7 Ways to Achieve Progress in Your Life

Claudia Coldea
June 25, 2020

I think most of us had the chance to rethink our lives during this lockdown. I know I have. I started with rethinking my wardrobe and giving away the clothes I didn’t use anymore. It continued with setting up new goals regarding my fitness, what I fed my mind with and starting new projects.

This unique time broke patterns and now I can see the beauty out of the ashes.

I want to share with you 7 ways that personally helped me achieve progress in my life.

1. Cut off Things and Relationships That Bring No Fruit in Your Life

Easier said than done, no? That yummy chocolate in your desk that is a temptation, when you are already struggling with loosing weight for so many years… out it goes! And no, your child doesn’t need it either… those friends that like to complain , gossip and embrace laziness and bad habits… who needs that? Unless they want to improve their lives and ask for help, let them go. Better surround yourself with people that have similar character, passions and objectives.

2. Why Reinvent the Wheel…? Yes or No

I will let you answer this for yourself.

My opinion is that learning from someone can be very beneficial and it saves you time. People can either copy a business model, for example, or take it further.

Can you imagine the progress the world would make if people encouraged their creativity more, if people took one step further from the point others took off?

The world needs your special, unique fingerprint. Be creative! It’s fine if you’re not like anyone else. It’s fine if you try things that were never tried before. Elon Musk would approve!

3. Don’t Set Too Many Goals

When I started my self-development journey, I had a notebook where I would write all the goals I want to achieve that day. After 2 days I came to the conclusion I needed to implement some new habits in order to get the job done. For example I started to wake up earlier, I learnt to prioritise the tasks that were more important, I read books on self-discipline , relationships and how to organise my time better. Try to concentrate on implementing 2 habits at a time.

Focus on growth not goals. If you hear the words: “Oh, you tried that before, you kept it for few days and then you gave it up again.” answer with this “Yes, but now I am more disciplined than I’ve ever been, stronger and more focused”. We are learning from mistakes, but we shouldn’t let them decide our future anymore. Mistakes are in the past, and I hope you are somewhere else.

4. Write down Your Goals

Neuroscience explains the connection between writing down your goals and achieving them.

Writing things down happens on two levels: external storage (a location where the information is stored for example notebook, piece of paper, vision board) and encoding (the things we perceive travel to our brain’s hippocampus where they get analysed, from there we decide what gets stored in our long-term memory and what gets discarded).

Last week I joined the 1 million steps for diabetes challenge to raise awareness of the struggle faced by millions living with diabetes in the UK. In the welcome pack I also received a 3 months planner from 1st July to the end of September. I’ve stuck it to the wall, and I will use it for my personal goals also. Vision is so important, seeing the things you want to achieve keeps you more focused.

5. Learn to Say Yes to Yourself

The more I said yes to helping as many people as I could, the more I said no to myself.

I want to encourage you to say YES to yourself first. Getting yourself healed, happy, encouraged, equipped is a priority.

Then you have enough to give to others and you won’t feel drained. When you realise how important time is, you will be more picky with who you offer it to.

6. Make a Strategy on How to Implement Your Plans

Five years ago I got a manager position in an international company thanks to having an idea to create and bring a full action plan to my third interview for that position. The founder of the company loved it, hence he gave me the job. Going the extra mile made all the difference that day.

Think of these aspects when planning something: your why, your purpose, the time you need to achieve it, where will you work, the resources and collaborations you need, how you plan to do it.

Garages are good places to start. Google, Hewlett-Packard (HP), MagLite, Amazon, Mattel, Microsoft, Apple, started there. Now… if you have your room… you can do miracles!

Study - Books, Courses, Classes – you name it, is at reach. Usually I combine it with my morning jog or walk, cooking.

Implement – You’ve heard the saying: “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. If you want success and growth in the future, the best time to start is now. Perfectionists tend to postpone things, and rethink too much. So much that they never start. Not starting is worse than starting and learning from your mistakes. How many perfectionists died without living their dreams… I don’t want to think. Hopefully you’re the one that gets away.

Grow - There’s a lot of growth on the path to achieving a goal. You won’t be the same again, that’s for sure.

New skills, new habits… the world needs the new improved you. Never stop learning. There is a saying that if you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room. I try to surround myself with smarter people than me, it’s a great way to learn.

Share - “A generous person will prosper, whoever refreshes others will be refreshed” – Proverbs 11:25

My mother is a strong believer in giving. I remember going with her to orphanages and bringing things to the kids. The kids would surround her and call her “mother”. I could see the joy and fulfilment that giving brings, to both the giver and the receiver.

Imagine creating a business that gives people the opportunity to live healthier lives, save time, be more focused.

Conclusion: The world needs you to show up and use your unique gift more than ever.

All my love,
Claudia