You’ve read all the best sellers from authors like Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, David Allen, Tim Ferris, Seth Godin, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield and Jim Collins. I own all of their titles just like you probably do too. I know firsthand they are great guys because I have personally trained with many of these great people. This is all good stuff along the path to making a better life for yourself and for the people who count on you each day.
Just reading these titles isn’t enough to make your goals count and have your dreams come alive. You have to take the next step which is where all these great books build into them the biggest obstacle to you accomplishing your goals how and when you want.
As a Corporate Trainer,
I Learned That All Books Have
a Built-in Failure Factor
There is one thing that all top authors unintentionally leave out of their best-selling books that ensures you don't accomplish what you've always wanted to. This critical process keeps you confused, feeling alone and stuck in trying to achieve your desires.
There is a process in the adult education and corporate training world called a learning needs assessment. The sole purpose of this assessment is to reduce the gap between training and performance out in the real world. Authors cannot avoid the built-in failure factor called the intention-action-gap.
The intention-action-gap exists because in order to make training effective or “sticky” as we say in the training and education world, you need the right environment, training devices and the support to make new habits your go to reality. These three things are critical to ensure that the learner achieves an optimal successful outcome from the training.
Poor environments are the starting point of failure. Weak training systems along with little to zero support will ensure that the learner will ultimately fall flat on their face and not make the training stick. This is commonly best known as failure to master the learning objectives.
Here’s what happens to you every time
You get a recommendation from a friend or hear Oprah, Dr. Oz or the six o’clock news rave about the hot productivity or latest, greatest business book. You most likely jump on Amazon and search the title and one-click purchase the book. You might also see the book in an airport or traditional bookstore shelf. Either way, you buy the book and begin reading your heart out.
Most likely, the book is as great as the recommendation that got you to buy it. You probably see some stuff in the author’s content that seems familiar and old hat. But, then along the path of reading, something jumps out at you that is new or a peculiar twist on an old idea. You pause. You ponder and question the effectiveness of the idea in your life. You start ruminating in your mind whether this will work for you.
Then you continue forging ahead like a man on a mission to determine how you can jump out of your chair and get to the implementation part of the book. You want to skip straight to the tools or the 3, 5 or 7 step method that you can try out today because you are impatient and demand results. Heck, this is only natural and since you likely shelled out $20 for the book, you want to get something from it naturally.
What's You vs You mean?
We have just started a movement that you will want to be part of. Click on the You vs You graphic to the left for more details.
Want a hint? It's an Immersive Coaching Experience led personally by Shane Fielder.
You demand fast results now
You then rush to the formula that will hopefully help rid you of the problems that have seemed to plague you for the past couple of years (or longer). You are anxious to set a goal to start testing out the method or formula that the author has clearly laid out for you. You are pumped. You are ready.
You’ve read the case studies and success stories that were in the book and you begin comparing yourself to those people and experiences. Your assessment is that you are as smart as or smarter than the folks featured in the book. Maybe your problems aren’t as severe as the folks talked about in the book. Then you gleefully figure if they can, so can I. But because your situation isn’t as extreme and you’re smarter than the folks in the book, you estimate that you can crush the formula and get even bigger and faster results than they did.
You Strike Out on Your Own
Armed with the emotional high and enthusiasm of a 5 year old, you set a big goal to see record results with the new formula or advice that the author has armed you with. You can barely sleep that night. You jump out of bed the next day with a boat load of excitement of 5 year old on Christmas Day.
You intend to work on starting the first few steps as the book laid it for you the next day. You start your day and get interrupted by a few smaller seemingly urgent things that you need to handle. Then lunch hits and you grab a bite to eat. The afternoon roars ahead and clubs you over the head with a pile of new opportunities and demands that weren't there at morning coffee break. You plow through them and next thing you know, it's early into the evening and another workday is done.
Then you head home, grab dinner and get into a few activities that are designed to help take the edge off of the day. Before you know it, another day is over. As you are walking to bed you get whacked on the knee by that book that you bought and have read. You're reminded about the great ideas you have and you reaffirm to yourself that tomorrow is a new day to try again.
You excuse your lack of action with the best intention to get back onto the new goal plan for yourself tomorrow morning.
It’s Called The Intention-Action Gap
This is what happens in the intention-action-gap.
It's quite normal because the book failed to help you create the right training environment. Nobody was there to help you customize the plan to suit your unique life or business situation.
Left Unchallenged, This Cycle Plays Over and Over as the Days, Weeks and Months Pass You By…
This is a cycle common to all people like us in this situation. Great books and big ideas cause you to become a perpetual goal setter and very seldom a goal getter. This cycle plays over and over as the days, weeks and months pass you by.
This treacherous cycle becomes the new normal for you. If left unchecked, you slowly meld into living an unintentional mediocre lifestyle.
You can stop this negative cycle in your life today. What if I could show you a way to start a new, productive way of life? Would you be interested?
We have created a new immersive coaching experience which is starting a movement that will shape our present day culture significantly. Will you be part of this?
Click on the graphic below to learn you you can break the cycle and jump over the intention-action-gap and land in a pool of productivity and accomplishments.
How often have you fallen into this cycle? Share your thoughts with me below and we can have a delightful conversation.
Domo Arigato,
Shane
