If you are going to fulfill the goals and dreams you desire, you must be intentional in how you act and the decisions you make every day. Success isn’t a happen stance. It doesn’t just show up out of the clear blue sky. It takes hard work, dedication, and the willingness to stick it out even when you feel like giving up.
There is no easy route to success, but with the right directions, it can make the way a little less difficult.
Here in our I’ve Decided Success Community, we have a methodology we live by that helps us to stay on the right path towards achieving the things we desire. It is a six-step process we call DECIDE. Can you guess why it’s called DECIDE? Yes, because the first thing you must do before you can even start the journey to success is make a decision on what you are going to do. You need to know where you’re going.
I’ve Decided to… You can fill in the blank. Once you stick the stake in the ground on whatever it is you want to do, then you can use our way to help you get there. Using the acrostic DECIDE, here are the steps to success.
“6-Steps to Fulfill the Success you Desire!”
Declare –
Accountability and support could arguably be the most important pieces of the puzzle for success. The end pieces if you will. Without some type of accountability, the odds of achieving the goals and dreams you desire will be next to impossible. Likewise, support is what holds you up when you feel like giving up. The point is someone needs to know what your plans are. You must declare what you’re going to do and share it with at least one reliable person. It could be more than one person, but you must tell someone. To declare means to say something in a solemn and emphatic manner. In other words, to make a vow. When you declare, you are making a promise to yourself and to someone else, this is what I am going to do. Success requires you to declare every single day what you are going to do.
Envision –
To envision means to imagine as a future possibility. It’s visualizing what is going to happen before it does. If you are going to fulfill your goals and dreams, you must become an expert at envisioning what the results will be down the road based on the decisions you are making now. Every choice has a consequence. Unfortunately, sometimes we don’t feel the consequence right away. Let’s take eating pizza every day. You could eat pizza everyday for 10 years and not necessarily feel any physical pain, but at some point, you will have high cholesterol and be overweight. If you are trying to give up any bad habit today that is not causing you any physical, emotional, or financial pain in the moment, you will need to imagine yourself in the future. This step helped me tremendously when I quit smoking. I kept envisioning myself at an older age on oxygen, or worse being diagnosed with a disease. You can envision yourself in the nice house you will have once you work hard and get the promotion you desire, you can envision how your life will be once you accomplish your goal of getting out of debt, or losing weight, or opening a successful business, or writing a book, or finishing school, or moving to a new state. Whatever it is that you want so badly, unless you practice envisioning your future self on a regular basis, the chances are slim for success.
Cultivate –
You must constantly develop and grow a positive and success orientated mindset. There are two very important behaviors that will impact the outcome of fulfilling your goals the most. The first one is, recognizing the emotion will follow the action. If you wait to be motivated before you act, the odds are you will never do it. The desire to do something almost always comes after you take the first step and not before. You most likely will not feel like going to the gym after you’ve worked hard all day. However, once you get there and get moving, you will always be glad you did. The emotion follows the action! The second one is, disappointment is not disaster. Stop giving up on yourself as soon as you make a mistake. We all make mistakes. Mistakes and failures are a part of the path to success. Get good at forgiving yourself, letting go, and moving on. Getting knocked down is not the end of the world but staying there may be. When you mess up, recognize where things went wrong, make some changes, and keep going. Throwing in the towel on your goals and dreams is the disaster, disappointment is never disaster.
Incorporate –
To incorporate means to take in or contain something as a part of a whole. What are you taking in? Success requires that you completely understand why you want to accomplish the thing you desire. What’s the ultimate reason you’re doing what you’re doing? You must incorporate you why every single day. What information are you taking in? How are you seeking new ideas, fresh opportunities, and different opinions? What tools and resources are you incorporating to help you achieve the goals and dreams you have? Who are the people, and how are you getting motivation, encouragement, and inspiration? To fulfill the success you desire requires you to incorporate all these things constantly.
Develop Discipline –
Discipline begets discipline. You’re either a disciplined person or you’re not. There is only one way to become disciplined and that is to practice it. Discipline is a mental muscle and when you practice, it’s like lifting weights, you get stronger. How can you put discipline to practice in your life? Think about the things you know you need to do like self-care. You could be sure to go to bed at the same time each night, wake up at the same time each day, have a morning and a nighttime routine, eat around the same time each day, take care of your chores around the house at consistent times, exercise at the same time and on the same days, put gas in your car as soon as the gas light comes on instead of waiting until you’re about to run out, be patient while you’re driving, be patient with the people in your life, limit the amount of sugar you eat, and the list could go on! These ordinary choices can seem mundane, but without realizing it, you’re putting discipline to practice. Putting things back in the right place, keeping a tidy home, car, and environment. These are all things you know you should do. When we choose not to do them, we are procrastinating, we are being lazy, we are opting to take the easy way, and 99% of the time, that is never the right path to success. If you are going to fulfill your goals and dreams, and be the best version of yourself, you must practice discipline. Discipline can seem painful in the moment, but when practiced, will produce a reward in the future.
Excel –
The sweet smell of success! To excel in the things you desire most, to accomplish the hard stuff, to reap the reward of all your efforts, and to taste the victory, there is nothing like it. Don’t confuse this with the end. Success is never final, it’s ongoing. As long as you’re living and breathing, you should always continue to grow, develop, learn more, do more, be better, and keep attaining a higher level of success. Goals and dreams are ever-changing and evolving as we learn and improve. To excel is the end of one level, moving you into the next, and the next, and so on. To excel may be the last step in the process of success, but it is not the final destination. The question you should be asking yourself now is, what’s next?
No matter what it is you want to achieve, the success process is the same. You can apply these 6-steps to any goal or dream, and if you do, in time you can expect to succeed.
Why is success important? Most people think success is personal. Here’s the kicker, it’s not. Success is always about everyone you can help, a greater impact, and making a difference. The more success you experience, the more people you can help and the more you can contribute. Imagine being able to be more generous than you are today. How many people could that serve? Being successful is the best way you can leave your mark and give back. Success is not selfish, and it should not be self-served. Success is not about putting ourselves on a pedestal, and it certainly doesn’t make us a better person. Success should always be about serving others and being a difference maker. Success then, is the least selfish thing we can offer. Anything less than our best self is the most selfish thing, but that’s for another article…
Article Written By:
Kim Martin, Founder of I’ve Decided, INC.
