When it comes to success, we all have definitions of what success is and means. Though one person has a different meaning does not mean your definition or aspiration of success should be belittled. We also must understand that our definition of success can change as we grow and mature. We do not have the same mindsets as kids, but we understand that success is an ever-evolving definition. That definition will one day be transformed into what meaning we look for in life. Today, I want to lay down the strategies for you to develop success, no matter your life stage.

 

The Four Strategies for Success

1. Define what success means in both life and your goals.
2. Plan for Success – The Wins and the Fails, and know when to pivot.
3. Remain Consistent – Know where you are weak and where your zone of genius lies.
4. Reach it, Conquer it, Retain it, and find new endeavors(Refocus).

 

Strategy One: Define It

When it comes to success, you must first understand what success means. Again, I will not bore you with the definition because I have written countless articles and Tune-Up Series speaking on success. However, today we will look at how we define success in a new light. That light will be your perspective mixed with the result. For example, I was recently asked what success meant to me, to which I replied, success is me being able to do what I want.

 

After I said the definition, I reflected on what success meant for me. My answer was different from what success meant for me. The answer I gave was more to my vision of freedom than it was solely to success. I asked myself again, what was a success to me? The answer I came up with was more significant than my first because it included my family. The definition I came up with was that I want everyone in my family to be cared for.

 

That definition of success might be vague, but it matches what I want to achieve. The level of success needed to financially and mentally care for a whole family is among the top 1% of people worldwide. Though I am not after the money or the fame, I want the Freedom & Flexibility it will bring me. Defining success this way helped me understand what I want and need to attain. My family is my life, and the goal is for my family’s being taken care of.

 

Strategy Two: Plan for Success

They say that the planning stage is the most important, and people would be right to think that. If you do not have a plan, it will lead to wasted time and missed opportunities because you have no focus. This happens a lot with New Year’s resolutions because we all want to have a good upcoming year, and we want success, but we find that we need more planning to get it.

 

You have to plan in two phases when it comes to planning. The first phase is the winning phase. We all love to plan. We will fill up our Amazon shopping cart, pick out our dream house, and allocate all this money we will get. However, for most people, luck will not bless them, and they will be left with a plan that continually fails because there is no set action to follow.

 

When you are in that first phase, I want you to think about the good things, but not before you lay down the foundation. That foundation ensures you have what you need mentally. The groundwork is the next piece that will help you reach your goal. Both are important in the winning phase because they will drive you to reach the goal.

 

The second phase is to understand the process of failing. We will face failure when we attempt to reach new goals or places in our life. Failure might not be at every corner, but it should be there along the process. Yes, it is possible to reach success without failure, but what separates the wildly successful from the average is their tolerance to failure. Failure doesn’t feel good, but it can lead to the best moments in life if you understand what failure truly is.

 

Failure will be the best learning lesson you will have in your life. Though these lessons are fantastic, many people will avoid them because of their displeasure with failure. One of the first things many must do is get comfortable with failure. I have found the best and safest way to love failure is to work out. When you work out and are weight training, you should train until failure. This can be until your muscles or mind gives out, but the result is the same, you failed. This failure is easy on the mind because we see failure as growth and not that we are not good enough.

 

Though the above example can be misconstrued as someone failing in the gym by slamming the weights, falling off the treadmill, or becoming self-conscious, you will notice that failure is more than something that will embarrass us. Failure should uplift us, and we mustn’t allow our thoughts, feelings, or actions to be swayed by simple failure. Yes, failure is because you didn’t win, and it doesn’t feel good. How do you win?

 

When you want to win and are tired of failing, you must understand the concept of pivoting. Even in my adult career, I have found that a pivot is not quitting, even though it might seem like you are running away. There is a reason, whether consciously or subconsciously, that will make you stop or give up doing something because you failed or are not good at it. I am here to tell you that you will not always be good or feel 100%, but those are the times you must take action.

 

That action can be a simple pivot off of a goal or our direction toward that goal. For example, if you want to be a model but cannot get in vogue, you should enter more commercials and build your portfolio. That mindset is the pivot away from vogue to continue to build your reputation. Doing that will create two options. The first is building your way to vogue, but in an indirect approach that allows you to grow, or you can keep trying your luck with new pictures and sending them to vogue. There is no wrong answer, only preference.

 

A major pivot could happen in your modeling career if you are not getting any work or callbacks. Whatever the reason, you can stay in modeling or pivot and change how you do the work. For example, you can be an actor or agent instead of a model. Perhaps you were only doing magazine shots, but you pivoted into doing commercials. The pivot can be anything if it aligns with your passion/purpose and you feel you could have done better at modeling and should quit because no one is hiring you.

 

Strategy Three: Remain Consistent.

It is difficult to want something and fail every time you don’t get it. I always ask my clients if they are stuck in that rut of frequently failing to do some deep soul-searching and if this is something they really want to do or want to do. This happened when I was a teacher. I thought I wanted to be a teacher, but when I had the choice to be a teacher or to make a pivot in the education world, I chose to pivot. The magic is I remained consistent in my mission.

 

My mission has been static for the most part when it comes to my passion/purpose. I truly love and admire the ability to teach and educate. It doesn’t have to be in a school because education and learning happen all around us every day. I have found that as long as I can be a part of that, I find joy. Knowing and doing what you enjoy makes it easy to stay consistent with your goals.

 

Looking at my business: Reven Concepts, you will see that we have stayed true to what we brought to the world over the years. I said there would be a blog every Sunday at 10 am CST, and that became a reality for the last four years. I said there would be three episodes of the podcast: Coaching In Session a week, and that is what has been happening for the last three years. Staying committed and consistent is a mindset we all must work on and attain to succeed.

 

They say Rome was not built in a day, and the same thing is true about our success and most ambitious goals. Big goals should be scary and should take time to attain. Whether you are in the defining, planning, or accountability stage, you must know that staying true to your goals will lead to massive success in the future. You might not see the results immediately, like going to the gym for the first time. However, if you remain consistent in your effort to fitness or career development, you will find that; eventually, you will reach the place you were aiming at.

 

Knowing where you want to be is half the battle. Knowing where you are is the other half and where people have the most difficulty understanding. For example, if you are a beginner at web development, you can spend time learning the skill, or you can find someone to do the work. Whichever you choose will build you up, but you need to ensure that you are in your zone of genius and not just doing what needs to be done.

 

Sometimes you have to do things you do not like, but when you remain consistent, you strengthen your mindset. You will also learn where you excel and where you could use some work. Though you need work in an area, you might have found that you would prefer something else to work in the area you need improvement. This is not the point; you do not like the area because you need to improve. The fact is that you shouldn’t hate any place. It would be best to embrace where you are, both strong as weak.

 

When you can embrace that, then you can begin the growing process. A great thing to do is to delegate the work you do not enjoy or the work where you do not shine. Again, it is easier to remain in the fight when you are doing more things you enjoy, winning, than things you do not want, suffering. Even though I am good at video editing, I will pass the work to people because it takes away from my goal and success of helping people get into better mindsets.

 

Strategy Four: RCRR

RCRR stands for “Reach it, Conquer it, Retain it,” and Refocus; it means that your success is a work in progress—going to the gym and getting in shape. When you get your perfect body, you will not say, well – I got my ideal body; now I do not have to go to the gym. Another example is I got married, so I do not have to buy flowers or remember birthdays. When we finally get the result, we must do what we must keep it.

 

We must first reach success, but to do that, we need a plan, and we must continue to strive to reach it. Even when we reach it, we must reach a level of mastery to conquer it. Once you master success, you must do something many people forget or fail to do; that is, you must create another goal to work toward.

 

It might be difficult to keep moving when you want to stop and take a break, but I am here to tell you there should be no days off from your dreams. Every day, you should strive and reach the success you envision. It might take time, but again, success should be something we continually strive for.

 

In closing, finding and reaching success will depend on how well you can develop and follow the strategies presented to you today. You must be willing to sacrifice pleasure for a deeper meaning and purpose. Most people will want to stay in comfort and only want to do what they are doing. They want things handed to them rather than reaching for the things they want and grabbing them.

 

People will grab things that do not matter, like a new Coach bag, but will not reach for better in their life. We live in a world where success is what you have when you reach a certain status that society has told you to have. I am here to tell you that you get to define what success is for you and how you can develop strategies that you will find effective and meaningful when working toward success. It would help if you had a coach to help and hold you accountable during this process.

 

Until then,

Michael Rearden

Founder of Reven Concepts