Success can mean different things to different people.
We often think it’s about being rich, famous, or super talented.
But success, or put another way, how to succeed in life can be anything you want it to be.
For some, it might be all about having a big boat, and for others, it’s as simple as having time to hang out with family and friends.
The famous Greek thinker Aristotle said success is all about living your life with a purpose.
If you’re an artist and you paint, then you’re a success.
If you love to dance and you just dance, or if you’re a scientist doing experiments, you’re doing great.
Basically, if you’re doing what feels right for you, you’re on the right track.
It’s up to you to figure out what you really want from your life, what matters most to you, and what success looks like for you.
Finding Your Path to Success
Now, there are many ways to reach success.
And there are a lot of different strategies that can be used on the path to becoming successful.
What works for one person might not work for another.
It’s important to try different things to find what fits you best.
Let’s check out a few examples:
Visualizing Your Success
The Power of Visualization
Have you ever heard of visualization?
It’s a simple but powerful technique that is used by professionals to improve your thinking, feelings, and actions (Blackwell, 2019).
When you visualize doing something, your brain begins to practice it just as though you’re really doing it.
For instance, when you imagine moving your arm, your brain lights up the same way as if you’re actually moving it (Pearson et al., 2015).
Visualization is not just daydreaming; it’s like a kind of rehearsal for your brain.
It can help you see the difference between who you are now and who you want to be.
This can guide you in making the right moves to achieve your dreams (Murphy et al., 2015).
It also isn’t just about success.
Visualization is about foreseeing challenges and planning for them.
When you imagine the steps toward your goals, you might see potential problems or things about yourself that you need to work on.
This helps you make backup plans and prepare for tough situations.
Crafting Your Success Plan
Thinking about success is just the beginning.
To really make it happen, you need a plan.
Visualizing gives you a rough idea, but your plan needs to be detailed and clear.
A good strategy is to break your big goal into smaller goals and set deadlines for each.
This way, you know what to do step by step and when to do it.
Breaking Down the Big Goals
Success isn’t usually something that happens to us all at once.
It’s a bit more like climbing up a ladder, one rung at a time.
Let’s say you have a dream of being an ultra-marathon runner.
You wouldn’t just wake up one day, go out and run your marathon would you?
First, you’d start off with a few smaller goals, like doing some training every day and eating healthier.
Breaking your big dream into smaller manageable goals can help to make it less overwhelming.
It can also be a big boost to your confidence, knowing that you’re actually making some progress.
These approaches of creating smaller goals help keep you motivated and stay on track (Latham & Seijts, 1999).
The Importance of Deadlines
Now, it’s not just about setting these smaller goals.
You also need to give yourself deadlines.
Research tells us that setting deadlines are super important for our success (Kruger & Evans, 2004).
People often underestimate how long it will take them to do a task.
And think they can do things faster than they actually can, which is why deadlines are so helpful.
Be as detailed as you can when you’re planning your steps.
Think of it like planning a journey with lots of little stops along the way.
Sometimes things can take longer than you expect, and that’s okay.
If you need more time, just adjust your deadline.
It’s better to tweak your plan than to give up on it altogether.
Keeping Track of Your Success Journey
Why Tracking Your Progress Matters
One of the best ways to achieve your dreams is to keep an eye on your progress (Harkin et al., 2016).
It’s like having a roadmap that shows you how far you’ve come and where you need to go next.
Here are two big benefits to tracking your progress:
Realizing Your True Effort
First off, tracking helps you see clearly how much work you’re actually putting into your goals.
Sometimes, we don’t realize how hard we’re working.
We might feel like we’re not doing enough, even when we are.
Or, we might think we’re doing great but are not as on track as we thought.
Keeping track of your actions will show you the real picture.
A Boost of Motivation
The second benefit is about giving you that boost of motivation.
When you tick off your tasks and see your progress, you’ve got to admit it does feel great.
It’s like getting a gold star for your efforts.
This feeling of achievement can keep you excited and driven; making it more likely that you’ll get to your end goals.
Seeing progress as you go along is a powerful motivator, reminding you that you’re capable of achieving whatever you set out to do.
Wrapping It Up: Your Path to How to Succeed in Life
Success is Personal
Remember, success isn’t the same for everyone.
And what it means to you right now might change over time.
The first step to living successfully is to figure out what success actually means to you.
Ask yourself what you really want in life, what matters to you, and what makes you feel fulfilled.
Setting the Stage for Success
Once you know what you’re aiming for, you can start using strategies like visualization, planning, and tracking your progress.
These methods are like tools in your success toolbox.
They can help to turn your dreams into reality.
The Winning Combination
Combining a clear understanding of what success means to you with these powerful strategies is the key to living your best life.
It’s all about knowing where you want to go and making sure you use the right tools to get there.
References
● Blackwell, S. E. (2019). Mental imagery: From basic research to clinical practice. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 29(3), 235.
● Harkin, B., Webb, T. L., Chang, B. P., Prestwich, A., Conner, M., Kellar, I., … & Sheeran, P. (2016). Does monitoring goal progress promote goal attainment? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychological bulletin, 142(2), 198.
● Kruger, J., & Evans, M. (2004). If you don’t want to be late, enumerate: Unpacking reduces the planning fallacy. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(5), 586-598.
● Latham, G. P., & Seijts, G. H. (1999). The effects of proximal and distal goals on performance on a moderately complex task. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 20(4), 421-429.
● Murphy, S. E., O’Donoghue, M. C., Drazich, E. H., Blackwell, S. E., Nobre, A. C., & Holmes, E. A. (2015). Imagining a brighter future: the effect of positive imagery training on mood, prospective mental imagery and emotional bias in older adults. Psychiatry Research, 230(1), 36-43
● Pearson, J., Naselaris, T., Holmes, E. A., & Kosslyn, S. M. (2015). Mental imagery: functional mechanisms and clinical applications. Trends in cognitive sciences, 19(10), 590-602.
