In 1997 I lead a research project to answer the question “What is the simplest way of explaining the success process that people naturally use when making a difference?” Here are just 7 of the tips for success gathered from this research. These relate specifically to defining what you want.
1. Be sure you know what success means for you – what it will look like, what it will feel like and why you want it? Write this vision of your success in detail. Describe what you see for yourself in the future and why it is important to you. Create a clear picture of what you are doing, what you are feeling, what you have and how you are living your life.
2. From this vision identify your main success goals. Look at the description of your success and highlight the things you want to do, the things you want to have, how you want to be and how you want your life to be. Each of these areas will become a main goal.
3. Take each of these areas and write it down as a success goal. Writing down your goals will help you to define exactly what it is you want to achieve. You may of heard that when writing goals it is best practice to make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound). Use SMART as a guideline to write each of your goals in one sentence to help you create a clear description of what exactly you want to achieve.
4. Go back to your written description of your vision and highlight what you consider to be key words. Check which of these key points have been captured as main goals. You may need to write some additional sub goals that identify actions to take to support the achievement of your main goals. Prioritise your goals and sub goals. Which are most important to you to achieve? How do they interrelate? What order do the goals and sub goals need to be actioned? Write them down in this priority order.
5. Check the validity of your vision and goals. Will they take you forward in the direction you want and do they support your reason for wanting this personal description of success. Check that the goals are congruent with each other. For example if you have a goal around spending more time with your family and at the same time have a goal about setting up your own business, will achieving these two goals clash? Determine which is most important to you in the short or long term and adjust your goals as appropriate.
6. Consider if you need to involve anyone else in this activity. Either to share your vision and goals with them or to involve them in defining the vision and goals. This could be someone important in your personal life that your goals will impact on, or for career goals someone at work.
7. Recognise that you always have a choice. A choice to think about what success means to you, a choice to write down your vision and goals, a choice to involve others and ultimately a choice whether to do something or not. It’s entirely up to you!
A question to ask yourself:
What is my vision of success? |
