It’s February and, wherever we go, messages of love and desire abound. With all this love in the air, can we translate these good feelings into business success? Of course we can.
“With all my heart’s desire” not only describes a love for a person or for a country, it can also describe the passion you feel when you are fully committed to your goals and to your vision for your business. If you have that deep-seated desire to make your business a success and for it to be a force for good in the world, then you’ve got the fundamental elements required to realize your dreams.
In your heart, you are committed to achieving your dream, and your aspiration to do so keeps you focused and determined. Equally important if you want to achieve success in your business, is to create and implement ways to stay accountable to your goals.
Accountability is achieved through desire.
Desire feeds your dreams and keeps you committed and accountable to achieving the success you seek, even when you face challenging times; because no matter how deeply committed you are, you will face challenges along the way. It’s inevitable and it’s part of the journey. How you chose to face these challenges is what makes all the difference.
What can you do to be unshakeably committed?
Once your goals and vision are aligned (See: Vision, Conviction and Commitment), it’s essential to put in place the check points needed to keep you accountable to achieving your dream. While some of these may be as individual as the person, here are some key points for everyone to consider implementing:
- Solicit feedback. Feedback about your performance and your work, from trustworthy and credible sources, is invaluable. Listen carefully. Reflect on it. Learn from it. Integrate it.
- Embrace mistakes. All meaningful accomplishments are accompanied by set-backs. These set-backs are the feedback you need to better prepare for sustainable and significant growth. Embrace them for what they are and you’ll only have to learn that lesson once.
- Take a time-out. Establish a frequent habit of pulling yourself out of the weeds to realign with your big picture intentions. This ‘long-term’ vision is your compass; without it, you’re unlikely to reach your desired destination.
- Be accountable. Identify what works best for you to keep you on track and accountable to your intentions. Some people need accountability partners, some need rigid deadlines, and some need clarity, to list a few. Everyone is different. What do you need to ensure that you’re always playing your best game?
- Set effective, inspiring goals. If you’re new to goals, SMART Goals is a good tool with which to start.
- Learn to prioritize effectively. Use an effective tool to organize your tasks. (Put First Things First)
- Collaborate. No significant success happens in isolation. Complement your strengths with the strengths of others to accelerate and amplify your success. The more talent you have working with you, the easier and faster you’ll get there.
- Own your results. Never give away your power by blaming others. That’s a losing game. It is ultimately you, and only you, who is accountable and answerable for your actions. Keeping in mind the strategies above, when you take full responsibility for your results, you are far more likely to achieve them.
When you look forward into the future, remember that it’s all those small steps in the right direction that build momentum, create consistency, and ultimately get you to the finish line… one step at a time. And the best step to take is the one that you can take right now.
To your Success, Differently,
- Michèle