3 Keys to Guarantee Success

3 Keys to Guarantee Success

 It's been just over 2 weeks since my last post and I can tell you that it has been a crazy time. I have been busy, preoccupied, distracted, exhausted… you name it and it's probably a reason why I wasn't able to get this post up sooner. At this point, I see you grinning. It's not as easy as I make it sound. And I'll be the first person to agree. Life happens to every one of us. Yet, if you look around you will see people achieving their dreams. So, how are they were able to do it? Here's the secret… They have been working longer at achieving their dreams, dealing with the distractions for a longer time, and have become experts at applying these 3 keys to success.

1. Master the Basics
   Regardless of what you are going to achieve, every success requires basic skills. Master them! Be able to do them in your sleep. Better yet, mentor someone who wants to achieve the same thing, one of the best ways to learn a new skill is to teach it. Here are some examples:
   
   
   • You want to lose weight? Diet and exercise…
     
   • Want to write a book? Grammar and spelling…
     
   • Start a business? Sales and accounting…
     
   • Achieve financial success? Money and time management…
   
   Whatever it is you want to achieve, find out what the basic skills are and master them.


2. Be Consistent
   So you've got the basics mastered, now what? Apply them every chance you get because there are going to be distractions and things are going to come up. The path to success is the one that you stay on.
   
   One of my personal goals is to lose weight and get in better shape. I have to become diligent at diet and exercise. My long term goal is 12% body fat and maintain. In order to do this, I have to master the basics: diet and exercise.
   
   So I can either hit the gym and diet every other week for a year OR go to the gym every week for six months. Which scenario puts me closer to my goal? I worked out for the same amount of time at the end of 1 year. Most likely my goal will have been reached by the end of six months and by being consistent in my efforts. My body and mind will have a better chance at adapting and keeping me focused on my results. By letting the distractions consume me every other week, it is much more likely that by the end of six months I won't even want to continue based on the lack of visible results.
   
   The bottom line is that no matter what your goal is, be consistent in the amount of time and energy that you give it.


3. Never Give Up
   It's going to happen, there will be setbacks. Success is nothing more than a string of failures repeated. Keeping your focus on the reward will help drive you to never give up. If your goal is to lose 20, 40, or even 60 pounds, by being consistent and never giving up you will achieve. It may take you longer than someone you know but your desire and determination will be the key to achieving the success your deserve.

5 Keys to Achieving Success

Just the other day my wife, as I was explaining to her this post, reminded me that most people give up just shy of achieving success. Think of a hill and you are given the task of rolling a boulder up the hill. If you have enough momentum (desire) when you reach the bottom of the hill the boulder will be easy to push up the hill… in the beginning. For a while you will learn what works, what doesn't, and adapt your efforts so that you can continue to push the boulder up the hill. Your success in maintaining your speed (growth) is quite simply determined by your ability to adapt your techniques as things change. The problem with this immediate success is that eventually you have to work harder before you will see any more positive growth. In fact if you stop to rest, getting the boulder going again will be next to impossible. However if you have enough desire to grow as much as you can, you will achieve success. When the boulder gets to the top all it will take is a little bit of well placed effort (experience) on your part to achieve continued success. Why do I tell this story? Because every day we set out to achieve our goals and every day many of us quit.

• We quit when it gets tough.
• We quit when life happens.
• We quit when our desire changes

Our momentum (desire) to accomplish our goals is the greatest factor in achieving success. Some mornings you will get out of bed and your desire will be burning intensely. Other mornings, yesterdays fire will have burned you out. How do you make sure that the fire remains steady? Here are five behaviors that will keep your momentum consistent all the way up the hill. Keep in mind that the hill is not perfect. There will be obstacles and possibly even pits to get stuck in. Nevertheless, these behaviors will help you navigate so that your speed (growth) will remain consistent so that you can achieve your ultimate success.

1. Avoid Multitasking
Taking your eye off the ball is one of the greatest mistakes people make. Recent studies suggest that people who are texting while they drive are 23 times more likely to get into a car accident than those who have their full attention on the road. What does this have to do with achieving your goals? You are on a journey, just like the driver of a car. Both of you want to get to your destination. If texting while driving can create such a high risk of loss, imagine what can happen when you read while exercising or try to mix family time with writing your new book. Imagine for a moment, how much more productive would you be if you spent dedicated time achieving your dreams and less time letting your dreams compete with the rest of our life.


2. Write it down
Writing down your goals moves you more than half way to achieving them. Studies have shown that people who write down their goals and create a plan to achieve them have an 80% greater chance of achieving success than those who fail to write it down. Enough said!


3. Finish what you start
Just like mom and dad used to say and it still applies today. We live in a society that is non-stop. We have too many things to do and prioritization is almost always in the moment. You start on one task with the best intentions to finish it and then are distracted…. there's that word again. It's the distractions in our lives that make achieving our goals so difficult. Distractions create a re-prioritization of our goals. It's not uncommon to stop what you are focused on to start another project. You go to the gym and run into some friends. You decide to go for a walk instead… to Starbucks! You are working on this new business idea when suddenly you realize the game is on. When you come back you can't remember where you were so you decide to organize your email. You're in the middle of closing that big sale when suddenly you start thinking that it's going nowhere and change your tactics. Always finish what you start. It's the follow through to completion that will help you achieve your goals.


4. Schedule a time
You hear it all the time. "If only I was better at time management I could…" I got news for you, we all get the same 24 hours in a day. It's not the time that needs management, but you. A recent personality profile I took told me that I am motivated by a challenge and that I love to win. It also told me that my personality is the type that likes to be busy. That the time I need to achieve my goals will not magically appear. I remember reading that for the first time and thought to myself, "but they have no idea how busy I am… there just isn't enough time in the day." Then I realized that I was trying to fit things in. I knew that I didn't have any time available, but once I began to schedule the time it turned into a habit. Suddenly my day didn't feel complete without going to the gym or not taking time to write.


5. Stay focused on the goal
Regardless of how you feel about the thought of achieving your goal, this is by far the most important factor in making it a reality. Your thoughts, turned into action, have the power to change your life in ways you never dreamed. The power to focus on your goal is nothing more than your ability to imagine yourself achieving it. What will your life be like? How will it change you… your friends… your family? Focus on the results. Focus on your new lifestyle. Focus on your goal and know that no matter what has you down today that in the end the sweet taste of victory will fulfill your greatest desires.

1% Doubt and You’re Out!

1% Doubt and You're Out!

I've never been to a wedding where the groom looked into the eyes of his bride and said, "I Do! 99% of the time I will remain committed." Yet being 99% or even 50% committed to our goals is commonplace. It is so easy to justify to ourselves that when things get tough we can quit or sit around and hope things will get easier. So many marriages end in divorce these days because people are truly less than 100% committed to each other. The 1% doubt in the beginning grows into 2%, then 5%. And that's why I feel compelled to explain why you need to be 100% committed to your goals.

If you have been reading my blog, even for a little while, you know that I am all about setting goals. One of my more recent goals is to get in better shape. I had doubts that I would be able to accomplish this due to my lack of experience, discipline, and knowledge. I have had health problems for years. I have arthritis in my neck and wrists and I suffer from daily headaches because of my neck. I had some doubt that I could do this, not a lot at first but it was there. Unfortunately getting into better shape requires me to do two things: work out and make good decisions about what I eat. I need to change my mindset about food. My body needs energy and anything that I consume is simply fuel for my body and if I want to achieve my goal, I need to be fully aware of the fuel that I am putting in to my body. The problem isn't the amount of fuel, it's about the quality of the fuel. I wouldn't put low octane fuel into a high performance sports car, yet every day I am guilty of consuming the kind of fuel that burns me out and slows me down.

The second part of this is working out. I don't know too many people that enjoy getting up and spending an hour in the gym, on the treadmill, or lifting weights. For me this is very difficult. I started going to the gym about 3 weeks ago and already my body is in shock. In fact the gym where I work out gives new members two free training sessions (of course this is to show you the value of a personal trainer and convince you to purchase more sessions). On my second visit with my trainer, he had me work out like I have never worked out before. I felt like I was auditioning for one of those Navy Seal television shows. I understand that most of what he was teaching me is that my body is capable of so much more than my mind can conceive. The next morning I had a very personal conversation with my body. As I was lying in bed, my body gave me an ultimatum. "Don't ever do that again…" Not much of an ultimatum. I don't like negotiating with myself but my muscles were sore and my energy level was at an all time low. Quite simply, I was exhausted. I remember thinking to myself that there were going to be times when working towards my goal was not going to be enjoyable. Life is too short to spend time on things that we don't enjoy. How I was feeling in that moment was not enjoyable. Nevertheless I did what most of us do, I didn't work on achieving my goal… I stayed home.

The next time I saw my trainer, I asked him if there was anything that I could do to assist in the recovery of my muscles. His advice, "get moving and get back to the gym." I knew he was crazy, then the day following my last big workout I took his advice and got moving. I couldn't believe it, he was right I felt better the next day. I suddenly had energy again and couldn't wait for the next big workout. Sometimes in life when things get difficult, we can feel like quitting. Next time, and now I know… we just need to keep moving.

Whether your goal is to get a raise at work, pay off debt, or get back into shape. The answer is simple, you need to get moving again and keep moving. You can slow down for a breather, but don't stop. For the first few weeks, I had doubts of whether or not this was really what I wanted. I wasn't 100% committed to my goal. Even though my doubts were tiny to begin with, they were real and the soreness I was feeling reminded me of that. As we journey to our destination, it is so easy to be overwhelmed by the doubts and fears that quitting can seem to be the only option.

We have all journeyed through life. Many times we stop, halfway there, and think to ourselves this isn't going to be worth it. However, I've never met anyone that got to their destination and said that the journey wasn't worth it. These journeys could be anything. A camping trip, road trip with the family, construction project on the house, a spiritual journey, or even a journey towards your goals. I know, deep down, that this is what was needed to achieve my goal. I felt like quitting after only a couple of weeks??? You can't even call it quitting at this point because I'm not sure I ever really started. I look around at most of my friends and family and tell myself, "I'm not in that bad of shape, why do I need to work out?" The truth is that by keeping my eye on the destination I know that once I am there I will feel better, have more energy, and possibly be a motivational force for someone else to achieve their goals. On the other hand, it would be WAY EASIER to quit. People quit on themselves every single day. I wouldn't be that different…

The problem with commitment is that it is so much easier to stay focused on the little things. I was focusing on how I felt, the time requirements, and the opportunities that my time in the gym was costing me. What I need to remain focused on is the goal and the fact that I may be able to motivate others to achieve their goals as well. No one wants to learn from someone that has less success than them. So if I want to help people achieve their dreams, I need to make sure that I am capable of achieving my own first. Only then will I have the experience necessary to lead others on their own journey.

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve. – Dr. Napoleon Hill

Vision Crashers

Vision Crasher: Anything that causes a sudden severe downturn in your vision.

It takes such a great amount of effort, not just to have vision, but to keep your vision in focus. There are many things that can interfere with your focus and I want to address the three most common.

1. Life Events

Every single one of us will experience life events that cause our vision to lose focus. Sometimes the events are truly life altering such as the death of a loved one. Or temporarily life altering… loss of a job. Sometimes they can be the little things… chores have been piling up or your family needs to spend more time with you.

All of these events can have a dramatic effect on your ability to maintain focus on your dreams. We all strive for balance in our lives and we don't want to forsake our relationships on our journey. You just need to make sure that when you stop to rest, you sit alongside the path and don't venture too far. If you stay in one place too long, you may lose sight of your destination and it can take a tremendous amount of effort to regain your focus.

The best way to overcome these life event challenges is to find someone or something that holds you accountable to your goals. This may be a best friend, family member, or mentor. If you are self-disciplined, it may be a daily Outlook reminder. Whatever you choose to hold you accountable to achieving your dreams, make sure that it is simple enough to implement immediately and that you are not responsible for it. In other words make sure that the people or systems keeping you focused are on auto pilot and if you divert from the path they will find you and put you back on track.

2. People You Are Close To

We all know someone who quit while trying to achieve their dreams. Many times this results in that person wanting to tell others about the pain endured and they feel the need to justify why others should not try. You hear phrases like: "Only 1% of people are successful at that," or "Are you sure you want to do this?" Anytime someone questions the focus of your vision, they are planting seeds of disbelief and failure. Whether or not these seeds grow into anything is ultimately up to you.

We all know people that are very comfortable with their current environment and that is fantastic. However a lot of people will justify to you why your dreams may not be worth the effort. Most of the time we hold these people in such high regard that their ability to influence our decisions is very high. Regardless of your personal goals, the unfortunate truth is that many people aren't willing to put in the amount of effort it takes to achieve their goal. The decision to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again is many times what separates you from your dreams. The problem comes when people try to interfere with this system by protecting you because they don't want to see you get hurt.

Every relationship of yours is unique and every relationship is going to require a different plan to achieve success. You should never try to change people to your way of thinking. You want them to respect you for your dreams and in return, you should respect them for their opinions. Just be careful whose advice you take because if you buy into their opinions, you buy into their lifestyle. The last thing you want to do is take advice from someone who is further from achieving their dreams than you are.

3. Yourself

I have seen more people be their own worst vision crasher than both of the other two combined. Experts say that it takes 21 days to create a new habit. Only 3 weeks and you will be constantly focused on your vision… if only it were that simple.

Most of us have had a vision many times in our lives. We have all had dreams that didn't come to fruition and just like touching the red hot stove, we quickly learn that failing to achieve our dreams can be painful. Quite simply it is human nature to avoid pain. Therefore, it is out of habit that we don't set our goals high enough. We second guess ourselves when things don't work out. How many times have you tried to take the next step on your journey only to go home and think to yourself "that's what I should have done / said!" We have such a lack of trust in ourselves that we are our own worst enemy when it comes to achieving our goals.

I truly believe that one of the best ways for us to learn and develop good habits is by failing. In John Maxwell's book "Failing Forward," he talks about the difference between average people and those who achieve. The theme is that those who achieve take responsibility for their actions, learn from their mistakes, understand that failure is part of the process for growth, and they persevere. Failure is nothing more than the ability to start again with more knowledge than you had the last time. Success is waiting for those willing to fail, grow in their character, and step up one more time. No one gets it right the first time, even professionals get to try again. Last time I checked, baseball players got three strikes before they were out. They also get paid millions if they hit the ball 3 out of 10 times at bat. Remember that failure is part of the game and that you need to keep focused on your vision because one of these days, you will hit the game winning home run and change your life forever.

"Success is going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill

"Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently." – Henry Ford

Vision Casters

Vision: The act or power of imagination; a mode of seeing or conceiving; unusual discernment or foresight.

 

The problem with vision is that we all have it and I'm not talking about the sense of sight. However most of us were never taught how to use it. We live in a society of instant gratification and if we can't conceive it today and have it by dinner time, we don't want it. The downside to vision is that most see it as too much work, or "pipe dreams". I speak with a lot of people about what they want from their careers and most people fall into one of two categories. Either they don't want anything more from their career or they do but because no one has ever taught them how to use their imagination, they have no idea exactly what they want or have the foggiest idea of how to get there. This is precisely when you will need someone to help you cast your vision.

 

Casting vision is nothing more than being specific about your dreams and goals. It is the process by which the track is laid for you to run on as you chase your dreams. Many times you meet a mentor that has achieved similar goals to yours and they help you lay that track. However for most of us, myself included, your own best mentor is your willingness to persevere. Many of the things I want to achieve were achieved by people that I currently don't have the opportunity of meeting. However many of them have written books or magazine articles on how they accomplished their goals. In my opinion, this is some of the best forms of mentoring most of us can obtain as we start to lay down our track. On the other hand, finding a mentor may be as simple as sitting down with your pastor at church or your boss. The only qualifying factor I would suggest is that this person have a character that you admire or respect. There is nothing worse than finding a mentor who does not share the same values as you.

Mentors are very valuable in your journey to achieve your goals, however they are not the only way for you to cast vision on your dreams. There are two other very positive ways to cast vision for yourself. I will break this down into the tangible and intangible. Tangibles are the things that you get to have as a result of achieving your dreams. Ask yourself – What will my life look like to others once I have achieved my dreams? What kind of car will I drive? What neighborhood will I live in? What stores will I shop at? Where will I vacation? What kind of hobbies will I enjoy? All of these questions are in support of casting your own vision. For many of us, this may be enough and we can start right here. We can burn the fire hot enough to make our vision shine and put our dreams in the spotlight. However since we all have the desire to be internally fulfilled, we now must consider the intangible.

Intangibles are those things which cannot be measured by others. This is the personal joy and satisfaction you receive from achieving your goals and living out your dreams. Questions you would ask yourself: What level of personal fulfillment will I have for achieving my goals? (For some of us this will be enough as many of us were taught to go to school, get a job, and work until we retire. We were told to stop day dreaming. This usually happens right around the time that our dreams become good enough to start telling others about them.) What kind of friends will I have? Will I have a family? If you already have a family, what kind of relationships will I have with them? What will my relationship with God be like, will I reconnect or start a new journey with Him? Will I support the church with my time or money? Many people find greater personal achievement by fulfilling their intangible goals. They find higher levels of excitement by the tangibles. Whatever your dreams are, there are no right or wrong answers to any of these questions. And no requirement for creating balance. They are merely a way for you to become your own vision caster.

 

The Plan

One way to cast your own vision immediately is to create a Vision Board. This is nothing more than an exercise in laying down the track for you to run towards your dreams.

Things you will need:

• Poster Board
• BIG stack of magazines (the BIGGER, the BETTER)
• Glue – rubber cement is best (it won't wrinkle the pictures)

This will take some time, especially if you don't have magazines at home. You can get them from the library, hair salons, or your doctor's office. Or spend some time at the bookstore browsing magazines. As you see pictures of the things, both tangible and intangible, that you desire pick up these magazines. Take them home and plan an hour or two for arts and craft. Cut out pictures, arrange them in a collage, and create your story. This is your vision for where you are going and if the light shines bright enough you won't lose sight of it. Now hang this up where you will see it often, better yet where others will see it too. They will help you focus on your vision as questions are asked about your vision board. You will probably be surprised how many of your friends have the same goals as you and you may even find an accountability partner to make sure you stay running on your track, don't take shortcuts, or rest for too long.

 

Regardless of what motivates you to achieve your goals, knowing what they are is the key ingredient to any success plan. I would hate to hear that you feel like you never succeeded because you really didn't know when you got there. Know your goals, make sure others know your goals, and let everyone know once you have achieved them. The more you keep others involved in your vision, the more likely they will keep you on track. Keep your vision in focus and your eye on the prize. Your journey will be simpler if you know the destination and don't have time to concentrate on all the obstacles in your way.

 

A Word of Warning!!!

Just as there are techniques and mentors who are vision casters, be careful of vision crashers. I'll tell you how to avoid those in my next post.

Distractions

Distractions: Events that occur in your daily life which interfere with your ability to be successful and create challenges which keep you from fulfilling your dreams.

Not long ago, I was reminded of the detrimental powers distractions have on our lives. They come in so many forms and most of the time we call them 'life'. You have probably heard it before, 'Life Happens'. When this phrase was first introduced to me, I just knew that everyone has things going on in their life that can have a tremendous impact on the amount of success they were going to achieve. The point was that we could be doing everything great and before we knew it life would happen, we lost focus on our goals, and put our dreams aside for life.

Even as I write this, I'm consumed with thoughts of work, relationships, and my overwhelming desire to provide substance within this post. This is nothing more than the distractions I am speaking of. Over the years I have met many people who tell me that they don't have time or that these were the cards they were dealt. The problem with this attitude is that you have allowed the distractions in your life to control that which you have complete control over… your dreams and goals.

Many of the people I speak with have big dreams and very ambitious goals for their family, but gave up on their own a long time ago. You hear things like, "I need to make sure Johnny gets to play in the big game" or "I don't want to let my friends down." Now don't get me wrong, we definitely need to support our friends and family. But this is where I think the connection is made when we speak of life happening. We get so consumed with our circumstances that we give control of our lives to them. I know I mentioned friends and family, but there are so many other things that create distractions in our lives. Every single one of us has a honey-do-list or some list of things that should get done. Every single item on this list has the power to control our lives to the extent that it will overtake our desire to achieve our dreams.

As a child everyone of us has big dreams but somewhere, someone or something had enough influence over us that we put our dreams on hold because we may have thought them too ambitious. This leads each and every one of us to where we are today and very rarely do I meet someone who is right where they want to be. Maybe you decided to start a family or concentrate on your career, neither of these things are bad and they both were opportunity costs. In order to pursue this, maybe you gave up the dream of playing in a rock band, finishing college, or following through on starting your own business. Life happened and now it's time to get back on track.

Distractions are just like dreams… everyone has many and few ever find resolution. Distractions can be simple, such as cleaning your desk at work or getting the oil changed in your car. Or they can be truly life altering such as unexpected health issues or loss of employment, but they can all be overcome with diligence, time, and a little bit of effort.

The Plan

Before you tackle the plan, write down some of your dreams again, the bigger the dreams, the better. Remember if you don't have a written goal, how are you going to know when you achieve it? Now, make a detailed list of all the distractions in your life. Then as you look at the list of distractions in your life, divide them into 3 categories:

1. Things that can be resolved today. Examples would include:
   
   
   • Cleaning out the garage
   • Organizing your desk, or
   • Using the financial management software you bought last year.
   
   
2. Things you can start today, but will take repeated attempts to resolve. Examples would include:
   
   
   • Taking control of your time/schedule
   • Getting back into shape
   • Start saving for that vacation you've been dreaming of
   
   
3. Things that may never get resolved, but forward progress will create a better life for you and those around you. Examples would include:
   
   
   • Seeking a support group for family loss/illness
   • Lifetime learning so you can help others
   • Starting that business you always wanted

Regardless of which category your distractions fall into, know that each and every one of them can be controlled and that you, and only you, have the power to control them. I know that these three categories may not include everything on your list. Just remember, if you want to achieve your goals and live out your dreams, you have to take control of the distractions in your life because you can either make your dreams come true or make excuses, but you can't make both.

What's This All About?

Just after 10PM and I'm just getting started…

It's a late night…

Where do I begin?

I read a book a couple of months ago about the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success and one of the laws was the Law of Value. It stated, "Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment." At first this didn't ring true to me. I have heard that you get what you deserve, but taking payment? I didn't understand. Fast forward two months and I read another book about the secrets of networking, then it hit me. What the Law of Value was all about is enriching the lives of others with no regard to the personal gains you will receive. Here it is 10 o'clock at night and I want nothing more than to share some thoughts with the world. I have always dreamt of sharing my thoughts, writing them down, immortalizing them in cyber space, but never felt as though I had anything that anyone would perceive as value.

Value is a funny thing, its reality is based in the mind of each and every unique individual. Many of us know people that are "collectors." What they collect is rather common. Why they collect is unique to each and every one of them. They find meaningful value in the things they collect. Whether it's a memory, something to fill a void, or something they enjoy looking at, the value created by these things is immense for them. For me, I see more value in the intangible things. Relationships, memories, and a positive attitude. A desire burns inside of me to become the person that others will enjoy knowing, not because I have done great things but because they have been enriched by the value I bring to their lives. The tricky part for me is if value is in the eye of the beholder, how do I make sure that the payment is not too high?

As I think on these things I am left with an internal struggle. One that has required me to get these thoughts on paper. A long time ago I was told that the human brain is for processing not storage. And if I wanted to free up my brain's processing cycles, I would have to learn to get the things I have been storing there out and put them on paper. This is my first true effort to do this. I know that you may not find as much value in reading my words as I found in writing them… and that's okay. To share a part of my life with you, a story, quote, poem, or just offer that inspirational phrase that you were needing to hear will allow me to create value in my own life so that I can make sure the payment required by you is already satisfied.

I have been inspired by many great authors and their writings over the years. Much of this blog will be created by the value their ideas created for me. Not that their ideas were anything that I have not already heard before. It's just that they were able to explain it in a way that added value to my way of thinking. Remember that you are nothing more than the sum of your experiences, influences, and the things you read. Every positive word, quote, phrase, or book adds value to who you are and over time turns you into the most valuable thing in the world… you!!!