5 Keys to Success

It’s been a week into the New Year 2022 — some of you may be motivated towards your new goals and resolutions, while others may have already forgotten the promises you made to yourself only a few weeks ago or have been derailed since. Let’s get you back on track with 5 keys to success when it comes to achieving your goals.

Make Success more specific

Most people, if you ask them what they want to accomplish in life, they may reply something along of the lines of, “I want to help people”. It’s a common and noble answer, because we all want to feel that we’ve had a positive impact in the world– that we are important. But it’s not until you dive further in specifying your answer that you will know where to start. I want to help people — who? do what? why? by when?

It’s the reason every great company has a compelling mission statement — so they know specifically what their target is and can align their actions accordingly. Whether you’re looking to help others or help yourself, the more specific you can get with your goals, the more likely you’ll be to achieve them

In my experience, it’s the one’s who said, “I want to lose 15lb, get stronger, more toned, and feel more energetic, before my wedding on this date so I can stand in front of the love of my life as my best self” vs the one’s who said, “I want to be more fit”, that tended to succeed at a high rate

Make success as convenient as possible

My girlfriend joked around once that the reason I workout regularly is because all I own is gym clothes — maybe she was passively trying to tell me to expand my wardrobe (and buy more than cutoffs and sweatpants) or maybe she was onto something more. After all, convenience when it comes to maintaining habits is crucial if you want to continue to maintain over time.

If you want to eat healthier, if you’re serious about getting in better shape– stop stocking your fridge and cupboards with junk. Buy good groceries and put them at the front of your fridge. Have your gym bag ready the night before and place your keys on top of them to make sure you take your bag in the morning.

When we try to discipline ourselves to succeed, we generally fail. Instead, create an environment that is lined up with success more than it is failure.

If you’re really serious about making change and building new positive habits — I highly recommend checking out Atomic Habits, by James Clear (I also posted a recent feature of his on my podcast page here)

Make success desirable

Are you working towards a goal that would allow you to spend more time learning about a passion of yours? or maybe it’s because of the way it would help impact your life and the lives of those around you? In order to stay motivated — or keep working through on the days you aren’t motivated, the key is having something that is worth getting up and going for.

If you are aiming to make money for example, in a field you do not have a passion for it, you’ll likely quit– or continue and be miserable, regardless of the reward. Align your passions, natural ability, utilize your resources, and have a highly desirable why factor and you’ll be well on your way to success, over time. Patience is key and don’t forget to enjoy the process…

Make success rewarding

When it comes to exercise, many people fail to start (or continue on) simply because of their focus point. I’m going to be too sore to move. What if I get injured? I’m too tired. For me, I workout regardless if someone tells me, because of how rewarding it is.

For me, working out is time for me to be around people. To sweat out my stress on some days with my headphones cranked, and to enjoy the social aspect of leaving my house on others. My body feels stronger, I look better, I sleep better, I have more energy, I’m more focused, and more able to participate in physical activities on a whim without worrying about injuring myself. To be honest, if there was no reward, no physical progress or results, or I only focused on the negative possibilities of exercise, I likely wouldn’t exercise either.

Whether it’s a fitness goal or a life goal, treat yourself along the way and stay focused on enjoying the benefits of your efforts.

Make failure scary

When I was working in the gym helping to set people up with Personal Training plans, the optimal consultation was one where the client would talk themselves into wanting to work with a Coach after being motivated by the potential benefits. I would ask questions like, do you think you would have more energy or sleep better? would you have less aches and pain, be happier at home, and less stressed at work? They would agree, get excited at the thought of a new and happier version of themselves, and off they were, happy to progress towards better health.

Unfortunately, not all of my consults were that simple. In fact, my most difficult conversations about working with a Personal Trainer were often with the people who needed it most. Why you ask? well, because the person who was 100lb overweight and on the brink have a heart attack versus the person who was 10lb overweight, were more accustomed to saying no. They had rejected ideas and actions for better health ten thousand times before I saw them so what’s one more?

With people like this, they had already heard all about how beneficial exercise is and although I’d start with the positive approach — often, it wouldn’t go very far. Instead, what made them shift and decide to prioritize their health by getting help was not motivation (which is my preferred method), but fear.

What if you don’t prioritize your health? how do you think your aches and pain will feel in 5 years when you’re currently gaining 4 pounds per year and already your telling me you feel ‘stiff as a board’? will you be able to be active with your children as they grow up?

In my opinion, there is no better way to motivate than by acknowledging the pro’s AND the con’s of each situation in order to create more desire — or urgency to change…

Questions worth the ponder:

What do I specifically want to achieve?

If I were to achieve this goal, what are the benefits?

If I fail in pursuit or don’t start today, what are the potential negative outcomes?

What is really stopping me? is it resources or my resourcefulness?

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