9 Effective Ways to Take It to the Next Level

9

There comes a time in life when you feel that you are ready to take it to the next level. You will feel that the lessons of the past have served you well. That they made you much stronger and wiser than you were before. And even though things might be going along just fine in your life, you somehow want to take the next step. No matter if it’s your career or growth as a person, ultimately you’d like to go beyond your present limitations. It’s the desire to explore the unknown that fuels human progress. So let’s assume you set your mind on going to the next level, there remains one question. How does one take it to the next level? The following will present you eight surprising strategies that help you to upgrade your life to the next level.

Initiating progress in one’s life can be quite difficult. This is especially true once you have reached a certain level of success. In our quest for excellence, we’ll often hit plateaus where it seems as if we cannot go any further. No matter what you do, it feels as if you’re stuck at a given level for the rest of your life. Even more so, it may seem as if you’ve reached the highest level you could possibly reach, even though you intended to go much further.

The feeling of being stuck at one level can be quite dangerous. Not only does it seem as if there’s no progress, but it also might eventually discourage you from even trying to go any further. It’s a vicious circle that opens us to a variety of restricting routines and habits. They make us complacent with how things are. And ultimately, this complacency limits our progress. If we’re not careful enough, we trade in excellence and ambition for comfort. So instead of living to our full potential we accept our self-imposed limitations and restrictions.

Luckily, all hope is not lost. Quite the contrary is the case. There’s no need for fear. Even though you might feel discouraged at the moment, with the aid of some minor but effective adjustments, new heights can be reached. All it takes is the courage to strive for more.

Take it to the next level

Strive to go beyond your limits!

Here’s what you can do to dismantle the walls that limit you. Let’s break in the walls of mediocrity.

8 Effective Ways to Take It to the Next Level

1. Move beyond fear

Fear limits us. It gets in our way. In a way, fear is at the crux of being stuck in life. We are afraid of the unknown. Afraid of confronting our limits. So instead of having the courage to take a chance, we passively impose limits upon ourselves. We might complain about these limitations, but we do nothing to move beyond them.

If we’re not careful, this can have a significant impact upon our life. We start allowing others to decide about our life. We hand the responsibility for our life over to questionable third parties. Even more so, fear makes us avoid the quest for new and exciting experiences. We start giving up our dreams and do no longer challenge ourselves to reach excellence.

But what is it that we are so afraid of? In a sense, it’s all about avoiding failure. We’re afraid of failing, which is why we try to avoid it at any cost. The fear of failure has made us develop an aversion to risk. We hesitate to take risks because we are afraid of experiencing a painful defeat. But ultimately, failure serves you.

There’s no need to be afraid of failure. Each time you get back up on your feet after being terribly push to the ground, you’ll become a little stronger. Failure helps you to grow as an individual. And more often than not, unexpected opportunities can be the direct result of having failed.

Move beyond fear. Purposefully confront yourself with the possibility of failing. Give yourself the permission to fail. The courage to try will not only prevent you from getting stuck, but it will also help you to propel your progress in life. Use your failures as steppingstones to success.

2. Have the courage to take risks

Overcoming the fear of failure is so important because it enables us to get rid of the aversion to risk. After all, progress and growth can only be accomplished when we are willing to reach beyond our comfort zone. Anything else will keep us stuck right where we are.

The reason so many people find themselves stuck on a given level is because they have become reluctant to take risks. These people have become comfortable with how things are, so they do no longer have the burning desire to accomplish greatness. Instead of seeking challenges, we become comfortable with mediocrity. After all, once we’ve reached a certain level of success, we’re inclined to keep things as they are, instead of taking risks. It’s our very aversion to risk that keeps us stuck in life.

Have the courage to risk something. Take risks and be fearless about the outcome. Challenge yourself to go beyond your limitations. Stretch past your comfort zone. Be willing to go where there is no safety net, even if it makes you uncomfortable. In the end, your willingness to take on new challenges will enable you to take it to the next level.

3. Move beyond other people’s opinion

Trying to please everyone will lead you nowhere. In fact, it may even prohibit your progress in life. Furthermore, the fear of what other people think of you can keep you trapped right where you are. It’s like a cage that you willingly imprison yourself in. And before you even notice, you become so used to the confines of this cage that you automatically behave in a way that upsets no one. Even if that means restricting yourself and your progress. Far too many people try to please everyone and anyone, because they’re afraid of upsetting or disappointing others.

One could even say that the fear of what others think makes us bend over backwards in the attempt to please others. But ultimately, we cannot change how other people think of us. And we certainly cannot please everyone. It simply is not possible. All it does is that it keeps us from reaching our full potential. Instead of pursuing our goals, we have made it our goal to pursue other people’s happiness. Consequently, by caring too much about what other people think of you, you will always remain a prisoner of their opinion.

Do not allow the fear of what other people think of you to stop you from reaching out for your dreams. Eventually, you will have to decide for yourself if it’s more important to you to take things to the next level or to be confined by other people’s opinion. But always remember, the definite key to failure is trying to please everybody. After all, you’re not able to please everyone, so why bother trying? All you can do is to have faith in yourself and do what you think is right.

4. Treat in comfort for progress

Comfort is the biggest enemy of progress. It makes you complacent with the status quo. But don’t get me wrong, stability, security, and comfort can be quite important in certain areas of life. However, when it comes to taking it to the next level, these things might not always prove beneficial. If you become too comfortable, the unquenchable desire to keep exploring and learning something new will slowly fade. Instead of experimenting and taking risks, one stops pursuing growth in order to remain one’s level of comfort.

The reason why complacency is the enemy of progress is simple. If you’re not continuously moving forward, you’ll move backward. Nonetheless, a certain sense of complacency keeps many of us from going to the next level after having reached a certain level of success. And while it is only natural for some to take it to the next level after reaching their goals, many struggle with it.

Don’t indulge in nostalgia. It will prevent you from moving forward. Never forget to remind yourself that there’s always room for improvement. That there’s always room to grow. And above all, constantly strive to push yourself a little further with everything you do.

5. Define your limiting beliefs

If we’re stuck in an area of life, it’s important to find out what it is that keeps us from making progress. Usually, we are far too much focused on our inability to move along. This hinders us from ever investigating the root cause.

Interestingly enough, many people progress in life until they reach a certain limit beyond which they seemingly cannot reach. In many of these cases, it’s our very belief system that acts as a roadblock to any further progress.

Our beliefs shape the world we’re living in. They may only exists in your mind, but retreat many of them as if they were part of the real world. Consequently, limiting beliefs manifest themselves as invisible but very real barriers that restrict us in our progress.

Ask yourself what it is that holds you back. Define what it is that limits you. Find out what it is that keeps you from moving further. Define what limits you and then try to challenge these negative beliefs. But don’t get me wrong, having beliefs is not the issue here. The issue is that we form unrealistic beliefs that are not rooted in reality. But once we do accept these excuses as reality, we automatically start to limit our progress.

6. Face your demons

The past can dramatically influence your present behavior. Consequently, negative experiences from the past can heavily limit your present progress. And all too often we are haunted by inner demons that give us just the right excuses to hold back from getting to the next level.

These inner demons confront us with our own anxieties, insecurities and weaknesses. Even more so, they pose troubling questions we’d rather not deal with. And they also convince us that it is better to be reluctant about change than being confronted with the unknown.

But to affect change it is necessary that we confront our inner demons. In some situations, we can only move forward once we are able to confront our deepest fears.

7. Detach from the results of your efforts

Detachment can be incredibly powerful, especially when it comes to taking it to the next level. There are many things that keep us right where we are. One of them is the burden we place upon ourselves by trying to push things too far.

Being too fixated on the outcome of something places great pressure upon our shoulders. Consequently, being too obsessed about a particular result is counterproductive.

In an ever-changing world where circumstances change constantly, we need to be able to remain flexible. Things seldom work out precisely as anticipated. For this reason, it takes the ability not to be too attached to a specific result. This will leave you end up pursuing dead ends in the road when it is better to change course.

In order to take it to the next level, we need to let go of our fixation on the idea of having to reach a new level. We must be careful not to become overly attached to the concept of getting to the next level itself. We shouldn’t reach out for the next level solely for the sake of taking things to the next level. After all, we must not forget that our focus need not lie on reaching the next level, but on doing something meaningful that helps us grow. Getting to the next level is just a result of doing something that you really care about, but not the very reason for doing it.

8. Stop looking for the big idea

Quite honestly, there’s a fundamental issue with many people’s attempt to take it to the next level. Instead of trying to actually reach the next level, these people try to reach the next planet or even the next solar system. What I mean by this is that they do not focus on realistically reaching for the next level they can accomplish. So instead of trying to progress in life by reaching one level after another, these people dream of entirely leaping off from the ground. They don’t want to progress step-by-step, but wish to accomplish it all at once.

They’re looking for the big idea that will propel their progress. But in most cases, there’s no such thing as a big idea. As a result, many people continue to chase the big idea phantom instead of actually doing something for their progress. Don’t be one of them.

9. Declutter (get back to the roots)

Whenever we’re feeling stuck in life, we seek for something new that could potentially help us affect positive change. Naturally, we’re inclined to think that if only we could manage to find a new way of doing things, we could quickly unstuck ourselves. In short, we often waste precious time looking for nothing other than a magic pill that miraculously allows us to reach the next level.

Well, such a magic pill does not exist. And in many situations, finding a new approach of doing things is not necessary to affect change. Sometimes all it takes is to declutter and to get back to the roots to gain new and fresh input about your situation.

In conclusion

In order to take it to the next level, you have to push beyond your limits. Almost always, the next level lies way beyond your comfort zone. But it is worth to take the risk. If you do not allow your limitations to stop you from accomplishing greatness, quick progress can be made. And always remember, that whatever you are doing is worth doing well.

I hope you enjoyed this article about taking it to the next level. What are your tricks to accelerate your growth as a person?

Stay victorious!


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About Author

Steve is the founder of Planet of Success, the #1 choice when it comes to motivation, self-growth and empowerment. This world does not need followers. What it needs is people who stand in their own sovereignty. Join us in the quest to live life to the fullest!

9 Comments

  1. Hi steve
    This was really a good article and it was quite encouraging for me as I have been facing a lot of obstacles these days.. I am one of the best students in my college and i have never faced failure.. but recently in one of my exams I did really bad.. it has been haunting me since the day of the exam.. I have never faced failure so I feel like its gonna be very shameful for me.. more than that like you said I am worried about what others may think about me if they compare the past me and my present results.. I have read a lot of motivational articles but still I haven’t got the full confidence to stand up with courage.. that was just a test but my finals begins after 2 months.. can you suggest me some ideas so that I can move ahead to the next level avoiding my tensions and prove that I can be successful like in my past days..

    • Hi Priscilla,

      Failure cannot be avoided. So instead of terribly punishing yourself for it, use the experience to learn something from it. If you do that, you’ll be able to avoid similar mistakes in the future. This is by far a much healthier approach to failure than simply worrying about it all the time. Even more so, closely analyze what has led to your failure and prevent these occurrences in the future.

      Also, if you really want to reduce your tensions, give everything you can to properly prepare yourself for the exams. That way, once at the exams starts you know that you did everything you possibly could to be exceptionally good prepared.

  2. Hi Steve,

    Really great article, thank you for sharing! Your article resonated with me on multiple levels, because as we all know, a big part of leaping outside your comfort zone is also walking on the edge of uncertainty, which is absolutely terrifying. Your 9 tips and strategies are extremely actionable and very encouraging. I like what you said about, “stop looking for that big idea,” that struck me in a way that brought a lot of conscious awareness to some things that might be holding me back. As a creative and entrepreneur, I sometimes become flooded by excited, ideas and wanting to ‘do it all!” which ends up backfiring because I don’t have a clear, realistic or actionable focus. I am definitely going to be taking that tip with me as I move forward!

    Your article also made me think of a podcast I have been listening to for the past month, called “A Conversation Among Friends” by Bob Olmstead. Bobs’ podcast also talks about breaking down those comfort zones, living authenticly and his recent podcast being about kuyashi. This series has transformed by life more in one month than I could have ever anticipated. Here’s the link, hope it’s okay to post here, I strongly recommend checking it out! bobolmsteadink.com/podcasts/ and I would love to hear your thoughts on it!

    Thanks again for the tips, it really got me thinking and reflecting about some facets of my life. I am really looking forward to putting them into action!

  3. Great article! Thank you for all the clarity on these issues. Especially for business it seems these are very true and happen often.

  4. Great article! I’m coming to the USA to start my life again and make a-never-seen-before-or-after success!

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