Keep to Your Dreams! – Tom Marcoux ‘s graphic novel series “Jack AngelSword”

“What surprised you about coaching people to big, transformational successes, Tom?” my friend Carl asked.

“Some of my clients, in the past, would hit a valley after a big success,” I replied.

In recent years, I work with clients to help them be strong and avoid burnout. In fact, I use this phrase: “This is when We Get Tough.”

First, we face reality. We acknowledge these Myths that arise out of what people imagine success to be:

 Myths:
1) You’ll feel like you have arrived.
2) You’ll have no more problems.
3) No one misunderstands you.
4) You’ll feel good all the time.
5) You’ll stay excited all the time.
6) You’ll never have any doubts that you’re on the right path.
7) You’ll never wonder why you feel disheartened, disorientated or disappointed (the 3 Ds).

When I speak on the topic “Achievers Rising: Avoid Burnout and Arise to New Heights of Success,” I share the A.I.M. process.

A – arrange and rotate challenge, activity, recovery
I – intensify self-nurturing
M – move

1. Arrange and rotate challenge, activity, recovery

The idea is that you can get tired, but you do not let yourself get exhausted. Exhausted can be in body or spirit or both. The solution is to be deliberate about your Recovery Actions. I log my sleep, exercise daily and eat salad for breakfast (willpower is stronger earlier in the day).

Now it’s your turn: What do you do to ensure you have enough Recovery in your life?

Some people fall apart when they first achieve millionaire status—including Jim Rohn and Tony Robbins. They lose big sums of money and have to endure a real struggle on their way back to the top. Additionally, bestselling author and entrepreneur Randy Gage talked about how his life fell apart during some successful times.

What is the solution? Maintain structure in your daily life and rotate Challenge, Activity and Recovery.

Challenge can bring new energy into your life. One of my clients became excited about a new writing project. Some coaches might say, “Shut that down. That’s a distraction.”

Instead, I said, “We’ll use that excitement. It will spread so you have the energy to do what you must do.” We also make sure that the new project “does NOT take over.”

I’m an OptiRealist. I know that optimism can provide the fuel for achievement. And still, I’m a realist. I help my clients see the whole picture and see the end game. Then we build the strategies to make positive things happen.

Energy is still crucial. I have a phrase: What you dread gets you ahead. In line with this principle, we realize that one needs energy to do the tough things in life.

It’s the rotating of challenge, activity and recovery that helps my clients continue to soar and reach higher and higher levels of success.

Remember, Challenge, Activity, Recovery.

You might say: “No C.A.R.; no go.”

2. Intensify self-nurturing

When I work with CEOs and business owners, I see them easily gravitate to the “shiny goals.” These are goals that are fun to talk about. I call them “Golden Pull Goals.” In order for you to avoid burnout, you need another form of goal—what I call Green Tranquility Goals. These are “Being Goals.” On a daily basis, you do something that strengthens you. My clients use activities like quiet time, meditation, painting, journaling, praying, walking near trees, watching something funny on video (enjoying laughter everyday), yoga, tai chi, and other nurturing actions.

For my clients who are introverts, I help them put some quiet time into their daily lives. They must recharge while they are alone—away from other people. For an introvert, being with other people is expensive in terms of personal energy.

Additionally, I guide my clients to avoid the “After a Success, a fall into a valley.” The solution is to overlap one’s goals. Here’s an example. Before I finished my 35^th book, I started writing my first YA novel. I did not fall into a post-project spot of emptiness.

Now it’s your turn. Find out what nurtures your feelings of fulfillment. When do you feel creative and on track? How can you “overlap your goals”?

3. Move

“Don’t worry about it. I’m just procrastinating a bit and trying to find clarity,” Sarah, my client said.

“I hear you,” I replied. We talked for a bit more. Then, I shared this: “Motion brings clarity. Try things. Get in the arena. See how things feel.”

I added, “You get to the top of a peak and then you can see three new peaks (new choices). You couldn’t see the choices when you were not in motion and you were at the bottom of the mountain.”

The most successful people I’ve interviewed get into the arena where they can face rejection and failure—much more than other people.

After I give certain speeches, some business owners come up to me and say, “I just need to find the right salesperson.” A bit later in the conversation, I mention: “How can you train a salesperson if you don’t know what works? People like to join successful ventures. You need to get involved in sales and marketing. You need to develop the pitch (and really a good dialogue) and watch people’s faces. Founders of companies do well when they learn to sell what they’re offering. They learn to use compelling stories.”

When I say “move”—I mean Get in Motion. Learn, rehearse, practice, get coaching, get in front of potential customers/clients.

A powerful part of “Move” is to Shift Your Perception

For example, we avoid burnout when we drop certain expectations. Success is NOT static. We do not simply “arrive.”

I’ve learned that Connecting to the Present Moment is crucial.

It’s helpful to realize that this is an AND-Universe. [I wrote a book entitled The Hidden Power of the AND-Universe. See more when you CLICK HERE.]

Here are brief comments about Shifting Your Perception:

1) You can be Grateful AND feel uncomfortable.
For example, as I write these words, I’m grateful to be connecting with you. AND, I’m in pain. I recently broke a tooth (on a soft cookie—oh, the irony).

Still, I avoid wallowing in the pain. I shift my thoughts to so much in my life that I’m grateful for now.

You can also be grateful for what is absent. I have a couple of friends who tried to talk me out of writing a lot of books. They drifted away. What a relief! An old phrase holds: Some people brighten a room by leaving it.

2) Experience the Shift in Perspective that Opens the World to You
Imagine the possibilities when you shift away from fear to intuition. First, let’s look at the differences:

Fear says, “Contract, hide, don’t take any risks.”
Intuition says, “Expand, experiment, take an appropriate risk.”

Life becomes an adventure when we’re NOT shackled by fear.

“If you do something that scares you, it is often coming from a place that might create a button [an impact on the audience].” – Leonard Nimoy

“The universe often rewards us for the scary choices.” – Pharrell Williams

3) Discover the Power of Enjoying the Moments as they come and go.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” – Rumi

I’ve learned that removing the barriers to being fully alive in this present moment is the vital difference that helps an achiever keep on achieving—and to avoid burnout.

My successful clients (and those whom I interview) also discover the value in helping others and turning their focus away from their own personal concerns. Burnout often arises when we get caught up in personal frustrations. Years ago, I knew someone who would go into a rage when he had “a bad workout.” He said, “My day is ruined.” At that time, I remembered an old phrase: “You’re upset because your canvas is too small.”

Instead, we can expand the canvas of our life when we’re engaged with demonstrating kindness to others. For example, in my book, What the Rich Don’t Say about Getting Rich, I interview Michael Hsieh (president of a venture capital fund) who shares his delight in supporting children with few resource to have access to an extraordinary education (at a chartered school).

Be sure to include a focus on something beyond yourself.

Remember to use the A.I.M. process:

A – arrange and rotate challenge, activity, recovery
I – intensify self-nurturing
M – move

Earlier, I mentioned, Success is not static.
Pay close attention to how your life is going.

Rotate challenge, activity and recovery so that you’ll continue to soar and reach higher and higher levels of success.

Warmly,

Tom

Tom Marcoux
CEO (leading teams in United Kingdom, India and USA)