Be your best: Your five-point plan for breaking through to success

Want to punch above your weight? Dr Christian van Nieuwerburgh of the Centre for Coaching and Behavioural Change a virtual-learning community, at UK-based Henley Business School, regularly travels to the UAE to deliver training and executive coaching. Here, he offers his five-point checklist.

ASK, WHAT IS IMPORTANT TO ME?

What or who is important in your life? Based on a better understanding of this, what do you wwant to achieve?

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO A VALUED FRIEND?

Sometimes we are better able to see solutions and opportunities for others. If a good friend came to you and told you about their self-limiting beliefs, what would you say to them? How can you apply this advice in your own situation?

WHAT WOULD YOUR HERO DO?

Most of us have someone we really admire – a family member, a sportsperson or a movie character. How would they address the kinds of self-imposed limits that you are facing?

WHAT COURSE OF ACTION WILL MAKE YOU SMILE IN THE FUTURE?

What response to your self-limiting beliefs will make you smile when you look back on your life? For example, ‘Ever since school, I was convinced that I wasn’t creative – but in 2017, I joined a photography club and have now shown my work at international exhibitions’. Think about what will make you proud in the future, and use that to inform your actions today.

WHEN IS ‘SOME DAY’?

We often convince ourselves that we will do something ‘some day’. Be careful – our minds can get tricked into believing that it will happen, but the day just seems to get further and further into the future. If it’s something you really want, get your calendar out and pencil in some dates.