared for success that is an indication that you are not expecting it.
Your beliefs determine your expectations so you need to look closely at your beliefs and determine how they are holding you back. Then change your beliefs by reframing, using affirmations, energy therapies or any other way you find to create new empowering beliefs and discard the old disempowering beliefs.
E – Emotions
Your emotions are a guide to the vibration you are putting out to the Universe. The vibration you put out will attract situations and circumstances on the same wavelength. So if you are feeling positive, upbeat emotions you will draw positive, upbeat experiences into your life. Negative emotions such as worry and concern will attract experiences to give you more worry and concern.
Take control of your emotions. Look for the good in every situation. Write out a list of things you are grateful for every day – this will get you into an upbeat, appreciative vibration.
D – Decide
There is huge power in making a Decision. When you decide to do something the decision starts the momentum. Without a real decision to achieve your goals they are not goals at all but merely hopes, wishes and dreams. You have to take your goals seriously if you expect to actually achieve them.
Imagine you want to go on holiday – you make a series of decisions: where to go, when to go, for how long. Then you book the holiday. You take action and follow through. Without the initial decision to go you wouldn’t have had the momentum to follow through and book it.
So make a decision that you will accomplish your goals, then take action towards that end. Take note of the results of your actions and adjust your course as necessary.
O – Opportunities
Once you have made a decision and are taking action towards your goals you will start to see opportunities you may not have noticed before. These may be business opportunities, a partnership, a new direction. Chose one and run with it. Take a note of other ideas that come to you for consideration later. And as you progress learn from your feedback as before.
M – Motivation
In order to achieve anything worthwhile you need to be motivated, and you need to stay motivated. The best way of being motivated is to have a big enough WHY. Why do you want this goal? How will it impact your life and the lives of those you love? How will it impact society at large? Why is it important to you?
As you consider your goal you should feel excited and re-enthused by the reasons why you want it.
To help you stay motivated make time every single day to visualize the goal in multi-sensory detail. Find a support group or an accountability partner to help you stay on track. Consider getting a coach or forming a Mastermind group.
So there you have it: to Find Your Freedom follow the seven steps:
F – Fear
R – Results
E – Expectations
E – Emotions
D – Decide
O – Opportunities
M – Motivation
If you follow these 7 steps you will be able to Find Your Freedom, however you define that freedom.
I wish you well.
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