10 Ways to Create Ding Moments that Help You Achieve Goals, Bust Plateaus, and Beat the Competition!

If you are struggling to get out of a rut, achieve a goal, or have your business stand out from the competition, then perhaps instead of working longer and harder you should something completely different and create a Ding Moment!

A Ding Moment is an unexpected change that you initiate that changes the game, forces creativity, and helps you move in a new direction. They are powerful ways to build a business or achieve personal goals.

They’re not always easy to create, but here are 10 techniques you can use to get started:

1)      Simplify for Others

Everybody wants their own life to be simpler (easier, less stressful etc.). Instead of wondering what you can do to make your own life simpler, ask, “What can I do – in my current business or career or in a new endeavor – to make other people’s lives simpler?” A small innovation that simplifies something for others can be a very powerful Ding.

2)      Increase Complexity for Yourself

Complexity sucks. However, if you want to innovate and create a new “Ding!,” you’ll most likely have to be willing to let your own life get more complex for a while. Figure out a strategic way to make your life more complicated that either a) adds value to others or b) moves you towards your goals, and you’ll be well rewarded.

3)      Force Yourself to Do More with Less

Yes, you are probably already being asked and forced to do more and more with less and less. However, those are not strategic decisions you are making for yourself. To create your own Ding! moments, lead the charge by asking and challenging yourself to do more with less money, energy, time, or resources. With an open mind and creativity you can force innovation that separates you from the pack.

4)      Combine Two Unrelated Things

Instead of compartmentalizing your life, ask yourself how you can combine two elements of your life (or business, industry, job, etc) to create something new. For example, Zumba was a combination of an aerobics class and salsa dancing. Now it’s a HUGE industry.

5)      Model Success from a Completely Unrelated Area

When trying to achieve a goal it is understandable to look at others who have achieved success in the same area. This is a smart way to learn from others. However, if you do only this you are limiting yourself to being a follower, which makes it very hard to innovate and create Ding moments.  Instead, study success from completely unrelated areas and see what inspiration and lessons you can you’ll from there.

6)      Get Scared

You may already know what you need to do to create a Ding moment for yourself; you just may be afraid of doing it. Take a look at what you’re currently afraid of – that may be the very thing you should force yourself to do.

7)      Get Stupid

My friend and fellow speaker Robert Bradford runs strategic planning sessions with CEOs, and he likes to ask them, “what’s the stupidest thing we can do right now?” I love this question because it

1. Opens up your creative and playful side (where creativity lies)
2. Gets you thinking about options that no one else is thinking about.

You usually won’t do exactly what the stupid idea is, but it will get you thinking down some new and interesting paths.

8)      Erase and Start Over

Current success is great, but it can also be your biggest enemy. If you are unwilling to let go of what you have, you can get yourself trapped in an ever-shrinking box. For a time, let go of everything you have achieved and created to this point and let yourself think with a blank slate.

9)      Raise Your Bar

Stop playing small! You don’t need to have giant, world-changing dreams, but try setting higher standards for yourself and see how that forces you to innovate and create Dings to make it happen.

10)  Do What You Know You, “Can Not Do”

There is probably at least one thing about which you have said to yourself, “I could never do that.” (I have heard many people say that to me – often, right before a corporate improv workshop, only to have them 2-3 hours later say, “wow, I could do that, and I just did!) Starting small is fine – take a class, run a test, etc. By smacking your own limitations in the face you’ll be on your way to creating an awesome Ding!

For more information on creating Ding Moments, check out the “Be a Ding Maker” Page now!