How To Achieve Success

So who doesn’t want to be successful? It’s a silly question right, we all want to achieve success in our lives. However why is it that some people are more successful than others? Whether you want to be a successful sales person, an inspiring teacher, a top speaker, a New York Times Best-Selling author or even a billionaire. It’s still the same.

The good news is that there is a key to unlocking the door to success. In this article we will discuss what this approach is. We will also look at some tips to help you achieve success. 

Success means different things for different people

The Success Formula

After much study and research into the people that we, as a society, deem to be successful, it is possible to see patterns of behaviour, It doesn’t matter the success “sector”, it doesn’t matter what the individuals background is. The simple truth is that if you put these people in the same situation or environment they will do certain things in a way that is common for all of them. 

The Formula For Success

Setting Goals

“If you don’t know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” Lawrence J. Peter

To achieve anything in life you first need to know what it is that you want to achieve. Most people know that they want to be successful. But why are they still at the same place after a few years? If you cannot specify what it is that you want to achieve in order to be successful how do you measure and quantify that success?

As a reminder ensure that any success goals follow the SMART objectives.

Specific.: Try to set defined targets for example, don’t say “I will lose weight” try stating that “I will lose 4 pounds each month”.

Measurable: The goal is something that progress can be tracked against, for example, don’t say “more relaxation” say “I will meditate daily, for 10 mins”.

Achievable: Ensure that any improvements are actually attainable. For example, doing 2 hrs voluntary work a week is more achievable than 30 hrs.

Realistic: Make your goals relevant and personalised so that you are motivated to achieve them.

Timely: Be clear and realistic with yourself as to when you want to meet your objectives. Once set you can plan accordingly.

Being clear in what you want can help you to move towards your goal. It can be a kind of motivation. Very few successful experiences happen by chance. In fact most of it happens by design. Successful people design what they want. The sad part is most people never design their life.

Plan Your Strategy

“A good plan is like a road map: it shows the final destination and usually the best way to get there.” H. Stanley Judd

There is no point in setting goals if you do not consider the “how to achieve” element. Sometimes we fall into the trap of setting a target without understanding how we can actually achieve that overarching goal.

You need to break this down into smaller more manageable and therefore more achievable objectives. We can call these “Small Wins”. By planning and tracking against these small wins we know we are moving towards the greater goal. The attainment of these small wins has the added benefit of inspiring and motivating you to keep with the plan.

Taking Action

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” Peter Marshall

Ok – you have got a target and you have worked out a strategy for you to follow in order to achieve that success. Great stuff, now let’s think about how we are going to implement that strategy and this is the Action phase of the formula.

It’s the taking action that moves you towards attaining your goals. Taking action is also the thing that separates the dreamers from the doers. We have all met people who would seem to have great potential who are working for people who appear to have less. Similarly, we know people who have the knowledge to succeed in whatever they field they operate in. But, they simply sit around hoping that success will come knocking on their door.

The truth is that, it is the “doers” that achieve success. They may not have all the skills at the outset but through planning and effort they achieve their goals because they put the effort it.

Failure As Feedback

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” Richard Branson

Once you take action, 1 of 2 things is going to happen. The first possibility is that it all works as planned and you achieve your required success by moving towards your goal. Alternatively, we might not get what we want when we take action. Simplistically, we can call this a failure.

What is really interesting about failure is that every single one of us will experience this. The more successful people will take more actions thereby increasing their probability of failure. What is absolutely critical when looking at successful people is how they deal with failure. It’s their response to failure is what makes the biggest difference.

There are 3 main ways that people handle failure.

• Make Excuses, Apportion Blame & Give Up.
• Repeat Actions Before Giving Up.
• Get Feedback, Change Strategy and Take Action until you Succeed.

One thing is clear every single action will give us an opportunity to learn. We can then use this learning experience to improve on our strategy and take action again. It goes even further. even if your action is successful you should still continue to seek feedback. The most successful people don’t simple relax and say “I have succeeded” – far from it they want more. And you will too!!

Personal Beliefs And Values

“Change can either challenge or threaten us. Your beliefs pave your way to success or block you” Marsha Sinetar

Before we head off creating targets and setting goals in order to achieve success. We need to understand some of the critical influences that drive us towards the creation of those goals.

Belief System: this is the invisible force that controls and drives our behaviour. As humans we accumulate thousands of beliefs throughout our lifetime. These also cross all aspects of our life. We gain them through things that other people say to us, things we hear on the news, things we read, or any other external influences that we are exposed to.

Personal Value System: A personal value system is a set of principles or ideals that drive and/or guide your behaviour. It is the “thing” that gives you structure and purpose by helping you determine what is meaningful and important to you.

Remember, it’s the way we rank our values and beliefs that affect our decision making process. Here the critical thing to understanding success is that no matter what our values are, our values must be aligned with our goal. 

Remember to celebrate your Success

Tips To Achieve Success

To achieve any goal in life you must be inspired to do it. Its a simple premise but it is critical to understanding why we should (and need to) set objectives and targets for ourselves. Successful people have critical traits that tend to fall into one of the following categories.

A Confidence In Their Abilities: Even though they may not be experts in everything, they are comfortable with their specialities.

Self-Esteem: Inspired people have the confidence not to doubt themselves, indicating that they are able not to sabotage themselves.

Optimism: It’s difficult to be inspired if you’re stuck in a negative state. People with optimism are more open and more prone to inspiration.

With this in mind lets look at 5 techniques that will help you to achieve success:

1. Set Goals That Motivate You

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.” Les Brown

This means making sure that they are important to you, and that there is value in achieving them. If you have little interest in the outcome, or they are irrelevant given the larger picture, then the chances of you putting in the work to make them happen are slim. Motivation is therefore the primary key to achieving goals.

2. Set Goals That Relate To The High Priorities In Your Life.

These goals help focus your mind. It gives each goal a sense of urgency and helps you make and adhere to a commitment to achieve the goal. When you don’t have this, you risk putting off what you need to do.

3. Set Goals In Writing

“If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Zig Ziglar

The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. You have no excuse for forgetting about it. As you write, use the word “will” instead of “would like to” or “might.” Also, write down why it’s valuable and important to you.

4. Make An Action Plan

This step is often missed in the process of goal setting. You get so focused on the outcome that you forget to plan all of the steps that are needed along the way. As previously mentioned we call this the concept of “small wins”. By writing out the individual steps, and then crossing each one off as you complete it, you’ll realise that you are making progress towards your ultimate goal. This is especially important if your goal is big and demanding, or long term.

5. Stick With It!

“Never quit. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Set a goal and don’t quit until you attain it. When you do attain it, set another goal, and don’t quit until you reach it. Never quit.” Bear Bryant

Remember, goal setting is an ongoing activity, not just a means to an end. Build in reminders to keep yourself on track, and make regular time-slots available to review your goals. This is why we recommend weekly reviews to help track progress towards your success goals.

Your end destination may remain the same over the long term, but the action plan you set for yourself along the way can change significantly as a result of feedback for example.. Make sure the relevance, value, and necessity of your goals remain high. 

To achieve success you need Desire and 'Stickability'

Conclusion

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis

Whilst the desire to achieve success is in us all not everyone is able, or willing, to attain their lofty ambitions. But the simple truth is that actually we can all do this. We need to follow the success formula because that’s what successful people do.

By following “The Concept Of Small Wins” we can plan a success strategy and track against it. We continue to review and welcome all feedback as pat of our learning process. We are inspired and motivated to succeed and we have confidence and “stickability” to see it through. So what are you waiting for? The new successful you is just around the corner!

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