The 3 Most Important Things You Should Do If You Want Success

Many go out to pursue success without doing what I believe are the first necessary steps to achieve real success.

This is nothing complicated, and might seem like common sense. And in a way it is. So this is not to insult your intelligence.

But sooo many people don’t do this.

And if you don’t do this first, you won’t be putting the right mind frame or framework into your success pursuit.

So I am encouraging you take the time to do so, so you will have a better chance reaching your success than if you don’t.

The First 3 Necessary Steps Toward Success 

1st: Decide

Yes, as surprising as it might sound, you need to decide you want to be successful.

So many people go around saying so whimsically: “I want to have success” or “I want to be successful” but they really are very out of touch with what that means and aren’t 100% internalizing it.

It’s just words blurted out. Or they see someone with success and then they say it. That is the equivilant of 0 commitment behind it.

If you really want to be successful,  it’s got to be every ounce of you – internalized in body and mind.

Success isn’t easy and doesn’t happen overnight. This will help you get one with your desire sooo much more and will subconsciously get you through those challenging times. On the flip side, it will also create more elation within you once you do reach success!

So by actually stopping for a moment and saying to yourself or outloud or writing down  something to the effect of  “I want to be successful”  or “I really want success” chances of you being successful increase quite a bit.

2nd:  State it in the Future

So now that you have decided you want to be successful, it’s time to put an image in your mind about what that success looks like.

You can go as in depth in detail as you want here, but I will keep it simple for a starting point for you.

So now you say outloud or to yourself or you write this down somewhere – something to the effect of:

” I will be successful so I can live life on my own terms”  (credit: Tony Robbins talks about life on your own terms)

or “I will be successful so I can live life the way I really want to”

By stating in the future (using the word ‘will’) you are creating your future right now. So if you weren’t sure  months ago what your future would look like, you just told yourself.

And, by adding the ending phrase, you are presenting an image in your mind  and/or stirring up a feeling or two. You are describing what it will mean for you.

Images and feelings are powerful when it comes to success.

They take ‘successful’ and put some massive umph behind it. It gives more meaning to ‘successful’ so it resonates deeper within you and again, starts to become more a part of your entire being (your energy, your thoughts, your words, your actions). All because you now have some sort of tangible to anchor with the word successful.

These images or feelings or desires of what ‘live life the way I really want to’ encompasses, will be a big part of your driving force.

This is really powerful.

Because when you say something to the effect of “live life the way I really want to”, your mind automatically starts thinking of what that life is about or includes in it. It’s pretty hard not to if you have goals, desires, dreams or just want to be in a different place in your life than you are today.

For some it will be taking a vacation they always wanted to, for others the chance to set their own schedule and work when they want, for others it means no commuting, etc. It will most likely be a combination of so many things for everyone.

Once your mind starts going to what that ‘new life’ is all about (what you might already know or what you might think about that will include) it will be pretty hard for you to  let it all go and not achieve the success you want. As I mentioned above, it’s part of your significant driving force. This is part of your vision, although your vision can include some other things as well.

So again, as simple as this step sounds, please don’t skip it.

Make the future and image creating statement that is good for you so that it really excites you and it resonates with you.

3rd: Decide to Commit

Once you decide you want to be successful and you say you will be in the future and your reason why, you need to get there.

The only way you will get there is if you decide to commit.

You need to commit to yourself in some way that what you say you want and what you say your future will be, will eventually be one and the same.

So I encourage you to make some sort of commitment statement, whether out loud or to yourself or written down,

Something to the effect of:

Something to the effect of : ” I will never give up” or “I will never quit” or “I am committed to my success because I am tired of living the way I am” or “I will pursue this with everything I have because I want this so much” 

To decide to commit means you are putting solid thought behind your commitment – you are 100% serious.

You are deciding to take the time to understand (the good and the bad) what this committment is really all about.

It means you truly understand what going after success means and what it means of you.

Things to think about are: to be completely fine giving up a lot, working a lot more than you would probably imagine, and it won’t be easy and it might be a long process. etc etc.

Don’t just think about the tough points, think about the positive ones too. Pursuing success will help you grow as an individual and you will overcome fears and challenges. Pursuing success will expand your skill level and it will allow you to reach your potential more.  Going after success will expand your network. Etc. Balance it out, but cover as many points as you can to determine if you are ready for pursuing success.

My examples were just a starting point, there are so many other things to think about, so customize them to you. Overall, you want to have some idea what success entails before you can decide if you can commit to it. If you have to research or ask some people, take the time to do so. Don’t rush this step.

Not many take the time to do this step and as you can see, if you stop and think about the nitty gritty of it all, it requires a lot of reflection to see if this is something you really want and want for more than a fleeting moment, a month or a year.

Anyone can do steps 1 and 2  above. The truly successful people are molded right here in this 3rd commitment step.

Deciding to commit  essentially means not giving up on yourself until you achieve it – or you have given it your absolute all.

Something to Watch for with Your Commitment

You might not be  instantly comfortable with this massive commitment.

It requires you to step out of your comfort zone quite a bit. But the pursuit of success will require you to move out of your comfort zone a lot.

So if you can’t even do it on a piece of paper or saying out loud to yourself, then I would revisit if this is something for you.

Additionally, I’d like to make the point that the commitment might seem intimidating, or have a lot of unknowns, or quite a lot to take on. That is to be expected to some degree for many, especially brand new entrepreneurs or those just out of college or high school who are first entering the business arena.

But if there is not an inkling of excitement level, or some comfort level (or both) at all when you are making this commitment, or it lacks passion behind it, I would revisit if independent success is for you.

What I mean is, although I know committing to success is all the things and more I have mentioned above, I am really excited and comfortable about it and about making the statement.

So just remember, not everyone is designed to take on this independent success commitment level.

I liken it to the military.

Signing up for a military career is not something everyone can do. It’s an enormous commitment with tons of sacrifices and lack of control on pretty much all of your life and body.  I could never join the military. It’s not for me at all.

So you might find through this process independent success might not really be for you. You might achieve your success through employment, so you might be the type who is better being an employee.

But you will never know until you go through this 3rd commitment step and see how you feel about the entire thing.

If you already know that being an employee is not your best path, take as long as you need to fully embrace and understand the committment level necessary for success and then take the time and care to create your commitment statement.

Write it down, say it to yourself or outloud. Decide to Commit to Your Success.

I can’t stress the absolute cruciality of this 3rd step. By stating or writing your commitment statement to yourself, you continue to form the right mind frame to prime you for success and you actually make your desire for success even stronger! Wait till you see how much more conviction & excitement there is after you have finished this step. You feel the highest “yeah!” power moment!

The Obvious is Sometimes the Savviest

No matter how obvious these three points are, please don’t underestimate their importance if you want success. Just do them!

So many entrepreneurs never do any of this. I imagine that is why more people never reach success that actually could. Don’t be them.

Be Successful!

Let me know your thoughts on this or if you have any tips to help others in the success prep stage.  If I can help you in any way in these steps let me know. If you have any creative or unique statements for any of these that you would like to share with everyone, please post in the comments below.