As entrepreneurs, we’re intrigued by articles with catchy titles promising us ways we can improve ourselves, our business, and our income. We’re all looking to become more productive, more motivated, and ultimately more successful, so we desperately look for advice to help us find the way.
If you’ve spent any time reading articles entitled “10 Ways to Succeed In Business” or “How to Become More Motivated in One Hour,” you understand how little these articles actually help you. You read them looking for helpful advice and you find yourself lost among the broad statements claiming to make you a millionaire by the end of the week.
Many of these articles will make you believe success is out there, you only need hard work and dedication to find it. Hard work goes a long way in achieving your goals, but careful planning, thoughtfulness, and research play a similarly large role. We’re going to discuss how working smarter can help you speed up your journey to success, helping you stay more informed as you work toward your goals.
The Importance of Setting Goals and Creating Strategies
You already know goals are crucial to achieving success, but creating the right goals can be a challenge. Defining your goals involves more than what you wish to achieve – you have to outline exactly what you want, and define the problems and hurdles which are preventing you from achieving it.
After you’ve identified problems which are standing between you and success, you have to come up with solutions and develop a plan to help you overcome those problems. Before you take action to complete your goals, you’ll need to create a roadmap for your journey:
- Create a list of solutions and ideas, then narrow your list to the best ones.
- Research your problem and possible solutions, including individuals who may help you along the way.
- Set the timing of your plan.
- Test and implement your plan.
Ideally, you should set goals, create strategies to achieve those goals, and develop tactics to implement those strategies.
Send Negativity Packing
Negativity has no place in your life as an entrepreneur. You may think you’re being realistic by entertaining the impossibilities of one dream or another, but in reality you’re selling yourself short with such a perspective. You aren’t guaranteed success by following the advice you find online and in books, but you aren’t guaranteed failure either.
Success requires the right attitude. When a hurdle stands between you and your goals, take time to evaluate the issue and find a solution. It’s easy to believe a problem is insurmountable when it first presents itself, but further evaluation will show it isn’t as difficult to overcome as you first thought. By looking at every situation positively, you’re giving yourself room to find solutions.
Positivity also allows you to achieve more than you may have thought possible. Have you ever looked at a company like Google or Apple and thought to yourself, “I’d love to start a business of such magnitude, but someone like me could never make it happen”? These thoughts are common for most of us, but they cut our possibilities for success short. Instead of passing off certain goals as unattainable, look for ways you could achieve them. Accept failure as part of the process, but don’t let failure be a source of negativity for you. When you rid yourself of negativity, you’ll stop procrastinating, end your fear of rejection or failure, and set yourself on the right path for success.
What are your tips for achieving success? Let us know in the comments below!
