Five Steps to Get Everything You’ve Ever Wanted

“If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a LOT of time dealing with a life you don’t want.” —Kevin Ngo

Never has a person accidentally qualified for the Boston Marathon. A CrossFit contender doesn’t train for the CrossFit games by doing just one push up. And I didn’t summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world, without training, preparation, coordination, and most importantly, making the decision to go.?

Who ever said that you can get everything you’ve ever wanted without a strategy, or with little training? No one. To get everything you want in life, and I mean everything, there is a proven five-step process to turn any dream into reality.

Whether you’re training to climb a mountain, launching a business, or growing your business exponentially, these five steps will help you get there.

Step 1: Commit to a Specific Goal

Dreams are your yet-to-be-realized goals. They are potential and the manifestation of where you want to be in the days and years to come. Dreams are about vision; goals are about action. Execution is what sets apart those who achieve their goals and those who stay dreamers. You may dream of climbing the mountain, but without effective goal setting, you’ll never make it all the way to the top.

Remember:

· ? ? ? ? You can’t achieve a goal that you never set. Goals are only achievable if they have been articulated first.

· ? ? ? ? You are 42% more likely to achieve your goal if you write them down.

· ? ? ? ? Goals are stronger if accompanied by a commitment to action.

· ? ? ? ? Goals are more likely to be achieved if the goal-setter is accountable to others.

· ? ? ? ? To stay on-track through regular updates.

· ? ? ? ? Goals are more than just an easy win; they need to be significant.

· ? ? ? ? Goals are better realized if you focus on the process, not just the outcome.

· ? ? ? ? Goals are more powerful if framed positively versus negatively.

· ? ? ? ? Those goals are subject to setbacks, so prepare for it and make learning part of the plan.

Many people use an effective goal setting process called SMART Goals, so there’s a good chance you’ve heard this acronym before. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. As an executive coach, I have my clients go one step further to create SMART-I goals by adding “inspirational” to the end. SMART-I goals ignite our passion and are worthy of being celebrated at the end.

Now that you’ve determined your goal, let’s move on to step two.

Step 2: Reverse Engineer the Goal

The hard part is done now that you’ve identified and committed to your specific goal. Next it’s time to determine the assets, metrics, and components you’ll use to achieve that goal. Reverse engineering refers to looking at the solution to figure out how it works, and this is essential to the vitality and growth of your business.

A typical pitfall I’ve seen entrepreneurs make is setting goals without having gone through the process of reverse engineering them and making sure they are sound.

In the context of a startup, this starts with asking the critical questions, like:

· ? ? ? ? What is my current revenue?

· ? ? ? ? How much cash is needed to reach my goal?

· ? ? ? ? What obstacles will I need to overcome?

· ? ? ? ? What locations or markets do I need to be in to achieve my goal?

· ? ? ? ? What will my company look like when I reach my goal?

Evaluate where you’re at today and what it will take to get you where you want to be, and it will be easier to get there. Break down the goal into the smallest unit possible. For example, if your goal is to reach $10,000,000 in revenue in five years, then you need to break that down into how many units of your product (or service) will be sold in order to achieve your financial goal. A $1,000 product will need to be sold 10,000 times in the year you plan to reach your goal. Now that you know that number, how many clients will it take to buy 10,000 units of your product? Let’s say the answer is 6,000 clients because there will be some repeat customers in a year. The next step is to figure out how you will reach and sell 6,000 clients. Once you know how to reach them let’s look at how much it will cost to reach them. You can see where I’m going. Reduce the goal down to it’s smallest unit. And keep asking the questions that will lead to the answers that will lead your daily action plan.

Step 3: Smash Your Fears

Did you know that we are born with only two innate fears? A pivotal study done by scientists in the 1960s found that the fear of falling (basophobia) and a fear of loud noises (acoustic startle reflex) are the only two phobias’ humans are born with. Everything else is learned. Because every fear is learned, it can also be unlearned.

That spider or snake that makes your skin crawl is an acquired fear. The anxiety of speaking or performing in front of a crowd is developed as we grow. A fear of a needle, drowning, darkness, flying, and tight spaces are all learned and can be unlearned.?

Fear is the doorway to distortion, a trick of the mind, and stops people in their tracks. Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. When fears are addressed properly, they can be overcome with truth.

Smashing your fears starts with evaluating these two phrases: What if… versus What is…

What if fuels fear, creates stories, and can start a downward spiral. What if sentences create anxiety and paralysis. For example:

What if…I mess up this presentation with venture capitalists?

What if…I spend $30,000 on a website redesign and I don’t see any ROI?

What if…I go bankrupt?

Whenever you hear yourself saying these sentences, swap the letter “f” for an “s” and see what happens. You’ll create power statements like:

What is…important right now?

What is…the opportunity cost if I don’t take action?

What is…the one thing I can do today to progress toward my goal?

“What is” leads to being present in the moment, creates ownership of the problem, lives in truth, dispels distortion, and creates responsibility. “What is” statements will make you feel empowered, ready to face the challenge, excited, and maybe even exhilarated.

Remember, fear is a liar. Fear is the counterfeit of faith. Fear and faith both live in the future. One leads you upward with courage, the other leads you down and makes you feel like garbage. Have faith in yourself, your team, your idea, and your product. Faith, just like fear, is a choice within your control.

Step 4: Create a DAP, a Daily Action Plan

With step two complete you know “what” needs to happen to achieve your goal. Now it’s time to look at the “how.” The Daily Action Plan is the logistical “how.” But sometimes your to-do list can feel like the enemy. Instead of creating a sense of productivity and organization, does it instead make you feel anxious? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. In my recent article How to Make Friends with Your To-Do List, I talk about the importance of creating a DAP as a method to efficiently organize that dreaded to-do list in order to achieve your goals.

Just as important as your “To-do” list is your “To-don’t” list and your “To-delegate” list. Mark down the three absolute necessities on your “To-do” list and then add other items you would like to get done but that don’t have the same priority. Next, think about the fun activities or distractions and put them on the “To-don’t” list. Finally, write down your “To-delegate” list of important things that need to get done but can be accomplished by others.

Mental fatigue and burnout are real, and the longer the day goes on, the harder it is to accomplish heavy tasks. Put those tasks on the list first. Once you have them organized, close your eyes and visualize yourself completing the top three. If you have difficult tasks in front of you, write out “I am excited” statements about the result of accomplishing the task. Here is an example to get you started:

With this system, more things will get done with less stress, positioning you one-step closer to accomplishing your goals. The important thing to remember with this step is to take each piece you reverse engineered and schedule time to accomplish it.

Get this downloadable version of the effective ‘To-Do’ list here, and to read more about how to be a productive entrepreneur and take your business to the next level, check out my new book, The Entrepreneur’s Paradox.

Step 5: Believe?

The last step to getting everything you want is to believe. Believe you can achieve. The best way to sabotage your own success is to start without the belief you can achieve your goal. Believe in your own greatness & the beauty of your dreams.

Charles Duhigg relates this principle in a story about the pro football team the Buccaneers. They changed their habits and went from one of the worst teams in the NFL to one of the most winning teams but never could clinch the title as Superbowl championship...until they believed they could.

You have committed to a specific goal. Check!

You have reversed engineered that goal. Check!

You have smashed your fears surrounding your goal by creating power statements. Check!

You’ve created your DAP to keep yourself organized and on-task to accomplish your goal. Check!

Now that you put in the hard work, it’s time to dwell in your goal’s greatness and beauty. Why?

Because self-belief is the gatekeeper to your goals. If you believe you can achieve the goal, you will overcome the fear and turn it into progress. You will stop asking what if and start asking how. Believe! Believe in you—and in the huge vision of your future company.