Enlist your family and friends in your cause
June 11th, 2006 by Dave Cheong
In my previous post, I wrote about developing positive patterns. If you have a goal you wish to accomplish or something you wish to change, you need to establish good patterns and surround yourself with aids that would encourage, support and motivate you. The more worthwhile the goal, the more difficult the journey and the bigger the role good patterns will play in determining whether you succeed or not.
For me, my goal is to transition from being just a Software Engineer to an Entrepreneur. A positive pattern is setting up this blog. The act of writing about this transition process - thoughts, actions and results - is an affirmative act and commitment. I am acknowledging to my sub-conscious this is a goal I really wish to accomplish so start allocating some brain cycles to coming up with a solution.
Another positive pattern is to let your family and friends know about your goal. For most of us, we’d like to follow through on a promise. If we make our family and friends aware of our goal, they can provide us with incentives to try and succeed. After all, we don’t want to let them down. It’s the same with this blog. When you (my readers) become emotionally attached to my cause and you have dedicated time to reading my posts, it gives me a strong incentive to follow through. The next time the alarm rings at 5:30am and I’m convincing myself to stay in bed for just another 10 mins, I’ll know what I’ll be thinking about.
So, stop and think about that. Try to establish those positive patterns. If you have close family and friends you can count on to help and motivate you, then set aside some time with them to explain what you’re trying to accomplish. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how supportive they can be.
Related Posts
June 11th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
[…] So far, I’ll written two related posts - one about good patterns and the other about enlisting support from family and friends. Now, I’d like to introduce you to another key in my goal of transitioning from Software Engineer to Entrepreneur. […]
July 12th, 2006 at 10:08 pm
[…] In my experience, whenever my family and friends have shown genuine interest in my goals, I became more enthusiastic myself. Often my wife would ask - “How am I going?” or “What are you looking at now?” or “I like your latest article”. Simple words? Perhaps. But delivered at the right time, the effect is profound! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - enlist your family and friends in your cause. […]
August 14th, 2006 at 11:02 am
[…] Enlisting my family and friends for help. I communicate with my family and friends about my goals all the time. Not only have they been helpful with gentle reminders whenever they see my behaviour is not consistent with my goals, but they also give me constant incentives to work at my goals and succeed. […]
December 31st, 2006 at 12:55 pm
I have just found your website, but I have been greatly impacted by your post. You were right about things will not show up in your life until you are ready. I am a personal trainer at the YMCA in Bedford,OH and I was searching for a way to help keep people encourage. Your post are life changing, please keep writing and thankyou very much.
July 7th, 2007 at 5:09 am
You are right on track. Good luck on becoming an entrepreneur. The transition is a fun one. Please read ‘Good to Great’ by Jim Collins and ‘The E-myth’ (revisited). Both of these books are fantastic. I really enjoy your blog and the great suggestions in regards to time saving techniques and in goal setting. It seems from your blog posts that you have already read ‘7habits’ by Steven Covey. Thanks for the great suggestions and ideas.
Curtis J. Morley