10 Tips to Achieve Anything You Want in Life

I’ve trained with some of the best coaches on the planet during my 20-year sports career, and again when I competed in the 2008 Olympics.

But when I wanted to start my own company, to share my knowledge about motivational psychology and training with others, it wasn’t as easy as I’d thought it would be.

Launching a new business is not easy. You have to give up the comforts of a stable paycheck to delve into the unknown, an unpredictable abyss. A lot of things keep us from making the leap—things like fear and insecurity. And one thing above all the rest: motivation.

When I looked back on my days as an athlete, I understood what was different. I remembered what (or who) made me push myself even when I didn’t want to. The difference was, as an athlete, I had structured days and a coach to report to. Structure keeps us focused and a coach keeps pushing and challenging us.

Thankfully I passed this stage and I founded Onbotraining, an online coaching service that helps people achieve their goals. I decided to collect the lessons I’ve learned along the way and to share them with others, like you, striving to better themselves.

1. Focus on commitment, not motivation.

Just how committed are you to your goal? How important is it for you, and what are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve it? If you find yourself fully committed, motivation will follow.

2. Seek knowledge, not results.

If you focus on the excitement of discovery, improving, exploring and experimenting, your motivation will always be fueled. If you focus only on results, your motivation will be like weather—it will die the minute you hit a storm. So the key is to focus on the journey, not the destination. Keep thinking about what you are learning along the way and what you can improve.

3. Make the journey fun.

It’s an awesome game! The minute you make it serious, there’s a big chance it will start carrying a heavy emotional weight and you will lose perspective and become stuck again.

4. Get rid of stagnating thoughts.

Thoughts influence feelings and feelings determine how you view your work. You have a lot of thoughts in your head, and you always have a choice of which ones to focus on: the ones that will make you emotionally stuck (fears, doubts) or the ones that will move you forward (excitement, experimenting, trying new things, stepping out of your comfort zone).

5. Use your imagination.

Next step after getting rid of negative thoughts is to use your imagination. When things go well, you are full of positive energy, and when you are experiencing difficulties, you need to be even more energetic. So rename your situation. If you keep repeating I hate my work, guess which feelings those words will evoke? It’s a matter of imagination! You can always find something to learn even from the worst boss in the world at the most boring job. I have a great exercise for you: Just for three days, think and say positive things only. See what happens.

The most important lessons I learned in my life

When we are at some point of our lives where we are vulnerable we believe we have got life figured out. We start believing that we are now invincible and nobody can dare touch or harm us. However, it is a mistake to think like that. Life will never seize to inspire us. At every point we will have something new to learn about life.

I have been on the journey of self development and self improvement for some time now. It was only after I went out of my comfort zone (my home) and saw the real world I understood there was so much to life- challenges, improvements, knowledge, achievements, etc. And it was only when I went out in the real world I had learned the most important lessons- the lessons which can only be learnt better if experienced.

The most important lessons I learned in my life so far:

1. You have to be patient in your life. Things will come around if you’re patient

We believe things work out if we are in a hurry. It is true that we must be efficient and fast but sometimes we should not rush into anything. Patience is one of the key to success and people who cannot afford to wait should not expect better results. There’s a beautiful quote that resembles exactly what I mean- “Greatness takes time. Just remember it takes 13 hours to build a Toyota but 6 months to build a Rolls Royce.” So do the work and be patient.

2. Trust the process. Whatever is happening (good/bad) ,trust your life

It is not easy to trust the happenings and events of life when nothing is in our favour. And it isn’t easy either to be optimistic about it. But that’s where our toughness and resilience is being tested. People who can’t trust the process of their lives cannot expect to excel in their lives. It is not that we should blindly trust everything that happens and not change the course of life for the better. What I mean is that we should work out what’s in our control and if we can’t work out what isn’t, then leave it. Don’t ponder upon it and don’t waste time on it. It will work out with your persistence and hard work.

3. Be optimistic but not overly optimistic

Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the best social media experts, rightly says that we must be optimistic in our lives. This is something that I learnt from him. The guy is so articulate in his thought process that it is next to impossible that one wouldn’t be inspired from him. Optimism can turn any situation into an achievable one. However, being optimistic doesn’t mean that we should be overconfident. Optimism is good but over optimism isn’t because that can easily ruin the chances of getting succeeding. It should be like “I can do it.” and not “Oh, it is so easy; obviously I will do it.”