There are two actions that can help you in your journey to success when properly applied. As simple as they sound, the first one is making a decision, and the second one, and perhaps the most important, is persistence.
Make The Decision
We’ve written about the importance of your decisions before, and we will most likely continue doing it because of its significance. Making a decision will propel you to better opportunities and achieve your goals at first, but at the same time, it’s so easy for some to fall back into bad old habits!
So, one of the keys to making a decision is to ask yourself: What do you want for your life? That’s a big question, but to help you get there, there is an exercise called “100 wants.” If you haven’t made a list of your 100 wants, now is the time to do it.
When you list your wants, make sure to put some big wants there. Think outside your comfort zone. Most of us are conditioned not to take any risks, but successful people take risks, and that is why they become successful.
The best wants (or goals) to have are what we call C-type goals – these are big goals that we have no idea how to accomplish. Don’t list something you’ve already done before, like buying the same model of a car you’ve bought before. You already know how to do that. Think bigger! Add a zero or two. Do something you’ve always wanted to do, something that inspires you. Write that “someday” goal now!
Related: How to achieve your greatest goals.
Many successful people don’t overthink a decision, but rather, they make them quickly. We encourage you not to overthink something. Once you’ve decided, begin working towards that want. We become and get what we think about.
Cultivate your Persistence
Now that you’ve made your list of wants and decided to move towards a specific want, it’s time to apply persistence to the idea.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and you’re not going to reach your goal instantly. This will take some persistence, some course checks to keep you on track, and pure will. There is power in checking in and making changes. For example, did you know a plane is off course most of the time? It’s the autopilot system that makes many small course corrections during the flight.
How much do you want your goal? Is it big enough to keep your attention and motivation? What are you willing to do to achieve it? These are some of the questions that build the desire to keep you persistent.
I look at persistence like dating. You didn’t have to work hard at thinking about your special someone when you were apart; you didn’t need a reminder to think about them. Your want is your honey. Visualize your goal as already reached – see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, touch it! Spend time with it daily, taking baby steps until its accomplishment.
In our case, in January 2019, we decided to make a kitchen renovation. Then, this past January 2021, we made another big decision that we’re working on.
As we did in 2019, we began by dreaming about what we wanted, talking about it, and envisioning our goal as already attained. We asked questions, researched, anticipated our challenges, determined the steps to take, and found solutions where needed.
The key to accomplishing our goal is that we took action by deciding to move toward our goal. We took some risks, we were persistent, and now we expect to realize it soon!
Related: Out with the old: Learn to reprogram your way of thinking to achieve a more prosperous life
Many of us dream about things, think about ideas, but until we decide to go after it with everything we’ve got, it is, as Wallace Wattles calls it, “just dreamers and castle builders.” You don’t want to look back and say, “I wish I had tried that.” You want to look forward and yell, “I did it!”
“The very best thing you can do for the world is to make the most of yourself”. Wallace Wattles
Decision and persistence are the essentials for your success! We want to encourage you to go after your dreams! It is never too late to go after what you want! And if, like that plane, you need help from autopilot to course correct, we would love to hear your dreams and goals and help you get them!
Updated: April 18, 2022
