“Begin with the end in
mind.” Stephen Covey
Successful people get results faster. But do they work more
efficiently, or more effectively?
If you want to succeed, it’s not enough to work hard, and be
constantly busy. You first need to have clarity of your goals, of your
direction. Only when you know where you are going, you can identify what steps
to take. Because otherwise it’s easy to get caught up in the “activity vicious circle”.
And as an added “bonus”, if you are busy and work hard, but in the wrong
direction, you will be moving further from your dreams, faster.
Every achievement starts with a plan, with a blueprint. When
you go on a trip, before you even start planning the details, you decide on the
destination. And only then you decide on the means of transport, what the stopovers
are, and what to pack. When you build a house, the blueprint comes after the
clarity of the concept – what kind of house, and what would be of high
importance: functionality, number or size of the rooms, is it family–oriented, or
what you want is creative peace and quiet?
And this vision ultimately reflects what is important to you
in life.
So, here are the steps of drawing your plans, starting with
the end result, the goal:
1.
Align your goal with your values – for what
purpose do you want to achieve it?
What will YOU gain as a result of achieving
that goal? Success, more time with the family, independence?
What is crucial is that what you want to
achieve and what you do to get there, does not violate the criteria you have about what is
supremely important to you. And that it contributes in a meaningful way to the
vision you have of your life as a whole.
2.
Define what feeling achieving that goal will
that give you: freedom, achievement, empowerment, love, recognition?
The stronger emotional attachment you have
to the outcome of your actions, the more dedicated and motivated your unconscious,
and conscious, minds are to achieving the results.
3.
What are the steps to get there?
Chunk down the final outcome into
achievable, measurable and feasible steps. And beware of the “busy vs effective”
approach.
4.
Now, write down the goal, in the present tense.
“It is 31 December 2015 and I have
established a successful brand…”
As an essential part to step 4, it
is very important to link the result to the feeling (of success, of freedom, of
accomplishment, of contribution, of sharing love). Because this is your fuel to
achieving a successful outcome, and battling through challenges, fears, unknown
factors.
There
are two reasons behind this power of your feelings. Tony Robbins often talks
about the fact that we, as human beings, have two main drives in everything we
do. We either do things to avoid pain, or to gain pleasure. Of course, in
setting up your goals, you can factor in what will NOT happen if you do not
achieve these goals. And, you can double-up the effect by adding the positive
charge that the achievement will give you.
And, secondly, being in a positive state gives you access to multiple
resources within you. Being in the state of happiness, feeling empowered, gives
you not only the ability to believe in your own skills, but also the ability to
reach for these skills when you need them the most, on your way to success.
So, get a pen and start defining your next achievement, and what it will mean to you.
Elena Alexandrova
Your Coach to Success
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