Success is one of life’s greatest motivations. The more successful and accomplished we feel, the more we strive for it.
But how successful you feel, and how long you retain the feeling, depends on how you measure it. My work helping business leaders achieve success faster and easier has shown that many adopt for their personal lives a variation of the key performance indicators (KPIs) used to measure how well a business is doing.
Unfortunately, basing success on external things like salary, job title or money in the bank can lead to a growing sense of disconnectedness, disenchantment and wondering what life is about.
The key to sustaining successful feelings is to have well-formed goals, confidence, a belief in yourself and the commitment to do the work required to achieve what you want. Sound easy? It is, if you follow the steps. But you might be surprised that statistics show over 90% of people who set goals never achieve them. This says one of two things—the goal/s they set aren’t right for them and/or they don’t invest the time or stay committed to the process.
I help by making sure you stick with your bespoke programme and achieve the success you want. There isn’t space to go into details of what I do, but here are three tips that will help you attain longer-term fulfilment:
- Develop your own personal performance achievements (PPAs). PPAs are like business KPIs in that they are measurements of your success. Need help figuring out how to begin? Start a journal and keep track of what lifts your spirits during the day. What time was it and what were you doing and feeling? Really think about what it was that made you feel happy. You can also look back over your life and think about events that made you happy. This is called looking back to move forward. Over time you’ll begin to see patterns and these will help form the basis from which you can develop your PPAs.
- Take time every day to find one thing you’ve done or learned that makes you happy. Believe that small things have merit. Studies show that holding a positive thought for three minutes a day for 45 days builds a positive neural pathway. This counterbalances the brain’s tendency to be more attuned to negative things, which is something we’re born with. When you find yourself having negative thoughts, say ‘stop’ out loud. This interrupts your thinking and gives you time to reframe your thoughts and focus on something positive.
- Resist the urge to compare and despair. Most of us agree that it’s not a great barometer of success to measure ourselves against others. But it’s hard to break the habit, particularly with social media bombarding us with stories of success. It’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind or not doing enough. Instead, decide to measure success against yourself. Pick what’s important to you and believe in yourself.
Remember that the only person you are destined to become is the one you decide to be!
Bio
Cindy Galvin helps entrepreneurs and business leaders achieve success faster and easier. Having helped found a global nuclear fuel brokerage company and an energy consulting firm gives her insights into the unique pressures of building and managing businesses. She uses her experience as a NLP master practitioner, coach and hypnotherapist to help executives lead happier and less stressed lives by making profound and lasting changes. Want to learn more? You can read about Cindy’s work on her web site: www.cindygalvin.com