MaXIMIze - From Cocoon to Chrysalis - Assessing the True Risks/Roadblocks to Achieving Your Goals

Last week we learned about the roadblocks we are likely to run into when working to achieve our goals, mainly the internal ones.

This week, we are going to discuss how we can assess these roadblocks - how we can bring them out into the light and show them for the pebbles that they really are so we can kick them aside as we travel down the path to achieving our goals.

In business, when we are going through the process of studying the potentials of a new project, we create something called a Risk Register. Basically, we determine/define the following:

A description of the risk/roadblock.

The impact should this event/item actually occur.

The actual probability of its occurrence.

We then give each impact and each probability a ranking from Low to High on a 1-3 or a 1-5 scale, Low being 1 and High being 3 or 5 - the rankings are either Low, Medium, High or Low, Somewhat Low, Medium, Somewhat Medium, High.

By multiplying the impact by its probability, we come up with its Occurrence Risk Score, which shows us where we should focus our attention.

We then determine the planned response should the event/item actually occur and the mitigation - the actions we can take in advance to reduce the probability and/or impact of the risk/roadblock.

To see an example of how this lays out, please see this Wikipedia article on planning a birthday party.

Basically we are taking the time to determine the following:

What's the worst that can happen?

What's the best that can happen?

What's most likely to happen?

Why or why not?

Okay, so X happens - what do you do, how do you move forward?

Then, we make the plan, work the plan, and adjust the plan as we work toward our goals.

As the soft cocoon becomes a hardened chrysalis from which emerges a beautiful butterfly, these methods will help you move your dreams through goals into reality.

So, over the last seven weeks, we have covered a lot of material, focusing mainly on the internal items we all need to deal with in order to move forward to achieving our goals. We've discussed reseting, whether at the beginning of a new year, a new season, or a new chapter of life. We've also discussed personal prose and the importance of paying attention to how we address ourselves. We talked about the Circle of Perception and worked through looking at the six areas of our lives. We worked through determining our central values, talked about aligning our goals with these values, and working through the process of asking the five whys to get to our core values. We discovered the power in Manifesting our goals instead of just Visioning them. And most recently, we've discussed how to identify and assess the potential risks and roadblocks to achieving our goals.

As of the time of this post, I haven't determined the topic of next week's entry. If you have any topics you would like to see covered in this blog - remembering that the purpose to to MaxIMIze ourselves and MaXIMIze our lives - please let me know.

A couple of the topics I will be covering in future posts (just not scheduled yet) are:

Checking on your progress toward your goals - and perhaps realigning/readjusting the path.

What to do when you fall off the wagon (something we all do...).

I know others will come...and I'd love your feedback and input!

Until next, week - Namaste!

MaXIMIze - Spinning Your Cocoon - Identifying Roadblocks

Last week we discussed manifesting your goals. This week we are going to learn how to identify the roadblocks we may face in reaching the goals we are manifesting in our lives. And yes, I'll explain the title of this post as well. For now - think butterflies...

Before we get into the meat of the post though...once again - DISCLAIMER: This blog is about coaching - NOT counseling. I am not here to fix the ills of your past. I AM here to help you focus on your future and gain knowledge, skills, and abilities to set, pursue and gain the goals to make your life better - something you can rate all around at 8 or above. If the ills of your past are something we identify as a roadblock to that success, you will need to pursue counseling with a trained professional to deal with those issues. I am NOT such a trained professional.

Now, on with the show...

"My life is full of misfortunes, many of which never took place." Rene Descartes

Do you know what your personal roadblocks to achieving the goals you set are? If not, it is time to take a good hard look at those things - both internal and external - which can hinder your progress. And yes, I said internal - many people focus on the perceived external roadblocks and don't realize those are but pebbles in the road, easily kicked out of the way. The boulders that truly impede our progress are the ones we place in our own paths. Boulders with names such as "Can't," "Because," "Yes, but," etc.

We need to examine our self-dialogue to identify these boulders. If this sounds familiar, it is. Many of the items I discussed in my previous post on Personal Prose apply here as well.

The biggest roadblock we have, whether we se it or not, is fear. Franklin Delano Roosevelt said that the greatest thing we have to fear is fear itself, and he was right. Fear is the most paralyzing force known to man. And it, too, can be divided and conquered. In fact it must be in order for us to live our best life now.

So, ask yourself this question: What are you catering to in your life right now - your dreams/goals or your fears?

Identify those fears that are boulders in your path, and bring them into the light one by one.

Apply the five Whys discussed in previous posts to get to the root of each fear and see it for the tiny naked thing that it is.

Then thank it for the role it once had in your life - yes, the fears we have are ours for a reason - kiss it, and set it free.

Fear is what keeps us in our comfort zone, and the degree to which we are not living our dreams or achieving our goals, our comfort zone, by use of those fears, has more control of us than we have of ourselves.

Now back to the title of this post - Spinning Your Cocoon. For a caterpillar to become a butterfly, it must first spin the cocoon that becomes the chrysalis - the place of change, of transformation - from which the butterfly emerges.

Your cocoon is the place where you identify your fears, bring them out into the light, and face them down one by one - where you smash boulders into pebbles or, better yet, into dust. As you face your fears and put them to rest, your cocoon will turn into the chrysalis and the beautiful butterfly that is your best life will emerge and fly!

Next week we will address how to assess the true risks to achieving your goals as part of moving from the cocoon to the chrysalis.