Your Best Year Ever: Michael Hyatt - Summary & Analysis (1/6)
Your best is yet to come and your dreams are too important to entrust to a faulty system. "Your Best Year Ever" by Michael Hyatt takes you through the 5 Steps you need to follow to make progress on your most important goals.
Believe the possibility.
The circumstances of our lives change week by week, year by year. But we’re still us. And our habits of thinking tend to produce consistent results no matter what’s going on in our work, our relationships, or the world around us.
When we focus on belief improvement, often our circumstances follow suit.
Your beliefs shape your reality.
The author shares the story of how his family used an electronic collar that would vibrate to warn their dog not to stray and how the dog quickly learned not to cross the invisible barrier regardless of how much he was coaxed. The barrier had moved from the external world of an electronic device to the internal world of the dog's mind.
The Power of Beliefs.
Our beliefs play a massive part in how we approach life. We tend to experience what we expect.
“Our real world is in many ways an expected world. What we see, hear, taste, feel, and experience is produced from the top down as much as it is from the bottom up. Our minds organize chaos. We fill in blanks with well-learned forms, patterns, and assumptions. Our predictions for the near and distant future bend reality.”
Our expectations shape what we believe is possible, they shape our perceptions and actions. That means they also shape the outcomes. And that means they shape our reality.
The Problem With Doubts.
One of the biggest reasons we don’t succeed with our goals is we doubt we can. We believe they’re out of reach. Doubt is a goal toxin. Most of us have a long history of not getting what we want out of life. To shield ourselves from future disappointment, we develop a cynical, self-protective attitude toward life.
It’s hard to get your hopes dashed if you never get them up to begin with. But that kind of cynicism poisons our souls and sabotages our results. Our beliefs about what’s possible have a direct impact on the reality we experience. But what if you could change your sense of what’s possible?
A Different Frame.
There is a difference between, ‘I have not won’ and ‘I cannot win. . . .” The past doesn’t determine the future.
Many of the circumstances that seem to block us in our daily lives may only appear to do so based on a framework of assumptions we carry with us. Draw a different frame around the same set of circumstances and new pathways come into view. The impossible only seems that way on the front end.
A Failure of Imagination.
The first key difference between an unmet goal and personal success is the belief that it can be achieved.
Broadly speaking, there are two ways to look at life. One leads directly to this failure of imagination. But the other can revive and amplify our sense of possibility.
Some beliefs hold you back.
Scarcity vs Abundance.
To accomplish anything, we have to believe we’re up to the challenge. That doesn’t mean it will be easy or that we even know how we’re going to accomplish it. Usually we don’t know. It just means we believe we’re capable; we have what it takes to prevail.
Why is that important? Because every goal has obstacles. When some people have trouble getting over those obstacles, they doubt they have what it takes.
Researchers label the first group entity theorists. They think their abilities are set in stone. You’ve heard people say this: “I’m just no good at x, y, or z.” These are the scarcity thinkers.
The second group are referred to as incremental theorists. When they struggle with an obstacle, they just look for new approaches to the problem. They know there’s a workaround or a solution if they just keep working at it. These are the abundance thinkers.
Three Kinds of Limiting Beliefs.
It’s easy to spot limiting beliefs in our own thinking if we’re attentive.
Start with the assumptions you hold about the world. “I can’t start a new business right now; the market is terrible,” somebody might say. Or, “I don’t trust management; they’re always trying to cheat us.”
We also have limiting beliefs about others.
The third type of limiting belief is where it really hits home for most of us. I’m talking about beliefs about ourselves. We might say, “I’m a quitter. I never finish what I start.”
The Source of Limiting Beliefs.
Repeated setbacks can train us to assume the worst. They can condition us to hoard what we have and avoid risks.
An overabundance of news can make you depressed, anxious, and, for the most part, doesn’t usually provide you with the ability to actually change or influence anything being reported.
Check Facebook, and it can seem like everyone’s leading a charmed life. Happy kids, beautiful friends, gorgeous vacations, fulfilling work. We’re instantly, usually subconsciously, aware we’re not measuring up. We’re not as smart, creative, educated, successful, lucky, athletic, or artistic as everyone on Instagram.
Unless you have rock-solid self-esteem, are impervious to jealousy, or have an extraordinarily rational capacity to remind yourself exactly what everyone is doing when they post their glories on social media [that is, positioning and bragging], it’s difficult not to care.
Regardless of when or where we acquire them, our beliefs create the lens through which we see the world. And it’s good to recognize that the shape of that lens is influenced by relationships, including negative ones.
“The undeniable reality is that how well you do in life and business depends not only on what you do and how you do it . . . but also on who is doing it with you or to you”
You Choose.
Ask yourself: What’s not in your world right now that could be or must be there? What’s lacking that only you can remedy in your relationships, your health, your career, or your spiritual life?
The best way to overcome limiting beliefs is to replace them with liberating truths.
3. You Can Upgrade Your Beliefs.
Avoid the Trap of Limiting Beliefs.
A limiting belief is a misunderstanding of the present that shortchanges our future.
Trade Your Frame.
The author describes how he used to believe he couldn’t get ahead because he could barely make enough money to meet his family’s needs. When he recognized that thought as a limiting belief, he was determined to replace it with a liberating truth. So he started saying, “I have all the money I need to meet our obligations, accomplish our goals, and be generous with others.”
Instead of operating from scarcity, he chose to operate from a place of abundance. It wasn’t magic. But it did open new pathways that allowed him to move forward. And the more he moved, the more resources he found to improve his circumstances.
Everyone’s different and we all have our own portfolio of limiting beliefs, but there are two that many of us share. The first is that we have no power to change our circumstances, and the second is that we lack the resources to do so.
When We Feel Powerless.
We all have more power than we sometimes give ourselves credit for. According to Stanford University psychology professor Albert Bandura, this power comprises four properties that help us achieve our goals.
The first is intention. We can imagine a better reality than the one we’re currently experiencing. And we can work with others and within our circumstances to achieve it.
Second, forethought. By visualizing the future, we can govern our behavior in the present and give purpose and meaning to our actions.
Third, action. We have the ability to act on our plans, to stay motivated, and to respond in the moment to remain on course.
Finally, self-reflection. We not only act, we know we act. That means we can evaluate how we’re doing, make adjustments, and even revise our plans.
Whatever our circumstances, we have the power to pursue a better future. Some don’t buy it. They think because they can’t control everything, they can control nothing. But that’s only a limiting belief. By our choices we become active participants in the outcomes we experience.
The Resource Question.
Resources are never — and I mean never — the main challenge in achieving our dreams. In fact, if you already have everything you need to achieve your goal, then your goal’s probably too small.
Dealing with constraints can trigger a cascade of unforeseen rewards. For one, they force us to rise to the occasion and give our best to the pursuit. Easy resources make for weak performance.
A lack of resources spurs resourcefulness. Limited resources also build resiliency and confidence. The more times we overcome difficulties, the more capable we are of overcoming whatever comes next.
An apparent lack of resources might be the most important resource we have. Our limiting beliefs keep us from seeing that. But here’s a liberating truth: we live in a world of genuine abundance, a world full of the resources we need to pursue our most important goals. That doesn’t mean you won’t ultimately require the resources you currently lack.
If your goal is big enough, you’ll probably require more and different resources than you assume when you start. But start. A lack of resources is never a good excuse to stay put. Treat it instead as a prompt for what to tackle as the next step toward your goal.
In Part 2 of this book summary you'll learn about the next most common barrier between you and the life you want, your past. You will discover several practical techniques and thought provoking concepts.
