If you’re looking to go faster, to attract more aligned opportunities and move towards a reality that feels great, then this is for you!
Let’s start with a metaphorical ruler and a few questions. What is your goal? What are you looking to achieve? Are you clear on what you would like to accomplish first? Take some time to think about these because it’s important to not only know what the goal or outcome is, but to then amplify it before coming back to the present.
Now, focus on one thing that you would like to achieve, then ask yourself what is the highest and biggest version of this? Are you keeping it (& yourself) small because of where you’re at today? Does an amplified version of the goal feel out of reach given your current situation?
Forget all of that for now (it’s only limitations in your mind) and regardless of how uncomfortable or far-fetched it feels, push the goal all the way out to 30 cms on your ruler. Sit with ‘how does this feel if it’s my reality?’ and keep amplifying the goal until you reach a point where it doesn’t feel good. For example, if you’d like to be an author, and amplifying it to be ‘a globally recognised bestselling author’ feels great, then that’s a much better goal! Go back to whichever version of your goal feels good because that is going to become your 30 cm mark. You must see where you want to go in your mind and heart (that’s the feelings part!) and then work towards it in the here and now. Rather than focusing on 30 cms after this initial exercise, you should simply be focused on making a start. This happens at the other end of the ruler because once you get your ideas off the ground, the rest becomes so much easier.
By making the steps smaller, you’ll start building momentum and the key to this is in how you’re positioning yourself… in conversations, online and with your personal brand. This is where my 1 cm rule comes in.
If you position yourself exactly where you are today, that’s all people will see. If you position yourself 5 cms away from where you are today, you’ll feel like you’re dishing out the BS (and so will other people!) But by positioning yourself 1 cm away, you’re going to start shifting your reality, how others are seeing you and you’ll be opening yourself up to new opportunities.
Let’s go back to the earlier example. So, you want to become a globally recognised bestselling author, but you haven’t put a single word to paper. What does positioning yourself 1 cm ahead look like? When friends and family ask what you’ve been up to lately, you could add “I’m currently thinking about writing a book” to your response. You could put posts out on social media, or join an online community of writers, and say something similar. The 1 cm rule has accountability built in because you can only say that you’re ‘thinking’ about it for so long, or tell the same people several times, before you get bored of hearing yourself and you have to do something to move it on!
So now that you’ve finished thinking about it, maybe you’ve started writing an overview or chapter structure. Maybe you’ve drafted an article for a blog or an online publication. Whatever action you’ve taken, you will have moved 1 cm closer to your 30 cm goal. Therefore, your positioning must now move to 2 cm, always staying one step ahead of your reality. You can stop saying you’re thinking about it and start saying that you’re working on it.
This process continues all the way along the ruler, so that when you’ve written the first few chapters you can start putting it out there that you’re looking for publishers, or other writing opportunities. This way, you’ll take others along on that journey with you and because they’re always 1 cm ahead of you they will create the momentum that you need to keep you moving along that ruler towards a reality that feels great.
About the author
Sallee is a human brand builder and the Founder of Brandable & Co – which exists to bring people to the forefront and put humanness firmly at the heart of careers, companies and corporate organisations. Sallee has spent 20+ years navigating the world of high-level business and brand building, holding CEO / COO positions, heading up international projects and delivering brand strategy and advisory board roles to a high-profile client list. Sallee’s work takes her all over the world so downtime is usually spent closer to home with an abundance of dogs, nature and books.