When it comes to self-development programs, lots of people do more than one. These courses aren’t all the same, so it’s not at all uncommon to do more than one.

Unfortunately, what’s also common is the problem of follow-through: people not quite reaching the finish line of a long-cherished goal that motivated them to take the program in the first place.

That initial energy and excitement often fizzles a week, a month, or few a months afterward. Something gets lost in the translation from intention to completion. I see it happen all the time.

It’s what I call the Monkey Mind.

I was inspired by this analogy reflecting on a trip I took to India recently, watching the behavior of those monkeys near the Himalayas you see on nature channels. When you watch them you realize … they’re all over the place! Scattered, chirping, jumping from here to there. They’re grabbing everything, can’t hardly sit still for a minute, very unfocused.

That’s how the mind works! One part says, “This course will be good for me, I need this,” but then lets the Monkey Mind take over, and then … it’s over!

Your Higher Self must control your Monkey Mind.

Most people can’t do that. You don’t need to be a psychologist or personal development guru to know this.

So what are some simple things you can do to get the monkey out of your head that and accomplish the things you say you most want to accomplish?

1. Trust Yourself. Trust is about integrity. When you don’t do what you say you’re going to do, you lose confidence and trust in yourself. Then that cycle repeats itself and becomes a pattern. When someone else doesn’t do what they say they’re going to do, you lose trust in them, yes or yes? Conversely, once you start to do whatever it takes to keep your word, you feel good about yourself. That’s going to spill over into every other part of your life.

Start with this exercise. I want you to get comfortable, taking three big breaths. Big inhale and big exhale. Take as many breaths as you need to get fully relaxed. When you’re there, close your eyes and think of one thing that you have put on the back burner this year. A do-it-yourself home improvement project? Commitment to a gym or exercise routine? A first chapter of a book you’ve been thinking about writing? Signing up for that seminar that could help resurrect a dormant dream? Whatever this is for you.

Now ask yourself, “Is this something I really want to complete?” If yes, then I want you to write that down and come up with one single action toward completing this goal. Not five or 10 actions. I said just one. Why? Because when we complicate things, we tend to not do them. I always say, “Simple is doable, complicated is interesting.”

So let’s start with something simple and doable, and then use the power of momentum to continue pushing forward.

2. Prioritize. To continue developing discipline, you’ve got to straighten out your priorities.

Make a list of your daily habits. Of those, what’re the habits that are really not supporting you? Is it looking at emails as soon as you get out of bed before you even go to the bathroom and brush your teeth? Looking at your phone every five seconds while eating? Spending money and time on lunch out when you could bring something from home and use that time productively?

Again, however long this list may be (if you’re honest, there’ll be at least a few), pick only one unsupportive habit that you’re committed to changing. Try it for a month — heck, up the ante and make it 90 days.

If you’re successful, reward yourself! Make the reward something you normally wouldn’t treat yourself to. If you don’t make it to that month, two-month, or three-month marker … don’t beat yourself up. Simply pick another unsupportive habit to change that is … what? Simple and doable!

You have to prioritize what’s most important to you, and you have to commit to following through on your priorities. Your word must become law in the universe. You’re not going to do things just because you said you were going to do them. You complete them so you can practice controlling your Monkey Mind.

As you continue to practice controlling your Monkey Mind, the easier it will get.

Finishing what you start isn’t just one of those sayings that sounds good in theory, like a rah-rah motivator. This matters in all areas of your life: relationships, business, community, teams, etc. It’s the key to sustaining trust and connections with others, connection to your Self, and in attaining success in every endeavor.

For Your Freedom,

Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, at their roots, have had historic importance worldwide for thousands of years. Many ancient peoples celebrated the Winter Solstice with different kinds of festivals and rituals with themes of death, birth, gifting, praising, etc.

Some historians trace New Year traditions back to the Babylonians of 4,000 years ago. For them, this time of year meant paying off debts or returning borrowed items, a different way of “resolving” their issues.  There was a sense of accountability as well as celebrating what’s to come. We have our parties and Auld Lang Syne too, yet our resolutions tend to focus on ourselves: losing weight; quitting smoking; or making a million dollars—being better or more than we were before.

You don’t need New Year’s to remind you to stay on track toward your goals. Success-building is a daily routine, yes or yes? The fact is, though, that most people are not going to keep their resolutions. Some surveys suggest only about 8% will stick to their resolve by year’s end, and a whopping 45% will fail by the end of January!

While the reasons range from fear of success or failure to resolving the wrong things for the wrong reasons, maybe we should resolve instead to grow every day, one day at a time. This is what it really means to be present. It’s not a coincidence that we use the same word to recognize the now-moment as we do to define a gift.

The seed of all the great things in our lives—who we are; who we want to be; what motivates our desires, what determines whether or not we achieve success—is happening right now. Everything. If we want quality answers that are meant to ease our anxieties about the future, it means we have to ask quality questions now, which is the quality of present moment awareness. As our awareness expands so does our vision, our ability to be in tune with what is happening—what will happen—as our intuition guides us in spite of uncertainty.

Our ancestors wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for planning and anticipation of the inevitability of change, guiding their ability to plant, harvest and know when not to. Nor would they have had reasons to ritualize endings, beginnings, celebration of success or reflect on past mistakes if it weren’t for planning for the change of seasons. It’s in our best interest to plan as much as we can to work toward what we want to see happen. The truth is, though, we don’t always know what’s coming around the corner. We can take educated guesses, but there’s no such thing as absolute certainty.

In the end, all we ever really have is now, and this is where we will find our richness. Now is when we can reflect, think, make decisions, act or not act—not tomorrow. There’s always only now. Giving yourself to the present moment is the best gift of all—it’s the resolution that lasts a lifetime, every minute of every day. It’s in the present that all things become possible.

From the entire Harv Eker International Team, Happy Holidays and have a great start to another year of growth, learning, happiness, success, and richness!

For Your Freedom,