No matter how you decide to define success for yourself, the secret to success is self-discipline. The place to start is taking personal inventory. How are you currently doing financial, physically, emotionally and intellectually speaking?
Once you are clear about how you are doing now, the next critical step is to identify specific targets. As the great Zig Ziglar stated, “If you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time.”
Once you are clear about how you are doing now and what you are aiming to accomplish, short term and long-term, establish a plan. Every effective plan includes a systematic strategy, benchmarks and methods for course correction.
It is up to you how simple or complicated a system you put in place for making progress, with follow-up and follow-through, while monitoring your progress. I am an advocate for keeping things simple. You have many options for keeping things simple, with current logs, monitoring statistics at least once a day. A hand written log is never at risk of a cyber attack. With sufficient security features in place keeping records online – with or without the assistance of an app, makes perfect sense. Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up is the key to making any system work.
Benchmarks with rewards identified in advance for reaching specified benchmarks within a specified timeline is an attractive motivation tactic for most people. Just for the fun of it make a list of rewards you would enjoy upon reaching different levels of achievement. I imagine making such a list is sufficient inspiration for getting started sooner, rather than later.
Finally, what do you do when you learn you are not on track with your plan? I learned for the first time, reading Benjamin Zander’s book The Art Of Possibility, a rocket ship is off-course most of the time it is in space. According to John Counsel in his book The Rocket Principle, “The Appollo moon rockets were off course 97% of the time. Yet they still reached their chosen destinations – and returned to earth – with pin-point precision and timing.” 97% of the time is spent course correcting and doing what it takes to reach benchmarks, and ultimately, hitting the bigger target(s) with precision. Course correcting measures include, and are not limited to, asking for help, having a strong support group in place, hiring smart people to what they do best, extraordinary self-care and self-discipline. When you aren’t getting the exact results you want there is always room to stretch one’s line of ownership and do what it takes to get back on course.
Again, the secret to success is self-discipline. This takes leadership of a personal nature – 21st Century Leadership.