As this year draws to a close, many businesses are looking at how they can make 2019 one of their best ever! This can include many things such as new Business Plans, Marketing Plans, Staff Training, Investments and the list goes on! But how many people actually stop to look closely at their own performance? In coaching many business owners and leaders over the years, I have noticed that most of the real significant gains come from within; I like to describe this using what I call the Success Pyramid!
Imagine a triangle, in one corner the first ingredient is to have a BURNING DESIRE to achieve whatever is your major goal; I always ask my clients out of 10 how much do they really want this? If the answer is anything less than 10 out of 10, must have, non-negotiable, then it’s going to be a struggle when the going gets tough!
The second ingredient is BELIEF, you have to truly believe that what you are looking to achieve is actually possible. You genuinely believe that with the right amount of hard work and focus that you really can achieve this goal. Incidentally, it’s impossible to lie to yourself, so if you have any doubt that it’s unachievable, it will massively impact your chances of success!
The Third ingredient is taking ACTION, or as I like to put it, ‘high activity levels’! We have many people who can have the first two bases covered, but then fail at the actual implementation. No one who achieved any kind of success consistently, over a long period of time, did this without getting stuck in. This doesn’t mean working a ridiculous number of hours each week, but rather working really hard on the things that will make the biggest impact!
In the middle of the Success Pyramid is a final ingredient that holds all this together and it’s called SELF DISCIPLINE! My definition for this key ingredient is “Self-Discipline; is doing the things you know you should do, even when you don’t feel like doing them!” As Human Beings we are all wired up the very same way and are programmed to stay in our comfort zone most of the time! High levels of self-discipline can be so painful for many people, simply because it’s driving you out of your comfort zone on a regular basis, unfortunately without high levels of this, real success will be hard to come by!
To wrap this up, achieving significant success isn’t really determined by education, money available to invest, experience, intelligence etc, as I do see many people with these ingredients underachieving! However, when I work with clients to help improve the 4 areas described above, Burning Desire, Belief, High Activity and Self Discipline, then that’s where we see the real magic happen in their business and their personal lives!
Now you have the formula, why not make 2019 your best year ever, good luck!
David Poxon
Award Winning Business and Leadership Coach
ActionCOACH North West (davidpoxon@actioncoach.com)