Start now. Any now. And try to look 12 months ahead. What will you do differently than the last 12 months? If you do exactly the same things you are most likely to end up right where you are now. You need to make changes, set goals, create plans, and adopt strategies the will move you forward on your own journey of success.
Now is the perfect time to reflect, regroup, get organized, and apply motivation. Set new goals an draw new plans to keep you creative and productive. Find a coach, a guide, a mentor, and a program that will keep you on track, keep you moving forward. Set yourself up for success by making choices and taking action now.
As you move forward into the coming 12 months, here are a dozen better ways to find security, personal growth, and business success.
1. Examine Your Core Values
Check in on your core values, both personal and business, and determine how your goals align with them. When they align it is easier to stay on your path to success because you can work naturally in light of your priorities and beliefs.
2. Reconnect With Your Vision
Things get in our way. We all know that. Bright shiny objects abound. They steal our focus and misdirect our attention. Vision (what we "see" in our mind and in our future) is a powerful motivator. It keeps us on the right path. It leads us to our short-term goals, keeps long term goals in view, and aids us in solving problems. The right vision leads to achieving meaningful change.
3. Focus On Personal And Professional Priorities
Often called objectives and key results (OKRs) our priorities, both personal and professional inform our approach to success. Set goals that reflect these priorities, and create plans and strategies that guide you along your chosen path. Be clear, concise, and confident as you proceed forward.
4. Embrace The Future As You Take Action
My own mentor often told me, "Set your goals in concrete. Draw your plans in the sand." You do not change your goals every time things are not working. Get a new plan to lead you to the same goal. It is plans that need modification; not goals if they were created right in the first place. Your own journey of success begins today. Make the choices. Engage the plans. Apply the strategies. Embrace the future. Take action now.
5. Identify What Is Working Well And What Is Not
Re-evaluating, starting over, can be a powerful and possitive thing. It is a good time to reflect and adjust. Do not ignore evaluation. You need to know what is working well and what is not. It is the only way you can know when changes is necessary. Reach out. Ask questions. Get answers. Get input. Find a holistic guide or a mentor to be there when you need them.
6. Create Your Picture Of Success
Often called vision boards, creating an actual picture of what success means to you is a good way to get there from here. It should be dynamic and updated as you make progress. Illustrate what you want things to be. Think of these things as existing now, in the present, and focus on the behaviors you would be displaying if, in fact, they were existent in the now. How would you handle challenges, problems, issues, and your communication with others, were this the case.
7. Connect Through Networking
None of us succeed on our own. We need the help and support of others. We rely on the support of friends and colleagues. We depend on social and professional networks for advice, referrals, introductions, ideas, solutions, and inspiration. What would you like for your network, and from your connections, in the new year? Take action now to revitalize old connections and new networks each week of the coming year.
8. Set At Least One Impossible Goal
Failing is part of one's journey of success. Getting back on the path is another. Together these two things move you steadily forward. Goals should always be achievable even though you might stumble along the way. Right? Maybe. But not always. Sometimes it is a powerful tool, a beacon, if you will, to set what you believe is an impossible goal. Even as you fail it helps keep you focused, committed, honest, and resilient. The other goals somehow seem easier than they might otherwise have been.
9. Break Big Goals Into Smaller Bits
Singular goals are great. They keep you focused. Big goals make you stretch. But do not be afraid to break any goal down into smaller tasks that can be more easily accomplished. That is what plans and strategies are for. Take action in bite-sized pieces that are achievable and will each move you forward towards the main goal. Tackle these pieces one at a time and reward yourself for each success.
10. Prioritize Self-Care And Personal Development
As leaders, we often see our work as being with others, for others. In reality we cannot succeed in that action unless we prioritize our own self-care and personal development first. Plan what you will do for others, sure. But also take the time to reflect upon, write down, and engage in the ideas, processes, tools, and resources you need to support you. Also identify what does not serve your growth, what is not aligned with your core values, what is not a part of the strategies that inform and empower you own growth. Release it now.
11. Practice Personal Mastery
Be in charge of yourself at all times. Take control of your emotions. Enhance your awareness of self and situation. Manage your behavior. You cannot ever hope to be in charge of something, or someone, else if you do not master your own existence? Success is a journey, a lifelong process, not a destination. The rewards become evident only as you progress forward. They always appear in the now.
12. Perform A SWOT Self-Analysis
Take a day, yes, a whole day. You can afford it. Perform a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) analysis on yourself. Select key factors that speak to your current status in each of these areas of your personal and business experience. Set goals for improvement. Itemize the steps you need to take to meet each goal. Schedule review, reflection, and further analysis as you move forward.
What Success In A Year™ Is All About
Finding success in a year is all of these things and more. But these 12 will get you on the right path and keep you there. The other, lesser elements will begin to fall into place. And they are what you keep your handy guide/mentor around for. To get those quick answers to confusing questions that pop up regularly. Do not ignore them. And do not try to go it alone. There is no failure, and potentially greater success, by finding your guide before you get lost in the trees!