Roadmap to Success - 7 Steps to become successful
Updated: Oct 18, 2021
What comes to your mind when you think of being successful?
Do you see a perfect picture of being successful or is it a vague image in your mind that just confirms happiness?
To become successful, there are 7 steps that will definitely take you there –
1. Create an image – When you think of being successful, you must be very clear about what exactly you want. For someone success might seem like having a luxurious bungalow, while for someone else success could be getting a job.
Think precisely about what you want before working towards its attainment. It could lie in any of these 4 major areas of life– Personal development, financial success, successful relationship, or spiritual success. Think of any one area at a time and pick up just one thing from that area of life. Later on you can pick up another thing and repeat the entire process with that.
Now that you have thought of one thing, it needs to fulfill these criteria:
· You must make it your goal – If it doesn’t pull you to work for, you’ll not get it.
· It must be very specific – Imagine a photo clicked as a proof of you having achieved this goal. The final picture must be there in your mind.
· There must be deadline – You don’t want to experience a helicopter ride during your 80’s right? Also you don’t want to get discouraged by not having realized a goal of getting a luxurious car in just 2 months! Give a reasonable deadline to your goal.
Now this exactly shows that what you want and by when. You now have a perfect image of what you want and your mind knows well about the time frame to make it happen. So now you can further move in the direction of its attainment.
2. Be Committed – Has this happened to you before that you strongly decided to do something, you were highly motivated for few days or a week, and then you again got back to your old behavioral pattern ?
Many of us decide to wake up early and exercise and meditate but how long do we go? This simply shows that you are not committed enough to pursue your goal. The old behavior is hardwired in your mind and actually need to do something to rewire it to become committed to take necessary actions.
There are several ways to keep taking necessary actions to achieve your goals:
· Break the goal into several smaller tasks.
· Work towards smaller tasks everyday and feel proud when you start completing them.
· Don’t create big to – do lists, rather decide to do 3 important things every single day.
· Have more disciplined life with a good schedule and enough amount of fun involved in it.
Remember that just making the goals will not get you anywhere. You small everyday actions would play major role in making you successful.
3. Recognize your fear/ self doubt – Many times you are unable to take necessary steps towards achievement of a goal. It’s not because you are lazy or something is distracting you. It’s because of your inner voice that says STOP! Recall the time when you were supposed to act upon something but your inner voice didn’t let you do it. You were required to make that phone call, it could have opened an opportunity to you, but a hidden fear said – ‘No, this phone call isn’t necessary, it will give nothing.’ Or maybe your inner voice said – ‘How could you make this call now, you have other things to do, you can do I later.’ And guess what!! That later never came.
This inner voice is nothing but your hidden fear. This could be fear of rejection or fear of failure that stops you from taking certain action. These small necessary actions not have done results in you remain unsuccessful. So now you need to recognize your hidden fears and take necessary action whenever required.
My book ‘Get up once more’ gives a detailed process to identify hidden fears, the cause of the fears and a well proven process to overcome those fears. You get a perfect process to rewire your mind for success.
Fear / Self doubt is the biggest unknown obstacle in the path of your success journey. It’s awareness itself has a lot of power to keep its effect low on your success.
4. Have a written action-plan – Human mind creates around 60,000 thoughts a day and we take almost 30,000 decisions in every 24 hours. If you create a goal but you don’t have any action plan, you will keep working without direction. It might make the process long, or maybe it will make things difficult.
Imagine you want to make a cake for the first time. You first pre-heat the oven, then you start collecting the ingredients and you find that baking soda is finished in your kitchen. Then you go out to a grocer’s shop and get the baking soda and then open your recipe. You find that this recipe calls for some measurement spoons that you don’t have. You again go to the market get the necessary things and again pre-heat the oven and then start with the process all over. How frustrating entire process seems to be!
But maybe you are doing same mistake with other things without having it realized. You must plan everything ahead. That’s the crucial step that saves your time and efforts and makes success more enjoyable.
Now you might think that you already have a good plan on your mind. But when it comes to execution, you might miss out on the minute details that were actually very essential. While executing the plans, certain things seem to be frivolous and we tend to skip doing it. It’s because when we prepared the plan, we were at a very different state of mind that was highly calm and productive. But while executing, the mind is tired. It wants to minimize the efforts by mind and body. And this is exactly where some people make the best of their life while some just keep struggling.
If you have a written action plan, you know well that everything on the paper needs to be done. Nothing can be skipped. Also you don’t have to carry a burden on your mind to remember the things to be done. You do everything with a free mind that makes you more productive. Therefore, you must have written action plans for your goals.
5. Recognize and arrange best possible resources – If someone asks me that what is the one thing that makes you unsuccessful in spite of giving your best, my answer would be improper resources.
This is the soul of the entire process. If you took this one step for granted, whatever you do will go in vain. Very few people give perfect attention to the resources required to become successful in any area of life.
You might require skills to achieve something, or efficient man power, or some tools or equipment. Whatever is it, try to list out the resources and set a benchmark of the quality that you must have to
6. Turn the key on as early as possible – When we prepare an action plan for a goal, we are in a very elevated state of mind. We feel so motivated to do it all and make it happen. But when it comes to take action, you might feel less enthusiastic. So, to keep the excitement on, you must take the first step towards the achievement of your goal within 24 hours of you making the action plan.
It is just like you want to go somewhere, and you have put the ignition on, and have started the vehicle. At least you are a step ahead of where you were while making the plans. It helps you o keep moving as it gives the feeling of being a doer, and the feeling of moving ahead.
Therefore, just after you are done with planning, take your first action step. It could be as small as just making a phone call, or getting some resource.
7. Keep the engine on, keep going – The initial energy that you will feel while working for any goal is the most required element for being successful. But you should also keep in mind that there would be times when your energy levels, your excitement will go down. In such case you will be pulled away from your goal.
To avoid such a situation, fill yourself with excitement every single day. Decide every night before sleeping that you will be excited about your goal as soon as you wake up the next day. And then, even when you feel exhausted, do something, even the smallest thing, and every single day that takes you closer to your goal. Don’t turn the key off, don’t lose the momentum. Persistence is that element that is being missed by many people who turn out to be failure.
Follow these steps and live the life of your dreams.
If you are looking for a practical guide that will make you achieve your goals, read the book ‘Get up once more’ and change your life forever.