After careful consideration and thinking around what makes a person successful, I came to the realization that there are 6 essential ingredients that must be present to succeed in anything we want. Here they are, outlined, summarized and emphasized for your benefits. You can take my observation and run with it, or you can simply ignore it and disregard everything at your own discretion. The choice is yours to make.
Before we go into details, I just want to highlight a few things. First, there is no such thing as something for nothing. In other words, you need to work for everything you desire. Nothing important will be served to you on a silver platter without you actually making the effort to get it. Second, there are no two brains alike. What works for me, may or may not work for you. How I perceive an issue may sometimes be different to how others think around the same problem. Thirdly, people struggle to get what they want because of 3 things and 3 things only:
- They don’t know what they want to achieve or where they are going;
- They don’t know where they are at right now and they live in denial, believing that things are not as bad as they really seem;
- They don’t know how to get to where they want to be. To put it simply, there are so many things to consider, apply, test and do so people tend to become overwhelmed and abandon their objectives and goals.
So now, let’s get started…
Step 1 Getting Clarity
Your first step should always be around the clarity of your current situation. You need to be absolutely clear with where you are now.
What’s working for you and what’s not? Why this is a problem in the first place? What has put you in the situation you are in right now?
Knowing that any situation is temporary is a great place to start. Anything you are not fully satisfied with can be overturned if you are prepared to work on it and devote your full attention to it. Don’t procrastinate. See it as it is and accept the full responsibility for the outcome. Once you accept responsibility, you are free to make decisions and the choices necessary to make it better, happier and fulfilling. Life is a summary of your choices and decisions and you are here, where you are, because you have chosen to be. Even if you say I didn’t choose this, be mindful about what you are saying! By failing to make that important decision, you also decided and made the choice not to do so…You are getting my point…
Step 2 Point of “No-Turning Back” or Decide Now
This is the point of “no-turning-back”. Decision is true only if you eliminate all other possibilities. So when you decide, make sure you really mean it!
Step 3 Visualize The End
This is really about painting the vividly inspirational canvas focused your desired future. How will it look? How your life, business and everything else will be different and more meaningful? What are the major benefits for you, your team and all significant others you may impact as a result?
Before you start your paint, call in that clarity that we mentioned before. Ask, what is it that I really want? Surprisingly or not, so many people don’t spend their time clarifying what they want. Consequences will hunt them down once they realize that their time is limited and we may not have the same opportunity for the second time. Life is like a bus, it may take you to different places, but it will never wait for you, so don’t be indecisive. You have to pay for a ticket and jump on it… Certainly; it pays if you know where you are heading!
Once you have answered the question about what you WANT to do – you then need to ask yourself the Big WHY question. State with laser precision, why you want what you want! It goes without saying that Why, is always more important that What. Why is it your underlying reason to do certain things? Why is based on your values and really defines what is important to you as a person! Values drive everything; they define your motivation, inspiration, behavior and actions. They rule your world.
Step 4 Plan The Epic Journey
When your decision is made and you have the answers on WHAT and WHY, your answers to HOW will come from different and sometimes unusual places. Ask yourself, how I can get there faster, cheaper, more effective, and profitable or whatever you criteria may be. This is about defining your course of action. You plan the journey and determine the important milestones that will ensure you stay committed and focused on your objectives. State what absolutely must happen for you to know that you are on the right course? What you need to do to ensure progress? Who can help you get there? What you need to learn? How will you measure results?
There is absolutely no way you’ll be able to predict and plan everything. No one can do that, but people strive for certainty. We want assurance; some guarantees that our journey will somehow be pleasant. Certainties are a myth! There are no certainties in life. The only certain things in life are those we have absolutely no control over. So, don’t go there if you don’t need to…
This may sound strange, but planning enhances the vividness and the resolution of your Canvas. When you work your plans, you work your life. What you plan, you may achieve, what you don’t, you will neglect and overlook. You see, what is in front of your nose daily, stays in your mind always. What you see is what you get…
Your picture just got clearer or…?
This may sound like magic or some weird Law of Attraction movie but it is not. Trust me on this, LOA will not work in its original form. What is missing is action on your behalf and action is what will make it sound.
Step 5 Consolidate Your Resources
When plans are on the table, known to everybody that needs to know about them, you need to alarm and consolidate all your resources. Fully focus on objectives ahead. Brian Tracy teaches us the 6Ps principle that says:
“Proper prior preparation prevents poor performance”
And it must be your guiding statement. Notice what you have already. Explore what you may need. Plan 2-3 steps ahead. Make your commitment today to plan for tomorrow. Dealing with emergencies is not about planning. It is about crisis management and it suggests the lack of proper planning by itself.
Step 6 Take Action
Knowing what you want, why you want it and how to get it is not enough if you don’t do something about it. Action speaks louder than words and plans without actions will remain plans and nothing else. Don’t waste your time. Once you are ready, go for it. There is nothing more or less that you need to do. Just go for it…and remember that every journey starts with the single step. Also remember, your journey is not about perfection, as perfection doesn’t exist. It is about you and things that matter to you.