This article was last updated on December 29, 2015
We all have dreams. We all want success. But the difference between the people who want and the people who achieve is their ability to create and execute a kick-ass plan to get to where they really want to be. In my seminars, the question I get asked most often is, “How can I get what I really want?” The following 9 steps is the answer I give. It is the map that you can use to take you wherever you desire to go. These are the guidelines that will ensure success in your ambitions.
9 Steps To CREATE & EXECUTE A Kick-Ass Game Plan
1. Define your target, clearly and simply. As Bruce Lee would say, “chisel away at the inessentials”.
Keep your target clear and defined. Know what the finish line is for you. Most people never follow through to the end, why? Because they don’t have a specific answer to the question, how will I know I have succeeded? See Also (How To Create Opportunities)
2. Uncover your why. Know what it is that you want, yes. Next, up in importance, dig deep and get the reasons for why specifically you want it.
Ask yourself, what will it mean to me to achieve this? Why do I really want this? Find out what your fuel is and keep on refuelling throughout your journey to keep yourself motivated.
3. Take laser-focused action. Distraction is the enemy of execution.
Most people who fail are completely capable of achieving what they set out to achieve. The problem that causes failure is a lack of relentless action towards a set goal.Here’s how you can keep yourself focused, write out your top 10 goals once in the morning and again at night.
Carry your goals with you throughout your day, and in the moments that you find yourself getting distracted or fatigued – get your pen and paper and write your goals down again. Remind yourself that you are the kind of person who can achieve these goals.
4. Say no.This is the key to executing a kick-ass game plan, is to say no to the things that do not serve your purpose and outcome.
Learn to say no, quickly and firmly to anything that does not support your goals. The key to this is clarity. “It’s easy to make decisions when you know what you value”, Roy Disney once said. Know what is important to you and you can say no to the things that will keep you from achieving your goals – and that is what will allow you to say yes, and act upon the opportunities that will ensure your success.
5. Hold yourself to a higher standard. Break away from the standards of the people who are NOT where you want to be and attach yourself to the higher standard of the people who have achieved what you want.
What a higher standard means is this, you change the level of importance that you place on the set of behaviors and actions you demand from yourself. Ask yourself what types of behaviors and actions would ensure that I reach my goals this year?
6. Leave your ego at the door. Remember, rejection and failure are the two big dream killers. If you leave your ego at the door and trust the process, you will stay in the game longer than the other players, which leads to more success. See Also (The Most Important Life Lesson You Need To Know)
And secondly, you will be less affected by fear of rejection and failure, because both of those fears stem from a deep seated egocentric way of thinking. The less ego you have involved, the more resilient and emotionally strong you will be.
7. Feed your brain daily. As you take more and more action on your kick-ass game plan, remember to feed your brain with amazing success stories daily.
Take your brain to the best nutritious stories that exist. Stories from people who faced odds worse than you have and still achieved what they put their minds. Find inspiration and dwell upon it.
8. Time yourself. Use the snooze button effect to your benefit.
Work with your timer to keep yourself taking specific action towards a specific outcome. Why? Because when you don’t take action, many times it’s because it seems to large of a task. But, once you take a bit of action for 10 minutes, you will find that you can keep on working for several hours.
One bite at a time you can crush any size project.
9. Always be the hardest working person in the room. Trust yourself that if you work hard enough, you can achieve whatever game-plan you set out to achieve. We live in a world where we have the same amount of time as Richard Branson, Donald Trump, Tony Robbins and Jordan Belfort. The difference is how hungry we are to achieve success.
We all have 24 hours. No excuses. Go out there and get it.
Photo credit: Steve Jurvetson
