You might be aware of a quote by Mahatma Gandhi about how our beliefs eventually become our destiny? Hearing this quote recently in a book I was e-reading about how everything we do can lead to a path with a destination. However, if we don’t have a clear path, or we get side-tracked or enticed up a path of no return we are never going to reach our destination, achieve our goals or stay true to our values.
Your beliefs become your thoughts
Your thoughts become your words
Your words become your actions
Your actions become your habits
Your habits become your values
Your values become your destiny
Mahatma Gandhi
There is a saying we are what we eat, however, we are also what we believe. This should mean if we believe in ourselves and stay true to our values (assuming we are clear what our values are), we should be on, and stay on the right path. So why aren’t we? What is it that takes us away from where we ideally want to be?
We could call this self-sabotage; however, we aren’t all self-saboteurs, are we?
And if we aren’t what is it that prevents us, or hinders us from following the right path and staying on it?
It’s no surprise here that I’m going to talk about planning. If we have a plan, then we are more likely to achieve something. If we ensure our plan has actions, then we are more than likely to achieve the plan because it’s broken down into small bites. But unless we write them down and have clear steps to achieve them it still won’t happen.
What I love about the Mahatma Gandhi quote is that he gives us these steps which are in essence really easy to follow. They could be a mantra, something we use regularly, have front of mind.
Here’s how I see it being done:
- Values – Clarify what your values are; write these down and consider why they are your values, incorporating your thoughts i.e. what makes you ‘you’
- Actions – if these thoughts are written down then it imprints them in our mind, it shows the beginning of our commitment to the action or goal as well to ourselves
- Habits – when we develop a routine of writing things down, clarify what we’re doing and when, for what reason and make clear the benefit or added value we will receive when completed, we are more than likely to retain the habit
- Destination – to reach our destination we must follow our values, so our journey should have synergies with our values as well as our destiny, meaning we will have come ‘full circle’
If we see this journey as a circle, starting and ending with our values so we stay true to ourselves, developing actions which become great habits which are more than likely to reach our destination of choice!
What are you waiting for?
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