Was yesterday a great day, or did it end up on your list of those that ended in frustration or failure?
Was Yesterday a Success?
Defining Success
The definition of success I use is “achieving an established goal.” The trick, of course, is to properly select your goals. If your list of daily goals reads more like an epic poem than a short recipe, you probably book considerably more days of failure than success.
Who is Most Vulnerable to Failure?
Those who most frequently fail are those who try the hardest to succeed. People seldom fail who seldom try.
Natural leaders and entrepreneurial types are most vulnerable to daily failure. They are ambitious to a fault; the fault centered in setting impossible goals on a daily basis. These gifted folks often lose sight of the speed bumps directly ahead as they focus exclusively on the top of the mountain they intend to climb.
Climb one step at a time. Blake Hannah Photography
The Recipe for Success
Baking, as opposed to cooking, requires strict adherence to the recipe. Not being precise when measuring and adding ingredients out of order leads to failure. Success is much the same. In both baking and success the key is maintaining proper balance as each new ingredient is added.
Adding too much of a favorite or more impressive ingredient will cause your pastry to flop, and setting goals that put you out of balance will do the same to your day. And, as days add up, the flops combine in continuing failure.
Establish Balance
Each successful day is the result of balancing the proper ingredients:
- Caring for family and daily chores
- Learning and forward movement (climbing upward)
- Maintenance: not backsliding as you add to achievements attained.
- Contemplation, vision, and planning for tomorrow’s climb
- Rest
Perseverance
The tortoise won the race by slow steady forward movement. The rabbit made flashy sprints and bursts but became distracted. Set goals that take care of the business of your life, then seek to obtain just one or two more steps up the mountain every day.
Some days your goals will concentrate on preparation and maintenance, not gaining elevation. The circumstances of your life are like weather changes on a real mountain.Some days it would be just foolish to try and climb when conditions are completely unfavorable.
No Success in Playing Solitaire
Take care of important relationships. There is no true success in playing Solitaire.
Learn something new or achieve one more step each day.
Don’t lose past wins. Include time in your day to maintain achieved skills and contacts.
“A” is for Apple
As a child you could not learn to read until you mastered the alphabet. You could not master the alphabet until you learned the letters. Like the rest of us, you began with “A” is for apple. Set your daily goals in the same way. If your goal for today is to read “War and Peace,” you are destined to fail if you have not mastered “A” is for apple.
Be realistic. Be successful. Every day.
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