Written by: Daniel Mangena, 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.
Get there with minimum deliverables.
Today I’m speaking on The Success Strategy of Baby Steps. What does this mean in practical terms? What can we actually do to implement such a strategy? Read on, and find out!
Hi, I’m Daniel Mangena, best-selling author, podcast host, Wall St Journal Master of Success, and much more! I hope all is well with you and that you’re all stepping into your abundance with ease and grace. Should you be facing resistance in your endeavors, I want to give you something today to empower you to keep moving forward!
One of the most powerful messages I give to my clients is that of micro-shifting and minimum deliverables. I’ve written on the subject before, but I wanted to expand on it today to reinforce your belief in your ability to realize your dreams.
I suppose that I should preface this by talking about the context and why I created the process of micro-shifting in the first place.
Many of my clients, or people who write to me, have the same story. They keep starting on new ventures, only to find themselves worn down over time. Pretty soon, they’re backed into an energetic cul-de-sac, feeling overwhelmed, and inevitably, they quit.
What often accompanies said propensity to quit is a load of excuses, blaming unfairness;
"It’s the wrong time for the industry."
"I just don’t have the spare time to start a new venture."
"The kids leave me so tired at the end of the day," etc.
This is the conscious, dishonest rationalization of an emotionally led, subconscious decision. I know that sounds harsh, but stick with me.
What’s really going on is that you have your end goal and nothing else! Let’s say that it’s a clearly defined and specific one for argument's sake (though probably not nearly enough). But that’s all you’ve got!
Even if you have some supporting milestone goals, you can get your first client, make your first million, and so forth, but they’re still too much of a leap from where you are now. You’ve never known success like that! You don’t know how it feels, and more importantly: who you’d be if your dreams became your lived experience.
Your subconscious knows this, and it’s not at all comfortable with the idea of such a sea change in your life. All it knows is that, thus far, who you are and where you’re at has resulted in your survival. That’ll do nicely. That’s its job, after all: to keep you alive.
So when you start making inroads into your new life, before too long, you’re no doubt plagued with thoughts of the improbability of it all. How unlikely you really are to succeed. That at some point, you’re going to have to 'cut the cord' and sail out there solo, without a safety net (or at least, that’s how it feels). The kids, wife, dog, mortgage, they all come first, right? You can’t jeopardize their wellbeing or their future!
Before you can say 'business account,' you’ve self-sabotaged with procrastination, imposter syndrome, and excuses.
It’s a pattern that, if you’re aware of it, you’ll find throughout the rest of your life. It’s perfectly natural, and it’s a function of our prehistoric lizard brains in conflict with our evolved, rational minds.
Your subconscious works at light speed, using emotional energy as its guiding programming. This is so that your basic functioning and avoidance of physical danger happens without hesitation. Touch a hot plate, and your hand is on the other side of the room before you’ve realized that it even hurt!
You can not compete with that level of processing! You just can’t.
With that said, how can we work with our subconscious so that it supports us in creating change rather than against us? There are lots of things that need to happen, but the first place to start is:
The success strategy of baby steps!
So recently, I had a new client come to me, with pretty much the same story as I’ve outlined above. I’m not singling him out. As I say: we’ve all got that story in us somewhere. He just couldn’t get his business ideas off the ground, citing all of the overwhelming, insurmountable problems that came his way whenever he tried.
I asked him, “What’s your minimum deliverable, right now with the resources already at your disposal that will take you in the direction of your main goal?”
He struggled for an answer, so I gave him one, go get a journal. That’s it. Just walk to the stationery store (or go on Amazon COVID-19) and procure yourself a journal in which you can log your day-to-day experiences.
That is the task (baby-step/minimum-deliverable) number one!
He probably thought me mad, but that’s all I wanted him to do. I didn’t expand on that. I just told him to do it and then celebrate it as a job well done. In fact: celebrate it as though you just made your end goal a reality. Go nuts! Jump around, dance, scream and shout — whatever you would physically do in that situation. Then observe the emotional and energetic response.
The plan thereafter, by the way, was for him to keep the journal by his bed and achieve a minimum deliverable of journaling every night before he went to sleep. This has utility beyond simple record keeping, but more on that another time.
The point is that all he was doing, every day, was delivering the minimum that he needed, with the resources available to him at the time. In buying the journal, he had resourced himself to do the next step; but he was still working within his zone of 'easily achievable.'
You see, the subconscious is lightning quick, but its speed is also its weakness. Because it has to make decisions for you so quickly, it can’t waste time assessing the meritocratic weight of any given situation.
It doesn’t care that buying a journal was stupidly easy for you. If you celebrate with the same emotional payoff as though you had just closed your first client or made a million dollars, it will log that experience as a positive one. This will, in turn, begin to bolster your belief system around what is possible for you.
This is how the success strategy of baby steps works, by edging out your belief system. I suppose you might refer to it as your 'comfort zone,' although I don’t think that’s entirely accurate. This ever-expanding 'edge' is reinforced by the fact that you are;
Never doing anything that shocks your system and overwhelms you with anxiety about the outcome.
Constantly drip-feeding it with more supporting evidence so that contraction is impossible.
Doing this also has a compounding effect. Having awoken your subconscious to the new notion that you have it within your remit to deliver successfully, your subconscious will begin looking out for new baby steps that you can take. You will have introduced a narrative that says, if you set out to do something, you do it! And not only that, but you do it easily.
This has the power to give you exponential growth because every step is a baby step (or so your mind thinks). Much sooner than you think — you will have eradicated the limiting mindset and self-sabotaging behaviors that have dogged you in the past.
Remember: There is no insignificant step if taken in the direction of a consciously chosen outcome.
The energetic momentum and reinforced belief system that comes from using the success strategy of baby steps are far more likely to succeed. Not only that: but it is far more likely to succeed quicker than trying to make some heroic leap into the unknown.
We can’t create abundance from a space of lack, which is what we do when we try to jump into something we don’t know. Invest your life savings (for example) in a tech start-up, and you’ll probably have a nervous breakdown. Buy a buck’s worth of Tesla stock, though, and you’ll probably think nothing of it.
What’s your minimum deliverable? What can you go out and achieve for yourself, right now, with what you already have?
That’s all for today. That’s my minimum-deliverable, delivered. Thank you, Brainz Magazine, for having me, and thank you dear reader, for reading this article! I trust that it has helped you.
Till next time!
Daniel Mangena, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dan Mangena is a best-selling author, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and public speaker. Recently named in the Wall St Journal as a "Master of Success," he is completely self-made and has spent decades perfecting his world-class coaching methodology. His books, podcasts, events & retreats continue to help captains-of-industry, and private individuals alike live an abundant, joyful, purpose-driven life. He offers many unique and effective free tools via his website.
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