Written by: Dale Halm, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Everyone wants to accomplish what they set out to do. Unfortunately, we often get sidetracked and struggle to achieve important goals. Circumstances and self-limiting behaviors interfere or misguide us. To excel, you must practice behaviors that can help you realize your most sought-after goals. Dale Halm’s new book, The Dare to Excel Field Guide, provides a roadmap that will transform your ability to produce extraordinary results. On each page you will be challenged and guided to think and act differently. This book provides the tools, soul-searching questions, and motivation for you to unleash your potential and accomplish seemingly unattainable goals. The book presents the following four principles for success.
1. The power of intention
Most people live ordinary lives. This book invites you to live an extraordinary life; to live with intention. To be exceptional you must be tenacious. Intention is your determination to do a particular thing or act in a specified manner. Without clear intent, your life becomes commonplace. With well-defined plans, your life shifts. You unleash deep-rooted strength which enables you to accomplish what you truly desire.
Having a clear-cut purpose is being deliberate about what you want. It is showing up in the daily course of life exercising the willpower necessary to actualize your ambitions. Now that is living. You do whatever needs to be done. You act. It begins with intention.
2. Structure for success
To have a structure for success means developing and acting on a process that will bring about your desired outcomes. According to an article published in Inc. Magazine (June 2018) by Marcel Schwantes, researchers at the University of Scranton found only 8% of people achieve important life goals. That’s a startling statistic.
Frankly, most people lack the tenacity to realize big, meaningful goals. They say they follow a strategy to achieve their aim, but they really don’t. They wing it. A structure for success – it’s not their style. They view discipline as a constraint, something that is too burdensome, too formal.
When you discover that the approach you use for reaching your goal is as important as completing the goal itself, magic happens. You become unstoppable. Continually making progress toward your target becomes a way of doing things, a way of living. That is the power of structure. Structure drives behavior.
3. Maniacal focus
Do you want to produce extraordinary results? Then you must behave in exceptional ways. Why maniacal? Because being maniacal means bringing deliberate and obsessive enthusiasm to your project. Do you do that? Ninety-five percent of humanity does not. Do you want to accomplish that big almost impossible to attain goal you have identified? Then get hell-bent on achieving it. That’s generating maniacal focus.
You must starve your distractions and feed your focus. Focus is better than intelligence, optimism, or ambition. Define your boundaries. Say no to things that push you off track. Honor your priorities over other people’s desires. A person who is highly centered directs their energy on only the vital few activities that are truly relevant to reaching their objective. They carve out concentrated time for the important tasks they choose to work on.
4. Bias for action
Most people have a predisposition for over analyzing or putting things off. They are not living their life; they are thinking about their life. They tolerate good enough. Individuals like this never truly go for it. Those who dare to excel, act. If you want to accomplish your goals, you must generate a bias for what motivational expert Tony Robbins calls, “massive action.” Stop thinking, buckle down and start doing. To move your project forward, to get unstuck, to overcome barriers, the single most effective thing you can do is to get busy. You must take substantial action. You can take a lot of small steps or a giant leap, but act!
The Dare to Excel Field Guide | Available on Amazon
What others are saying about the book
“Dale Halm has been a voice of daring action in the pursuit of excellence for over 20 years. This book represents the best of what he has learned, taught, and coached over that time. A handy guide to help you get to the next level.” – Craig Clark, Co-Founder, Momentum Consulting.
“The Dare to Excel Field Guide gives readers the courage to go after their most coveted goals. The magic of this book is that it provides a roadmap for success while inspiring others to be relentless in striving toward the realization of their dreams.” – Keith Brandt, Supply Chain Leader
Dale Halm, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dale Halm is the Founder of Dale Halm Consulting, LLC. He has held leadership positions for a Fortune 500 company and has contributed significantly to record-setting start-up operations resulting in multi-million dollar cost savings. Dale's extensive experience includes various training and organization development roles at Intel, Freescale (NXP), and Arizona Public Service Company. He is the author of The Excellence Agenda and specializes in transforming workplaces and maximizing human potential. Dale has been a speaker at numerous conferences and holds both a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts from Northern Illinois University.
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