We all have dreams and goals that we want to achieve. We aspire to be successful in our respective industries, fields, professions, and passions.
But what is success? What does it mean? In a nutshell, success is when we take ourselves from the state of hoping and wishing, and we start achieving.
There are a lot of important things to do to get from thought to actualized thought -moving past fear, believing that you are worth it, and dropping insecurities, just to name a few.
But it’s equally as important to have systems and processes in place that help you achieve your goals. I’m constantly evaluating my overall systems to make them more impactful, but there are some key elements that remain the same.
1. Get very clear on what success for a specific objective looks like to YOU.
- How will you know you’ve been successful?
- How would you measure success?
- When do you want it to happen?
- Have you created goals and metrics that are realistic?
2. Based on the goals that you have set, what needs to happen on a weekly basis to bring it to fruition? Monthly basis? Quarterly?
3. My new weeks begin on Sunday evenings. I look across my week and ask myself what actions I need to take over the coming days to achieve my goals. I then schedule those items into my list. Just scheduling it does not make it happen, but not scheduling it or planning it never makes it work.
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There have been several times in my life where I’ve desired success in a specific area, but I look at my calendar and activities and realize that I’ve not included anything pertaining to the goal.
For the really big things in my life, I ask myself, “For this coming week, what are the 3 things I can do to get closer to my goal?”
There’s nothing magic about the number 3 in this situation; it just makes me explore it more or differently.
Take this example: If I have a goal of maintaining a healthy weight, here are the things within my control that I can do to make sure I’m sticking to that goal.
- Breakup with sugar
- Attend 4 exercise classes
- Plan/shop for meals for the week
- Track my meals (bonus item!)
Planning is an integral part of achieving success. We have to make room for the things that we say we want because if we don’t, we relegate them to the status of dreams.
