Setting Yourself Up for Success With The Right Mindset & Tools
Success is a term that can be hard to define, but it’s a goal that everybody seeks. After all, nobody wants to feel like a failure after a project–generally, everyone wants to do the best that they can. But achieving this goal can be a challenge precisely because it’s vague. How do you set yourself up for success? Fortunately, this can be done with ease provided you have the right mindset.
What is the Right Mindset?
The concept of the right mindset can be just as difficult to define as success but it’s an invaluable tool. Broadly speaking, the right mindset is the frame of mind that most ideally sets a person on a path to achieving their goal. Motivation is only the first part of the process. Approaching with the right mindset means looking at the challenge ahead realistically and pursuing it with a logical set of steps that can easily be followed and the life tools needed to carry your goals out.
The right mindset is key because success can often seem so hard to achieve and simply pursuing it blindly doesn’t set yourself up for success. It sets you up for failure. Having the proper perspective enables you to treat success at whatever goal you pursue, large or small, as a highly attainable goal. Here are some things to consider as you use it:
Identify Your Goals
Often, success feels so hard to achieve because the goal itself is completely vague. For example, it’s not enough to say you want to “lose weight” this year. You need to say exactly how much you seek to lose in a certain amount of time. With a specific and achievable goal laid out, you can pull it off.
Watch for Possible Errors
It’s easy to rush into a goal without thinking it through. Just assuming that you’ll gain the motivation to chase it is a common mindset. However, that’s not enough. It’s important to step back and realistically analyze the steps you’ve taken before, trying to achieve this or a similar goal. Most likely, this isn’t your first effort. So, study past attempts and understand why it is that in previous efforts you failed to achieve your goal.
When you sit down to set your plan in motion, write down a highly specific set of steps to help the plan look far less daunting. A quality notebook is a simple tool but just the act of writing and clearly delineating your goals will lead to a far greater chance of success.
Make Your Goals Measurable
It seems like a simple step to add to the process, but making sure your goals can be measured is a crucial part of ensuring your success. For a writer, setting a certain amount of words a day can be a constantly reliable barometer that can be counted on regularly. When achieved, it’s an immensely satisfying feeling that helps drive further work. These small and measurable goals become successes themselves as a result.
Find Someone to Talk To
Talking to another person who can be trusted can have an immeasurable effect on success. For one thing, it’s a way to stay accountable on your path. A confidant knows what you’re doing and will pay attention to your goals, reminding you to constantly stay vigilant about what you need to do. They’ll also provide you with the support you need when you’re frustrated. Having someone to vent to helps make the rougher moments easier.
This is an area where professional life coaching can come in handy. With a quality life coach, you have the advantage of expressing yourself to someone without the potential biases and baggage that comes from seeking the aid of a friend or family member. You have a safe, trusted person to talk to with the experience and training to propel you to greatness. Life coaches know what it takes to push someone to the peak of success. Their aid is a tremendous boost.
Do the Prep Work
As you set out on your goal, it’s important to remember that there are steps you can take in advance to assist your mission, namely removing obstacles. For someone trying to lose weight, making sure the food in the house is healthy and meals are planned for the week helps greatly. A would-be writer does himself a favor by installing software to limit distractions as they work. If you’re trying to work out more often, keeping your gym supplies clean and ready will always serve you well. Simple as it is, setting your life up will set you up for success.
Read Up
It’s never a bad idea to read up on the advice others have. Books on complicated subjects such as getting through a divorce make the odds of successfully ending a marriage much higher. Self-help books such as Happy Warrior by Jami Bertini and John Kalinowska give you extra tools to build the right mindset. For a quick but highly insightful boost, consider these PDFs on the topic of happiness. Reading is one of the best life tools as it helps you stay focused and informed on this vital matter.
Accept That You Will Stumble
Perfection is one of the great enemies of success. Here’s the hard truth: Everyone falls short and makes mistakes. Nothing is a straight path and everyone has moments where they slip, especially the ones who have the strongest outcomes. There will be days you don’t reach the gym when you plan to. Writers miss their word counts. Everyone cheats on their diet. These are normal moments. Accept them and greatness is in your reach.
Be Patient
Few things are as hard to accept as the painful fact that success takes time. Nothing happens immediately. Nobody loses 30 pounds in a week or writes a novel in a day. Everything of value takes time. The powerful thing to remember is that every tiny step builds to something greater. The little things we do really matter.
Celebrate the Small Wins
Ultimately, success is the accumulation of small victories so it’s vital to always celebrate the wins as they come. Give yourself a reward if you hold back on temptation. Take a break after you’ve accomplished a certain volume of work. Be proud. And in this way, know that you have achieved something special and in time will achieve your wildest dreams.
Trying to succeed is a daunting task. With the right mindset, it can be achieved. Set yourself up for success and in time you’ll get there!
