The Secrets of Success
What does success mean to you? It should be one of the fundamental questions you ask yourself as you develop and grow as a human being. Your definition of success is unique to you; your drivers and goals very different to anyone else’s. Some focus on money or status, driven by ever-increasing celebrity culture. Others regard their impact on the planet, relationships with loved ones and friends and achieving major life goals as more important.
Whatever your personal definition of success, achieving your goals will always be challenging. If they are not difficult to achieve, they are not goals worth striving for.
You will not achieve your desired success levels without a framework to help you. Mindset, planning and execution are essential. So in this article, we want to give you a little help to get you on your way to attaining the levels of success you dream of.
The 4 Pillars of Success
1. Mindset
To be successful in anything, you must have the right mindset. Self-belief is vital. As Henry Ford once said, ‘Whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right.’ Spend time reflecting on your self-talk. Do you tell yourself you’re not good enough, that you cannot achieve your goals? Think about why you may think like this. Consciously catch yourself when these thoughts come into your head and intervene as the positive version of you. What does that person sound like? Practice positive self-talk, reflect on past successes, focus on your qualities and strengths – it will help you feel more empowered. There is a plethora of books available to help you improve your mindset, go and read some! You may find working with a personal coach a great help in creating a powerful vision of yourself.
Successful people are innately positive. However, you will inevitably face challenges along the way, so start focusing on solving problems rather than bemoaning them. If that seems impossible to you and you want to change your mindset, read ‘Mind Hacking’ by Sir John Hargrave. He shows how you can make significant progress in just 21 days. Whatever strategies you use, focus on positivity, what you can do, not what you can’t and start a journal logging negative thoughts and what you did to overcome them.
2. Planning
This is a crucial step in getting to where you want to be. Set SMART goals. If you don’t know what these are, it’s straightforward. SMART stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Any goal you set should be done in this way. Make it as specific as you can. For example, don’t settle for ‘I want to run my own business’. Instead, write down exactly what type of business, your financial goals over a first-year, five years and so on; what will make your business different?
Remember the time-bound part of goal setting. Write down short-term and long-term goals. You may want to separate personal and business goals, travel destinations, a major charity event or achieving mastery in a skill you’ve always dreamed of. Whatever your goals, write them down and use them as your bible.
Now take each one and document what you need to do to achieve them. Don’t do too many; you simply won’t achieve them all.
How much time do you need to spend on each one?
What steps do you need to cover to reach your end goal?
When will you aim to complete each step?
Be methodical. If necessary, use an accountability buddy who can keep you on track to ensure you do what you need to do to get you there.
If you write your goals down, make them specific, set time limits and measure them constantly, your chances of achieving them increase by over 80%! So what are you waiting for?
3. Execution
Once you have a set of goals you feel passionate about, build daily habits that allow you to work on those goals. For example, you won’t become a concert pianist in three months, but you will need to set aside time for practice every single day.
Work out why you get distracted or procrastinate. Often it is because you fear failure or are overwhelmed by the obstacles you face. Face those fears, use friends or a close family member as sounding boards to help you push through. Schedule times in your day to do the things you need to do to work on your road to success.
Calculate how much time you spend watching Netflix or reviewing social media. If you cut that by 20%, how much time would that give you every day, every week?
Become more disciplined by looking at your emails. Set specific times in the day to read and respond and turn all notifications off for the rest of the day.
Keep learning. Personal development is essential in your journey. It will help you improve your mindset, plan, and execute and give you a greater foundation for the creativity you often need to find solutions to difficult situations. The more you learn about your chosen goals and the more you practice, the more competent you will become.
Stay focused. Turn off the phone, sit in a room away from the TV, rent a desk in a shared office space or go to a coffee shop to get you out of the house. You must stay focused on what you need to be doing to succeed.
4. Reflection
Every successful person reflects on what they do. But one thing is for sure; you will fail while on your personal journey. So, reflect on those failures in a way that allows you to learn, grow and do better next time.
Celebrate! Whether you have achieved a milestone or a significant success, or a seemingly small win, make a noise about it. Whether going for a celebratory meal with friends or family, buying cakes for your team or treating yourself to something you’ve wanted to buy for ages, celebration feeds positivity, self-belief and more success. Oprah Winfrey, one of the planet’s most successful women, said, ‘The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.’
Create your success journal. As well as documenting your successes and failures, reflect on what you are grateful for. It is incredible how this can transform your positivity when you do it every day.
If you don’t reflect every day, you won’t learn what is feeding you and what is stopping you attain the levels you desire.
Conclusion
To achieve anything, you must act. That sounds easy; it isn’t! Our brains naturally work against us, finding reasons to procrastinate and convince us we cannot succeed. That means we must consciously work to overcome those thoughts, creating a positive mindset, taking time to plan the goals that really matter to us, focusing on achieving them and then reflecting on everything that happens along the way.
Churchill said, ‘Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.‘ Find quotes that speak to you and use them as inspiration to help you on your way because success will always be challenging to achieve but incredibly rewarding when you get there.
Don’t worry about what others think. Success is personal to you. How you measure your definition of success is the only barometer you should be using. Learn to enjoy your journey, the good and the bad, and revel in the personal growth and sense of achievement that you will feel. Good luck and go for it!
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