Three Simple Steps to Success

What if I told you there was a simple, fool proof path to success? Would you believe me?

Well first, we need to define success. Success looks different to different people. Some people dream of professional accomplishment, financial security, finding a spouse, losing some weight, kicking a habit, repairing a relationship, buying a house, or starting a business.

There’s not one universal outcome that means you are successful. Rather, success can only be defined as the accomplishment of a goal.

Therefore, success is dependent upon the existence of a goal.

This brings us to our first step on the path to success – DEFINE YOUR GOAL.

You cannot skip this step. Goals give us direction and purpose. This is like putting a destination into your GPS, if you skip this step you might not know which direction to go.

Without goals, you will find yourself in one of three places:

1. Sitting in neutral – You have no destination so you simply don’t move. The engine may be running, but you are in park, you are stagnant. If you are stagnant right now, ask yourself if you truly have a goal, a dream, a direction you’d like to be headed. If not, take 5 minutes right now and go read Dreams.

2. Spinning your wheels – You are working hard and fast but not gaining any ground because you aren’t sure where you’re going in the first place. The more you work, the more your tires spin and the more disoriented you will become until you stop, park, and take a moment to define your destination.

3. Driving the wrong direction– You could be gaining some traction, your hard work is helping you cover some ground and you are on your way. The problem is you’re driving the wrong direction. If you started in Denver and you are working your way West through the Rocky Mountains, doing all the Hard Things, but your ultimate destination is actually in Boston, your misguided (or unguided) effort has been wasted.

Okay, so we can all agree that goals are important as they give us direction and purpose for our efforts. But there has to be more to success than just setting goals, right? That’s right! There are two more steps on the path to success.

But before we go further, can I ask you a personal question?

Have you ever set goals and either given up, quit, or forgotten about them?

If you said no, I want you to go into the bathroom, look in the mirror, and ask yourself that question again. If we are being honest, we have all done it. We get motivated by a speaker, inspired by a book, fired up after a conference, or sometimes we are just tired of our situation so we resolve to make a change and chase after our goal of improving some area of our lives.

Eventually that excitement wanes. We lose interest, life happens, and we stop the pursuit and drop the goal.

This brings us to our second step on the path to success – SHOW UP.

I wrote an entire post on this and I encourage you to take 5 minutes and read Show Up, especially if you immediately recognize this as your downfall in the process.

For those that prefer the Cliff’s Notes version, here it is:

Success is not accomplished in a day or a week. It is not reserved for the lucky or the naturally talented (if you believe it’s all about talent, read Natural). Success takes time. The most important and meaningful changes in your life take the hardest and most intentional work.

Success is reserved for those that show up every day and continue the gritty pursuit of better.

No one gets fit after one workout, no one learns French after one lesson, no one's business goes public after one sale, no relationship is repaired because you sent one text.

There are no short cuts on the path to success. Show up may be one step on the path, but this step is repeated thousands and thousands of times. Show up is a step that must be taken every single day.

Okay, I’ve got one more personal question, have you ever half-assed anything?

I’ll go ahead and answer for all of us, yes, of course we have. There have been times that we have given less than our best effort. We have skipped that last rep (or the entire last set), or perhaps we only skimmed the book, partially prepared, or did just enough to get by.

There’s no shame or judgement here, we’ve all been there, so you are not alone.

This brings us to the final step on the path to success – DO THE WORK.

That’s right, the final step on the path to success is to simply do the work. One step at a time, one task at a time, doing what needs to be done. Without this step, there is no success.

Imagine for a moment, you set the goal to lose 20 pounds. That is a powerful and challenging goal, but you are committed.

Step one, done.

You show up to the gym every day for 6 months and walk next door to Saladworks every day after the gym.

Step two, done.

But…while at the gym, you just walk a couple laps saying hi to friends, never actually touching any weights or breaking a sweat. You then walk over to Saladworks because you love their cookies, so you buy two of those and then head to McDonalds for a Big Mac.

It's not hard to see the problem here. The goal is set, you show up to the right places, but you are not doing the work.

Like showing up, the step of doing the work must be done over and over and over again. You cannot accomplish your goals without putting in the work. Anyone that says otherwise is a liar or a snake oil salesman.

Again, this is not about the blessing of all your natural ability and simply succeeding because you showed up. No, the work done in this step is what made Michael Jordan “MJ” and Kobe Bryant “Kobe”.

They outworked everyone.

Year-round training, 3:00 AM shooting sessions, two-hour long post game lifting routines, these guys sacrificed everything to put in the work. That’s why their accomplishments will live forever and they are known only as MJ and Kobe.

If doing the work is your stumbling block, I have spent a lot of time writing on this step, including: Keep Your Eyes On The Prize, Chase Failure, 200 Feet, and Hard Things. Each of these posts will help with the proper perspective on the challenges that come with changing your life. Take some time to read each of these and be honest with yourself:

1. Have you defined your goals? If not, what are your goals?

2. Are you showing up? If not, where do you need to show up every day?

3. Are you doing the work? If not, how can you make that change?

There you have it folks. Three simple steps on the path to success.

At no point did I say the steps were easy. I also never said you wouldn’t repeat steps. These steps are hard. They are repetitive. They can become monotonous, even boring. They are often small and seemingly insignificant.

Stick with it.

You will be shocked at what you are truly capable of when you earnestly pursue Better Every Day.