I have to admit that I’m not one to make resolutions, but there’s just something about starting “fresh” that gets me excited. You can leave poor habits and toxic relationships in a whole separate year and feel renewed.  It’s just not the same saying “I’m leaving behind bad spending habits in last Thursday.” Eh, that doesn’t really do it for me.

You know what I realized? I’ve become one of those “this is my year!!!” people. Because honestly, every year gets better. There will never be a time where I’m like “You know what, 201X was so good that I don’t actually want anything to get better.” Nope. Every year is my year because I’ll always want the best.

All the wins are MUCH more fulfilling when you have someone to share it with. Success is only lonely at the top if you don’t bring people with you. I want to continue the journey with you this year.

[Tweet “Success is only lonely at the top if you don’t bring people with you.”]

Now the first thing you do before you attempt success is understand what success means to you. The definition of success is “the accomplishment of an aim or purpose”. This purpose has to be something that matters to you. Not to your mom or dad or kids or boyfriend or wife. Success is also not subject to money or fame.

Success can be in spirituality, finances, wellness, family/friends, relationships and career. And I’m approaching success in ALL categories the same.

Here are 3 P’s to success (notice these are all verbs because success requires action):

Plan

Planning is SO essential to reaching your goals. Success is NOT accidental. It is intentional. Intent is a plan that’s driven by purpose. I think the biggest mistake that people make is planning out a year in advance without accounting for what happens month to month.

[Tweet “Success is NOT accidental. It is intentional which means it requires a plan with a purpose.”]

I like to break my goals down no more than 3 months out. I have 30/60/90 day goals. As growing creatives, not only will we have 42,013 more ideas 3 months from now, but we will be so much smarter. (Think about how much more you know now than you did back in October.)

Planning within a 90 day timeframe allows me to execute at a my current level of education and experience.

[Tweet “Execute at your most recent level of experience.”]

Let’s say your plan/goal is to lose 35 pounds by March. You might have a goal to lose 10 pounds by the end of January, 12 pounds by the end of February and 14 pounds by the end of March. Now your goal is broken down into chunks. It’s way easier for your brain to process of a 14 pound weight loss goal than it is to process a 35 pound weight loss goal.

But that’s still not really a plan. I reach my goals by writing down a daily things to do list. What will you do every single day to get one step closer to your short-term goal? Meal plan? Fitness plan? Website launch plan? Social media plan? Do not overlook the little things.  Here’s what a hierarchy would look like.

Long term goal: Lose 35 pounds    Deadline:  March 30
Short term goal: Lose 10 pounds   Deadline: January 31
Weekly goal:  Lose 2.5 pounds
Daily ACTION steps: Work out 5 days per week
Daily ACTION steps: Add more protein and vegetables to diet
Daily ACTION steps: Only have bread/sugar on Sundays (optional)

Obviously, I’m not a weight loss expert, but it’s an analogy anyone can relate with. This could go with any element of success. Make sure you WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS and INCLUDE A DEADLINE.

[Tweet “Learn how 30/60/90 goals can help you achieve more success this year.”]

Perform

I love planning, but it can be so easy to get caught up this phase. Over planning is an actual thing. Sometimes we plan ourselves into confusion. We make a plan, then we review the plan and re-plan, then we decide if the plan is good enough and plan some more, then we think about it and go back to planning, and then we need a plan to plan.

It’s madness. And over planning kills magic.

Planning is the talk, performing is the walk.

But here’s the thing about performing. Sometimes it’s not enough to just do what you planned. You need to do it well to get the best results. You can plan to add more vegetables to your dinner, but if you’re eating 7 cupcakes afterwards…. I mean c’mon. That’s poor performance.

I planned to write this blog post, and honestly I could’ve just tweeted “Hey, guys! Make sure you plan, perform and persevere this year!”

But, no. I decided to write a blog post breaking down EXACTLY how I use these steps to find success. And you get a worksheet because I believe in performing at a high level.

One thing I want you to be mindful with, though, is finding the line between excellent performance and perfect performance. If you strive for perfection (you know, the thing that doesn’t exist), you’ll remain stuck. You’ll surpass deadlines 100% of the time and will never get results. That’s a fact.

[Tweet “Perfection never leads to results. It only leads to paralysis.”]

Here’s the top 3 reasons people don’t perform:

• They’re scared of failure.

  Falling flat on your face can be scary as hell, but people who don’t fail don’t try. It’s okay to be scared, but it’s not okay to allow fear to hold you back from the success you deserve.

  [Tweet “It’s okay to be scared, but it’s not okay to allow fear to hold you back from success.”]

• They’re scared of success.

  When you go with the flow, you can kind of stay under the radar. When you hit a level of success, there’s now a standard people hold you to. People expect you to no longer be human as they patiently wait for you to mess up so they can scrutinize you. The more successful you become, the less room for human error you have. Being a bum is easier. No one expects anything from a bum. Unfortunately, being a bum isn’t fulfilling.

• They’re scared of what people may think.

  The annoying part about being human is that we have feelings. *sigh* And our feelings can sometimes be based on how people think of us. Can I tell you something though? I was scared for YEARS. But when I eliminated the need for approval to go after my dreams, that’s when I became my most successful.

  [Tweet “When dreams are no longer reliant on approval, that’s when they come true.”]

 

Persevere 

This is the phase where champions are born. In order to really be successful, you have to be disciplined enough to keep pushing. Perseverance is what separates the Ashanti’s from the Beyonce’s. It separates the flukes from continued success. It separates you from “that one time I started a business” to “I’m on my 5th year in business.”

[Tweet “Perseverance separates one time flukes from ongoing success.”]

You want to succeed longer than your 90 day plan? You better plan to persevere. You have to decide that NOTHING is more important than you reaching your goal.

• Red velvet cake is not more important than abs.
• Red bottoms are not more important than owning a home.
• Approval is not more important than starting your online business.
• Social media is not more important than building a healthy relationship.
• Being right is not more important than enjoying quality time with your loved ones.

The key to remaining disciplined is ALWAYS going back to your why. Why do you want your own business? Why do you want to have better health? Why do you want improved finances? Are the struggles, and temptations worth giving up on your why?