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What separates those who succeed and those who live their lives feeling that things could have been better?

Can anyone achieve their dream? Having a clear strategy can help you make your dream a reality.  It isn’t rocket science, or magic.  Take the following steps and fulfil your dream.  Make it your reality.

The first step is to understand that in order to achieve success you must take action.  Inertia is the most common reason for lack of success!

What is your dream?  Your goals for the future?  What do you want to achieve in your life in the next week? month? year? 5 years? What would you like people to remember you for after you have left this world?

Think big – challenge yourself.  Reach for the stars!

Be clear about where you are now.  Audit your strengths and areas for development

What needs to be done to eliminate the gap between your dream and the reality?

Prioritize – Look for quick wins, consider those things which will have maximum long term impact.  Build solid foundations, think of sustainability!

Set challenging but realistic targets. Aim high.

Communicate your vision, and keep doing so.  Ensure that all stake holders understand and subscribe to the same vision.

Who do you need to involve?  How will you ensure they sign up to and stay committed to the vision?

Think about the language you use – sound positive, if others think you are confident it can be achieved they will gain confidence too.  Develop a “Can do” mentality within your staff.  For every problem there is a solution, encourage others to see themselves as problem solvers not problem givers.

Create clear lines of communication which operate at every level and in all directions.

Break each priority down into small achievable steps, involve your team.

Who needs to do what – by when?  Set a timetable

Identify the roles and responsibilities for all staff; ensure that staff take ownership without creating a “jobs worth” approach.

Ensure that people are appropriately trained and that training is constantly updated.

Build in the monitoring and review process from the start so you can evaluate performance and be prepared to adjust as necessary.  (By creating a culture of development rather than blame huge potential will be released.)

Celebrate success! and remember to thank people for their contribution, give credit where it due and be generous with it.

Develop professional honesty within your staff, constructive feed back can be invaluable.

Finally leave your ego behind as it will simply get in the way of your success.

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I’ve heard so many people say that if you don’t take chances in life you’ll never get to where you’re going. I’ve also heard a lot of people say that when it comes to goals you have to plan them out or goal setting if you want to call it that or else you will fail. Sometimes planning takes a turn for the unexpected too. Risk taking is more of you see an oppurtunity take it. Anyway which is more beneficial in life? I know both are but when it comes to success as a whole which is more favored to come through with the trophy?

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Is your success obtainable or sustainable? We can all create “moments” of success by obtaining the things that causes us to feel successful in the the short term. True success however, comes from a deep sense of emotional fulfilment that sustains itself.

The desire to consistently improve your life is one of your most fundamental needs. That feeling that comes from knowing that everyday you are becoming more is part of your nature. Knowing that you are affecting and improving your environment through your own influence is immensely satisfying. It is a key ingredient in living a happy and fulfilled life. At some level we are al pursuing success of some sort. We are constantly looking for ways to have more, to be more and to gain more, thinking that once we “have it all” we will be happy and life will be perfect. Then, we can take it easy and relax and just enjoy life.

This way of thinking, this mindset, acts like a virus that can “kill” you.  If not emotionally then spiritually. Our modern culture is filled with numerous examples of top achievers who seemingly have everything but they are deeply unhappy and constantly have to battle with the challenges within their own character. They fail to grasp the true purpose of success. From it’s latin origin, the word success actually means “to advance” or “to progress” which implies that success is not “something” you get at the end but a process that has very little to do with the end result. From this point of view success is what will improve your life as it is what moves you forward to a better experience of life.

In their pursuit of a greater quality of life most people loose sight of the real reason why they actually want to be successful in the first place. It is never the “things” but rather the way you believe these things will make you feel once you’ve got them. Your success will be either obtainable or sustainable. Most of your desires will be obtainable within your lifetime but this no guarantee that you will be happy and fulfilled. When you strive for collecting and accumulating “things” you will experience very little fulfilment as you will always rely on something external to give you the feelings that you want to experience inside you; feelings that you believe will come from having what you pursue.

The real purpose of a goal is never to obtain something of material value but rather the qualities that you will gain as a person in your pursuit of the goal. For you to have success that is sustainable you must develop a new mindset; a mindset that focuses not on what you must do to get what you want, but on what you must become to attract that which you want. What you become is what you get to keep. When you shift your focus to developing your character, you can start to use goals and success as a means to an end instead of it being the end-all and be-all of life. You start to distance yourself from the need to have “stuff” in order to feel that sense of joy and fulfilment.

Knowing that you can be successful is not enough. You want the experience of success. You that feeling of success as a part of who you are as a person; as part of your character. When your success is obtainable, when you are able to collect the things, then your experience of success rarely lasts very long. There is no consistency in the experience. So often we see amazing success stories of young achievers that reach their all their goals in a short period of time, only to break down emotionally soon after. The reason is that they haven’t learned the key to lasting success which is the ability to create success in your life that is sustainable. Sustainable success is inexhaustible. It is consistent and takes care of itself. With the qualities and attributes that you learned through the experience of pursuing your goal you are able to re-create any achievement as you are the source.

The concept of obtainable and sustainable success is best illustrated with Aesop’s fable of the Goose and the Golden Egg. The goose as the source of the gold could consistently produce the gold, but the farmer out of his impatience and ignorance wanted it all and he wanted it now. So, he cut open the goose only to find out that there is nothing. The moral of the story is that you should nurture and develop yourself in order to sustain your happiness and success. If your focus is just on obtaining goals you will not get any more “golden eggs” as the real value is in what you become and how that makes you feel.

You can either obtain success or you can become it. The objective is the same but the mindset is very different. You can either get the “things” that will make you feel successful or you can become the source of your own success and fulfilment. You want lasting results and this will only come from your ability to create and re-create, on demand, that what you whish to experience during your time on earth. Adopting the mentality of creating lasting success, of becoming sustainable, starts with realizing that true success comes from giving and not getting. In the giving lies the “getting” in that what you give away is what you get to experience and your experience is what you get to keep forever. Ultimately, to sustain anything you must give and receive for this is the very nature of growth and life itself. Success is a feeling and in making that feeling part of who you are, you will never be without success and you will never be left wanting anything outside of you.

Let go of your need to obtain “stuff” and focus on the experience of life and the emotional content of your life. Improve yourself by pursuing goals that will make of you the kind of person that manifest that which you want most. That which you obtain will eventually disappear and loose its value. That which you sustain will grow and expand and continue to increase the quality of your magnificent life. Obtainable success is static and like anything in nature that does not grow it will eventually die.

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Is fear and worry holding you back from reaching your goals and dreams?  Discover a simple formula to overcome your fears and begin moving towards your dreams.

If you ask most people why they have not achieved their goals or the level of success they desire, they will usually respond with some built-in excuse (negative belief) that is holding them back.  Underlying this excuse or negative belief is usually a fear or worry.  How many times have you attempted something new, only to stop before you ever got started because you were afraid of what others may think?  Or you don’t think you have the time or money or both?  Or because you believe are inexperienced or lack the knowledge to succeed?

Someone once defined F.E.A.R. as False Evidence Appearing Real, which means we have chosen to believe in something that is not really true.  But because it is our belief, it is our reality.  Worry is nothing more than a sustained fear caused by indecision. Sometimes we need to ask some tough questions to determine the cause of these worries or fears. Once the fear is identified, a simple formula can be used to overcome that fear.

The first step is to clearly define what you are afraid of or worried about.  Write in down.  Put in on paper.  Half of your worries and fears will be solved the instant you can define them clearly by putting them on paper.  What once seemed big in your mind will look small and insignificant on paper.

For the other half, you need to move on to step two.  Ask yourself, what is the worst possible thing that can happen if this fear or worry becomes true?  Make a list, yes, write it down on paper underneath your clearly defined worry.  Keep writing down everything that comes to mind until you have identified the worst possible outcome.  Do you realize that 90% of what we worry about never happens?  Think about how much time you spend on worrying about stuff that never will happen.  This list will help you see that.

Once you have completed your list, resolve in your mind that you will accept the worst possible thing that can happen.  Since 90% of those things will never occur and generally the other 10% will not kill you, realize you will survive.  Accept the worst possible thing by telling yourself, I can handle it, over and over again.  This will start to turn things around.

Finally, begin now to make sure the worst never happens.  Put together an action plan of exactly what you need to do to turn things around.  By focusing on positive changes and implementing your action plan, your focus will shift to the positive outcomes and away from your fears. You will begin to feel better because now you can DO SOMETHING!  Positive action is the only cure for fear and worry.  Try this formula today and see if it will work for you.  It has worked for me.

To Your Success!
Steve Scoresby

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