How You Can Level Up

After much thought and deliberation, you come to a decision.

You finally know what this “New Year’s Resolution” that is going to make huge changes in your life will be.

So you make a pact with yourself. You are not going to eat fast food or junk food anymore!! It is only healthy food for your temple. It is 5 minutes past midnight and you accidentally, through force of habit, have some fried finger food at the party whilst chatting away to your friends.

By the time you realise you think to yourself “oh well, I have already ruined today, I will just start tomorrow”. How many of us have said this to ourselves, about how many things in our lives?

“Oh I missed the gym this morning, I will skip today and just go tomorrow.” “Oh I have already had two beers. Another couple will be fine and I will be better tomorrow.” BUT (and it is a huge but, as I am sure you know), when this person wakes up in the morning after their party, their mindset is CRUSHED.

Why? Because they have shown so little discipline the first time, what happens next time and the next time? Every time this person cheats (themselves), it makes it easier to cheat again and again in the future and even harder to become the person they want to actually be.

I am constantly asked why I am so anal about my trading rules. Why not flex if the pin bar is a pip outside, or make an allowance “just this once”?

The reason is that the rules are the cornerstone for your success. Each time you break a rule, the easier it becomes to do it again and again, and it starts to erode your whole mindset.

You need to give away new year’s resolutions because they are not setting you up for success and, as I’ve just explained, they are not a method aligning you for where you want to go.

 

Level Up Rather Than Goal Set

Rather than write another lesson on the process of how to set goals, I want to show you how I level up and achieve goals in my life. I also want to tell you how I’ve gone from being super tired to being super excited just by thinking about achieving my goals.

Not long ago the thought of my goals was beginning to fill me with dread, as you will soon read. I have now changed the whole process I use. I aim for major goals that are going to change my life and that excite me.

Before moving onto the lesson and how I changed my method, you may want to learn the basics behind correct goal setting. I have already written about setting goals related to trading at Sick of Losing Money Trading? Simple Strategies to Turn Your Forex Trading Around in 2015 and I highly recommend you read this lesson, because it will teach you some important lessons about what you should not be setting your goals around.

The other lesson I highly recommend is by John Lee Dumas, which goes through how to set goals with the S-M-A-R-T method. You can read this goal setting lesson at John Lee Dumas on Getting Things Done With Goal Setting 

 

Goals Can Overwhelm & Tire Out

I have been setting goals for a long time now and have refined it to what suits me. I think my way could help a lot of traders, as it’s different to how most people do it.

The reason I had to refine and change how I was personally setting goals is because I was getting overwhelmed, tired and run down with the constant smaller tasks, as well as by the pressure I had on myself to get to the next goal. Let me explain what I mean.

They (the experts who know a heck of a lot more than me that is) say that you should take that really big goal you want to achieve and break it down into smaller, definable chunks or smaller goals.

For example, if you were building a house, you would have your major goal as the “Completed House”, but you may break it up into smaller chunks. These could be for example: 1, lay the foundation; 2, put up the frame; 3, add the ceiling and exterior and lastly; 4, render the outside, getting you to the completed end goal.

You can see how breaking up the overall major goal into smaller chunks or goals gives you more achievable milestones along the way to aim for. During your workflow you would be concentrating on these smaller tasks and NOT the final result, so a byproduct of completing all the smaller tasks is achieving the major goal.

This really works for some people and can really be effective for big goals. This is especially so at the start.

When you first start a major task or goal you may sit back and just go “WOW!” because of just how many individual jobs there are to complete the the major goal. But if you are aiming for a much smaller first milestone, and not the major end goal, it can be a lot less intimidating.

This is where my mindset is COMPLETELY different. The major goals really excite me because I love what I do. The bigger the goal, the better, because it means I am growing, helping a lot more people and also learning myself. I love cracking in everyday and working towards the completion of the next major goal I have set. Every day I’m getting closer and closer.

If your goals feels like a job or a chore to you, then the smaller chunks would be a very wise choice. You may be a person that needs to break things up into chunks, or you may be like me. (If they feel like a chore you may also want to reassess the goals you are setting and whether you want to be reaching for different goals or dreams).

I was getting rundown because for a long time I was using the expert’s method. I am someone who uses a lot of lists and am very goal-orientated because I know they work. However, I found that rather than allowing more freedom, the “smaller chunks” method felt more cramped. I also felt disappointed if I missed a deadline that I had set myself, meaning I would push harder to meet the next one.

Below is a quote from website AZ Quotes and comes from Brian Tracy who is a legend of the public speaking world. This quote pretty much sums up everything about how goals work and why you should be using them.

 

 

The major switch I made and something you may consider was that I still had my smaller goals and I still had my different time frame goals, but I now also have my MAJOR, LIFE-CHANGING GOALS that I am always working on.

 

3 Things That Would Level Up Your Life

I needed to be excited and motivated, but not feel as if I always had pressing deadlines. For me, I needed BIG “Next Level” goals.

I am working on these goals all the time and chipping away at them. I know exactly what needs to be done and I have a deadline. I have a clear to-do list and an action plan drawn up.

> If there is only one key point you take away from this lesson, then please make sure it is this: Whilst I have a list of my major goals all written down that I want to achieve over time, I never focus or work on any more than one major goal at a time. That is absolutely crucial.

I put all my energy and FOCUS into achieving that one goal and until that one goal is achieved I DO NOT move on. I cannot stress just how important this point is. I do not work on multiple goals at the same time because then nothing gets done really fast.

An example of this would be; if my major goal was becoming profitable using the false break pin bar three months in a row on a demo account so that I could move to a live account, I would focus all my attention on the false break pin bar. I would be using the Forex Tester 2 to make as many trades as humanly possible, I would be practicing my trade management, I would be studying my trading psychology, but all my energy would be on becoming the master of the false break pin bar.

I would not, for example, start looking into how to trade engulfing bars. Once I had achieved my goal, I would then start a new major goal and focus on that 100%.

Why is this so damn important? Because focusing on one thing is the quickest way to not only get it done, but to do so with the highest standards. It’s pretty much that simple.

 

You Have a Massive Chance to Level Up Your Life

When was the last time you set and reached a goal that took your life to the next level up? This is YOUR Year! You are reading this post for a reason. The challenge is yours.

2015 is now gone and 2016 has just begun. You have a massive chance to make this year whatever you want it to be. Have a moment and think to yourself… What are 3 major goals that if you achieved them would level up your life? Now write them down.

Rank them starting at 1 for most important, down to 3 for least. You need to focus on Number 1 first and that one only. Whilst I don’t break it down into chunks or smaller goals I do split it into a to-do list so I know exactly what needs to be done and I have a list of actionable items or an action plan I can easily follow.

I also give myself a clear deadline that I need to meet so that I can then move onto the next goal.. I suggest you also do both of these.

If there is a goal or dream that you really desperately want in your life and you know that when you achieve it, it will lift you to that next level, you will have to expect that there will be some obstacles along the way. If you want it badly enough, you will realise that often times you are going to have to make many fights before you break through to have that big win.

I am going to leave you with this quote to start off your year from the EX UK PM, the iron lady Margaret Thatcher;

 

“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.”

 

>> If you’re brave enough, I would love to hear: What are your 3 major goals?

Happy new year!

 

Let’s crush 2016,

Johnathon

 

>> If you want to start 2016 on the right foot and become a student of the Lifetime Membership Price Action Course, then Check Out the Lifetime Membership Page