The Model:
- Destination/Vision
- Values
- Results/Goals
- Habits
- Activities
The problem with the model is that most people work it backwards (bottom to top). Think about it! Most people get up every morning and have activities they have to do. Do most people do the activities that are hard and necessary or easy and convenient? Most will opt for the easy route.
As an example, most people agree their health is critical, but are not willing to get up and exercise in the morning, because it is easier to hit the snooze, and as they race to work grab a cup of coffee and 3 Krispy Kremes. This is a simple example, but you get the point!
Now after you do activities over and over and over again, you will develop habits. Some habits good and some habits bad. If you get up and exercise it becomes a habit, and if you hit the snooze that will become a habit as well. From these habits people develop in life, they create a Comfort Zone (CZ) , and for most people that comfort zone will control their life. They will only do what is comfortable to them and rarely get out of their CZ. When they do jump out of their CZ most of the time it is too uncomfortable so what do they do? They usually jump right back in. Most people will do what is comfortable over what is necessary to be successful, however you define success!
From the habits we develop in life we will get some type of results. Like habits, some results are good, and some results are bad. If we are in the habit of exercising that will produce results, if we are in the habit of eating 3 Krispy Kremes on the way to work every morning that will produce some type of results as well. Get the picture? Once again this can pertain to any part of our life, personally, professionally, spiritual, physical, financial, mental, or emotional. If we develop bad habits we will probably get bad results, and the opposite is true for the positive too!
The results we get in life sometimes have an affect on our values. Sometimes because we get into bad habits that produce bad results we change our values to justify to ourselves that what we are doing is OK. For example you might overtime come to the conclusion that “Everyone has to die of something” so exercise and health might not be as important as it once was, or you might find that because you have develop bad results with your finances that are those “things” you wanted in life are really necessary for you to have. Still with me?
All of us will end up at a destination in life, and for most people that destination is “somewhere else”, somewhere where they did not plan to be when they set off in this journey in life. The number one reason is due to poor planning. Most people don’t truly plan where they want to go in life, or how they are going to get their. It is a proven fact that 95% of this country spends more time planning their annual vacation than they do their financial future. They just jumped on the river of life and wherever it took them they went.
…….Now what successful people do, and I know that everyone defines success differently! My definition of success is not going to motivate you to do anything, likewise your definition is not going to motivate me to do anything. And you have to define success for every part of your life. Your career, your marriage, your finances, your health, etc……The whole key is that it has to be your definition, not anyone else’s!! (Now if it is something that involves another person, like marriage, you might want to define it together….Just a thought!!). Back to my thought……..what successful people do is they take the model and work it from the top down!! Let’s take a look and what that looks like.
They first start off with a vision of what they want to accomplish. For a business that vision might include: (18-24 months out)
- How much money is coming in per month?
- How many units or products are being sold on a monthly basis?
- How many hours the principal is working?
- How many people are on staff, how are they paid?
- How much money is the principal putting back into the business?
- What are the working conditions? Home, office, etc………
- What key markets are the niche?
- What type, if any, community involvement does the company have?
- What other businesses, if any, are partnered with to make a greater impact?
There can be more questions, but once you have this on paper and it is crystal clear what you want to accomplish, it makes it 100 times easier to reach it. A Harvard study found that only 3% of the population has their goals written down on paper. There is something magical about writing things down. I can’t explain, it just seems that once you have it down on paper it becomes so much more real and you become that much more committed to accomplish it!
After you have your vision clearly defined then everything else revolves around it. What values do you need to possess in order to reach your vision? Some Business Values might include:
- World Class Client Experience (Accept Nothing Less)
- Return all phones calls ASAP
- Honesty at all times even when not popular
- Never displace blame and always look for news solutions to solve problems that come up
- Accept responsibility and turn all negative situations into positive situations
- Keep in mind whom the client cares about most. When you show interest in them they will in-turn show interest in you.
- Always remember that if you help the client get what they want you will get what you want. 100% focus on the client’s situation, not yours.
There are many others but this is just a starting block to get you thinking about all the values you want your biz to possess.
What successful people do differently is instead of just getting results in life, they create goals that will get the results they want in order to reach their vision. Daily, weekly, monthly goals that are written down, held accountable to and revised constantly…..If I want to get from downstairs to upstairs and that is my vision, I am not going to get there in one step. I need goals or stairs along the way to help me ultimately reach my vision (upstairs). Goals keep you focused on the long term vision. When you have goals and the long term vision it keeps you from being frustrated in short term roadblocks.
Now this is where the rubber meets the road. Everything you put together, the vision, the values and the goals are worthless unless you take action!! Now you have to think about what daily, weekly, monthly activities I need to make a habit in order to reach my vision. This is where you look at what habits do you need to build to be successful and what habits do I need to break to be successful. Getting out of your CZ is required when taking this action. Because if you do what you have always done, you will get what you have always gotten, and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results….. Now here is what most people don’t understand…..if you do things you need to do to be successful, they might be uncomfortable at first, but after you do them over and over and over and over and over again, they will in-turn become comfortable and you will automatically stretch your comfort zone!
After you define the activities and habits you need to build/break now you have to work your plan. It becomes a lot easier to get up daily and do what is needed. Some people might think you are crazy, but that is ok, but they don’t see your vision. What begins to happen in life is you now don’t have to question why you are doing what you are doing daily, weekly, monthly because you have created a path for your life on purpose not on accident!! It’s like a dog that chases cats around the neighborhood. What if nobody else but the dog could see those cats? And the only thing that we saw was the dog chasing nothing? We would think the dog is crazy, but the dog knows why they are running around like mad…..to ultimately catch the cats!! Make Sense?
Keep this mind: Successful people do the things that unsuccessful people are not willing to do!
That does not say they enjoy them, it says they do them because it will ultimately help them reach their vision.
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