Posts Tagged ‘achieving success’

As we start out on a new year, we all have great plans about what we will achieve in the year ahead. Having recently surveyed my subscribers, there seem to be 8 key barriers they highlight to achieving in 2012.

So what were the 8 most common barriers and what do I suggest they do to address them?

Barrier 1: Time

One of the most common barriers was the idea that people don’t have the time. The reality is very different. The truth is the reason why people don’t have the time is they fail to make something a priority. We all have to decide what we want to do with the 24 hours we have available in each day.

Barrier 2: Poor Communication Skills

Communication for me is about getting your point across effectively; both verbally and in writing and, even more importantly, learning to listen. There is an abundance of support in this area if you just seek it out.

Barrier 3: The Economy, Availability Of Resources And Opportunities

Let’s not pretend that the global economy is in good shape; we all know it is not. At the same time perhaps this is the time to take control of your own destiny. If you always wait for someone else to sort you out, you might miss the boat and end up staying stuck for ever. Take control of what you can influence.

Barrier 4: Clarity And Uncertainty

If we are not clear about what we want, it is always going to be difficult to achieve it. Take the time to get clear and then do something to move forward even if you are uncertain of the outcome.

Barrier 5: Finding Fault In Others

It is easy to look externally to justify your lack of progress. This might be the case some of the time but often it is seeking to blame someone else for what you are not willing to do.

Barrier 6: Throwing In The Towel

Success and achievement is a marathon, not a sprint. If you are not willing to persevere and persist, you will never reach your peak.

Barrier 7: Lack Of Skills

Whenever you have a skills deficiency you have two choices. Get the support to get the skills or accept you are not going to progress. The choices you make determine your results.

Barrier 8: Procrastinating

My experience is that procrastinating just delays, gets you frustrated and stops you achieving. Get off the fence and start taking decisions and action now.

The Reality: It is easy to come up with 101 excuses for not achieving. In truth, if you keep taking decisions, taking action, get the skills and support you need, you greatly increase your chances of success.

Duncan Brodie helps professional people to fulfil their career potential so that they get the rewards and recognition they desire. Sign up for his free audio masterclass at www.goalsandachievements.co.uk.

Much is written in the area of success. While it is easy to come up with a long list of things that contribute to success, I have found that there are 3 essential components in achieving success:

Right Mindset

More and more people are talking about the importance of having the right mindset and it really can make a difference. If for example you lack belief in what you can offer, it will come across. Having the right mindset is about believing in yourself and your ability to get the result that you want, even when you are not sure how.

Personal Responsibility

When you want to achieve something, you need to take personal responsibility for making it happen. By doing this, you are giving a clear message to yourself that it is down to you. You certainly can enlist the help and support of others but ultimately no-one else can do the work but you.

Active Choice

It is easy to be passive about the choices you make. Remember that every time you say “yes” to one thing, you are saying “no” to something else. Practise actively choosing rather than passively allowing things to happen if you want to achieve success.

The Bottom Line

The truth is, achieving anything worthwhile is going to be a challenge. I wonder what else you would add to the list of essential components?

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to achieve success and realize their professional potential through being highly effective leaders and managers. For more information and to sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Set a few key goals

 

Like to do lists we are all tempted to come up with a long list of goals.  But remember that achieving a goal requires investment of time, energy, effort and maybe money.  In a 52 week year you can only achieve so much, so choose wisely when it comes to goals.

 

List all of the things you need to do to achieve your goals

 

The goal is the outcome you want, for example, get promoted, complete a professional qualification, deliver a major business project to time and budget to name just a few. 

 

Achievement of the goal or outcome requires you to do many things.  Let’s illustrate this by looking at getting promoted.  You might need to:

 

 

• Do some form assessment of your strengths and weaknesses
• Start searching for opportunities
• Update your CV
• Get some feedback
• Work on a personal development plan
• Take some training

 

As you can see the list can become very large very quickly hence the suggestion that you focus on a few key goals.

 

Measure your progress regularly

 

Ever heard the phrase what gets measured gets done?  When you start actively tracking progress you will be amazed at the progress you make.

 

Set up some accountability

 

There is something really powerful about having to report back on your progress to someone else.  Some view it as a negative thing but it definitely does not need to be.  Simply let someone know what you plan to do and get them to ask you for a regular update in the progress you are making.

 

 

 

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers.  For more information click here