Have you ever noticed how some people almost always achieve the results they desire? How about you – do you often have the same kind of experience in your endeavors? If you do, that is an awesome thing!
Most people, unfortunately, do not consistently achieve the results they desire. I am not trying to damper your mood; however, this is the simple truth. If you were to take a quick assessment, I am sure you too would conclude the same. Perhaps you’ve even noticed that you are consistently achieving undesired results in your own life.
The good news is that there is hope for the leaders among us – you too can absolutely experience the thrill of achieving your goals on a consistent basis. Most probably, and if you have half a brain, you are not consistently seeing the results you desire because you are focused on the wrong things. Your energy is spent on the wrong activities and therefore, the results you achieve are not what you want.
Following are my best insights on how to consistently
achieve the results you desire. These 5 keys have always worked for me and I
have also seen it work tremendously for others. There is no doubt that you will
experience a profound, positive and impacting shift in the results you begin to
achieve once you master these disciplines.
Key #1 – Know
the objective
In order to consistently achieve the results you desire, you must know what your objective is. What is it that you are trying to accomplish? So often I observe individuals who fly by the seat of their pants and hope that things turn out well.
If you want to make sure that you don’t waste yours and other people’s time, make sure that you know what the mission is. Have a clear picture in your mind as to what the end result is supposed to be. With this in mind, it will certainly help you make better decisions on the tools, resources and people you need to get the job done.
If you are sketchy on the objective then the results you
achieve will ultimately be sketchy as well. There is no way around it; of
course you may find that occasionally, you end up where you’re supposed to
flying blind; however, that because other people were removing the roadblocks.
The day someone doesn’t show up for duty, you’re toast.
The point is, the clearer you are on the objective, the better the choices you will make and the more likely it will be that you will achieve the results you desire. There is no question that the difference in the results you achieve will be significant if you simply know the objective.
Key #2 – Create
an action plan
Once you are crystal clear on your objective, it’s time to
create an action plan. Achieving the results you desire on a consistent basis
requires that you plan your moves. Every action you take towards your goal must
be deliberate. Individuals who are successful at achieving the best results
plan every move they make; they leave nothing to chance.
If you want to be part of this group, you must do the same. Just imagine the frustration that might ensue if you try to get to a new destination without the proper map or GPS to guide you. How many times do you need to get lost before you ask for directions or look them up?
Objectives require planning and plan you must if you want to be successful. Your action plan is your guide; it tells you what actions to take next and also where you are in proximity to your goal. Your action plan is also where you place your dates and deadlines for meeting your objectives.
Individuals who consistently achieve the results they desire have no illusions about what is going on or where they are in their action plan. They keep a bird’s eye view on the process at all times; again, nothing is left to chance.
If you don’t create an action plan, then your moves become random and that can quickly become confusing. Often people end up going round and round in circles when their actions are randomized. Disorganization and chaos quickly set in and the objective is usually left behind in the dust.
When you have a clear objective and an action plan to match,
your decisions become easier and your moves are much more precise. Your
thoughts are uncluttered and your mind is fixed on the desired result.
Key #3 – Develop
a flexible strategy
Objective – check… action plan – check… now it’s time to strategize.
Without a good strategy, even the best laid plans will fail. You must develop a flexible strategy that will take you to your objective in the quickest, most efficient and effective way possible.
By flexible, I mean that your plan must be easily adaptable. You have to be prepared to change your strategy mid-stream if some other factors change in the process. A great strategy is one that is built with anticipation of the unexpected.
If this sounds like too tall a feat for you, don’t worry – there is a sure way to ensure that your strategy is as flexible as it can be.
Many people develop strategies based mainly on a short-term view; the steps and tactics used are ones that may get you to the objective but then if something changes mid-process, it’s hard to adapt. A short-term view is only based on the things you can see and the factors that are presented. They do nothing for anticipating changes or preparedness is dealing with other factors that arise down the road.
The best way to develop a flexible strategy is to ensure
that it is grounded in correct principles – aligned with natural law. The steps
and tactics then become merely the byproducts of the strategy meaning that the
underlying principles of your strategy never change; however, the steps and
tactics easily can. With your strategy built on the backbone of principles, it
makes your decisions regarding the steps you take and tactics you use easier.
What exactly do I mean by developing a strategy grounded in
correct principles? I am glad you asked.
If we look at the Law of Momentum which says that one courageous action taken over and over again only gets easier, bigger and better as time goes on – it can easily tell you where to spend your time. Your strategy may include many different steps and tactics; however, you may find that one or two in particular yield much greater results more efficiently and in a more effective manner. What do you do? Do you continue to give the working strategies the same amount of time and energy or do you increase them on these and reduce on others that do not work so well?
You may be surprised to know how many people don’t even think this is important. It’s as if you are given a budget for a particular project with fixed monies allocated to different tasks and no matter how much more productive doing one of these tasks is, the money manager won’t move funds around to provide more support for the more productive option. That is crazy to me – BUT – that’s just me.
The point is that when you develop a strategy based on correct principles, it becomes much easier to change the steps and tactics you take and use to achieve your objective. The result is what matters most – how you get there is an evolving animal. That is why your strategy needs to be grounded in correct principles so that the how is only compiled of right action and nothing adverse that will undoubtedly come back to haunt you.
Key #4 – Execute
Efficiently
Efficient execution is often overlooked or underplayed when it comes to achieving objectives. This is because the term is often misunderstood or not used at all in any form.
To execute efficiently, you must understand exactly what it will take to achieve the results you desire. Although these can change as the process evolves, it is important that you make it a point to understand the tools, resources and people you will need. If you understand these, you will know exactly what to do, when to do it and whom should do it.
Part of efficient execution involves knowing your strengths and weaknesses. For the parts of the strategy where your strengths apply, spend most of your personal time in these areas. For the parts of the strategy where you are weaker, employ others, use resources – simply put – ask for help.
As Stephen R. Covey puts it, “the true pinnacle of excellence does not lie in our independence but in our interdependence.” The better and more effectively we can work with others, the greater the results we will achieve.
If you want to execute your strategy efficiently, make it a
priority to know how and where the pieces fit. Know whom to delegate different
tasks to and also when to employ different tools and resources. The better you
are at this, the better your execution and the better the results you will
yield.
Key #5 – Smash
the status quo
If you want to be in the class of individuals that consistently achieve the results they desire, observe the masses and do the opposite. Individuals who fight to keep the status quo create nothing greater than themselves – that’s a fact. This doesn’t mean that the current process isn’t working – it just means that you are the type of person that is always looking for more creative and effective ways to do something.
Seth Godin, one of my favorite authors, calls these types of individuals “heretics” – the leaders of tomorrow.
Be a heretic; the status quo is there for the risk averse – the people who accept mediocrity. The status quo is also there for leaders like you to smash to bits with the next great idea.
The reason this is important in consistently achieving the results you desire is because not all strategies work – not all plans come to fruition. Knowing that you can do things differently is what separates winners from losers. Just because something didn’t work doesn’t mean it can’t – it simply means you need to modify your plan and/or your strategy.
There nothing worse than doing the same thing over and over
again and expecting different results. That’s the Japanese definition of
insanity – it’s also mine because I think that’s nuts.
If you are not willing to learn from your mistakes and failings, change the things you need to and lead with creativity and passion, it will be very difficult for you to consistently achieve the results you desire. Don’t fool yourself into believing that failure is anything but and event from which you can learn and grow. If you are not going to change, you might as well stop trying right now. You’d only be wasting your time achieving nothing worthwhile; just the same old misery.
Simply going with the flow and upholding the status quo is
like living in a box; and if you live in a box, you think in a box. If these
are the results you desire – no worries – you just wasted about 10 minutes of
your mediocre life. If however you want to achieve great things, endeavor to
learn, change and grow. You will undoubtedly achieve the results you desire
much more consistently.
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