What is success?

Lately I have been reflecting on what success actually is and to follow on from yesterdays post about stress and how it affects us, how would we know if we were successful in stressing less?

The great news is that research shows that people who are focused on achieving goals and feel successful are less stressed and generally have better health. So lets set some goals and achieve them!

How do you know when you’re successful at something because every time we reach a goal, we usually set another goal. So when is the point of success and how do we get there?

I guess it depends on what each of us as individuals view as success. To me, I think success is reaching all the small goals along the way to the longer term goal. Now, take a minute to reflect on what is success to you and how would you know if you were successful? And successful compared to what?

Does success mean that you have reached a health goal, made some time for yourself, broken a bad habit, that you are financially secure, or does it mean simply mean that you are happy and grateful for every new day? If you were just starting on a fitness journey and ran for two minutes without stopping and you compare yourself to a marathon runner, you might not feel successful, however, if you have just started out running and you ran for two minutes straight and compare yourself only to yourself, you may feel extremely successful and reaching that small goal demonstrates success for yourself.

Success generally means that you have reached a goal that you set for yourself. So whether you consider yourself to be successful or not, entirely depends on what goals you have and whether you have achieved them and whether you are able to focus on yourself only, or you are comparing yourself to others. These can be small goals or large goals but it’s important to recognise what success feels like for you.

Usually when trying to reach a goal, it is useful to have smaller goals along the way to help you to achieve successes on the way to the large goal. Each time you reach a small milestone, recognise how it made you feel. That feeling will drive you to achieve even more goals.

People who achieve any type of goals, had a dream, they saw it in their mind and they made it happen. This can be you too. If you have any goals that you would like to achieve, the good news is that you can definitely make it happen with the right mindset. Absolutely anything! So get a pen and paper and write down a goal. It can be small or large but ifs a large goal, write down your small goals on the way, so you can track your success.

Here are some steps to help you achieve your goals:

1. First you must get clear on what you want.

Sit down and think about what it is that you really want. Do you want to improve your health? Do you want to run a half marathon? Do you want to write a book? Do you want to start a business? Do you want to make a million dollars? Do you want to improve your diet?

You can achieve any goal you, as long as you are clear on what you want. I have seen so many clients, who want so many things that they can’t stick to a goal and achieve it. One week they want to start a business, the next week they want to run a marathon, the next day, they just want to lose weight and as a result of having no clear picture on what they want to achieve, they achieve nothing because they don’t truly know what they want and they are not focused on one thing with their full attention. It’s ok to want lots of things but pick one thing to focus your attention on (just for now, as we can always build on our goals).

So sit yourself down, find a quiet place and think about what you really want. See the pictures in your mind, what does it look like? What will it feel like when you achieve that goal? How will it make you feel?

For example, if your goal is to improve your diet, you might have a small goal to start eating one perfect nutritionally balanced meal per day and do it consistently for one week. You can then build on this goal until you reach the larger goal. Think about how proud of yourself you will be and what that will feel like.

Once you have step one taken care of, you can start step two

2. Take action towards your clear goal

Now that you have a clear goal, you know what direction you are heading in and you can start working towards that. You may need to seek guidance from a professional but once you know what you are doing, it will become second nature and you will want to keep going because you know what your reward is at the end. It is achieving your goal, feeling the feelings that you thought about earlier, having the picture that you saw in your head, as the real picture of your life.

What steps do you need to take towards achieving your goal? Do you need a training program? A nutrition plan? Do you need to get yourself organized and plan your meals? Do you need to see a financial advisor to start saving? Do you need to set aside 5 minutes a day to meditate and clear your mind?

Whatever it is that you need to do, make sure you do it and commit

3. Make sacrifices

Have you ever heard the saying “nothing worth having is easy to get”. It is true. Achieving your goal may not be the easiest thing that you have ever done in your life but will the rewards be worth it? Absolutely!

To achieve your goal, you will need to make some sacrifices. They might be small sacrifices like swapping chips and chocolate with almonds and apples or swapping soft drinks with water or they might be bigger sacrifices like turning down invitations to alcohol fuelled evenings or unhealthy dinner parties. You might need to turn off Netflix 5 minutes earlier to meditate. You need to be aware though, that these sacrifices don’t have to be long term. Sure, you need to make them at the beginning of your journey towards your goal because you need to be focused, organized and re-setting your mind and body into goal achieving mode.

Once you are well on your way, you can add things back into your lifestyle in moderation and continue to live that way and achieve your goal.

I have seen many clients that simply won’t make sacrifices to help them achieve their goals. They commit at first but they don’t fully commit or believe that they can achieve success, so they won’t even last 1 or 2 weeks before giving up. They simply don’t believe that they can but be assured that you can do anything, so start believing in yourself.

Try not to be one of these people that feel unworthy of their goals and dreams and simply don’t believe it to be possible. The short amount of time you will need make some sacrifices, is not really a long time in the whole scheme of your life.

4. Know your worth and know that only you are responsible for you

Pay close attention to this step because it is one of the most important.

You are worthy of achieving success in any area of your life and only you can make that happen. You can seek advice and guidance from others but at the end of the day, only you can make anything happen for yourself.

So often I hear people blame others for something that happened to them or for them feeling a certain way. We blame others for hurting us, we blame work, people or situations for causing us stress, we blame social events, alcohol and bad food for not achieving our health and fitness goals but have a good think about it, did alcohol and bad foods really jump into your mouth and force you to have them? Didn’t think so. Did going to work really take up your whole day, leaving you with absolutely no time for yourself? Or did you spend time watching Netflix and doing meaningless activities. The truth is that we can all find time if something is important to us.

You have a choice in everything that you do, you may perceive that certain people or situations cause you stress or certain emotions and while that may be true, you are the only one who can change that by changing your perception. Focus on positives, even if they are small and you will achieve success.

Even the smallest step towards your goal is worthy of your acknowledgement and gratitude.

Now you are worth having anything you desire and know that a change in your attitude and a little sacrifice, you will make it happen.

5. Take full responsibility for yourself and your goal

In order to achieve, don’t play the blame game. Try not to blame anything or anyone for undesirable things that happen to you. Maintain a good attitude, take responsibility for yourself and your life and you will get there in the end. Believe that you can do it.

Good luck! What are your goals?? Feel free to share them and inspire others along the way and remember if you need any support or help, seek it and don’t give up!