Have you ever found yourself thinking something like: “When this and that will happen I’ll be happy and successful” and when the moment came you found yourself not so happy and probably so tired and frustrated by the effort and wondering “Was it really worth it?”?
Success is more than next promotion or salary increase. Success is a journey of becoming and a journey of personal transformation. Planning for success is just like planning a journey that covers all the aspects and the important areas of your life.
Like in any journey planning you have to define the starting point, the destination, and means of transportation, fuel, baggage, route and checkpoints.
Starting point: Who you are
Any journey has a starting point. In your success journey the starting point is you. You begin with the person that you are right now. When you ask someone “Who you are?”, in most of the cases you get his/her name and the position or job that he/she holds for the moment. We are so caught in our day – to – day activities that we don’t realize that we are more than our job, our civil and social status. Take time to reflect on yourself, on your beliefs, values, experiences. Find out your qualities, aptitudes, skills, and knowledge. Give yourself a comprehensive and holistic assessment.
Destination: Who you want to become
When we are children we are often asked “What do you want to be when you grow-up?”. The secret to success is not about what you want to be and more about “Who you want to be?”. Define the kind of person you want to become. Your destination should cover all the areas of your existence and all the aspects of your life. Take an assessment about what do you have to change in yourself to experience the kind of success you desire. You can start by looking to successful people you admire and define the future you in regard to what and who they are.
Means of transportation: Your life purpose
The means of transportation is the method that will move you from your starting point to destination. In a regular trip you may choose between cars, planes, ships, bicycles and more. On your journey to success you must find your life’s purpose. It will depend pretty much on how good you know yourself. The result of the first step, assessing who you are now, it will make the difference between choosing a bicycle and a jet. Choose your life purpose depending on who you are, what your strengths are, what’s your vocation/talent.
Fuel: Your values and beliefs
Any vehicle needs some kind of fuel. Even if you choose a bicycle you’ll need some food to keep your energy level. Depending on your life purpose you need to asses your values and beliefs. Values will be the guidelines on your entire journey. Your values are the lights of the car on a night road. Belief will give you the trust in yourself and your abilities to achieve your destination. Ensure to develop empowering beliefs.
Baggage: Your skills, abilities, aptitudes and attitude
Starting on a journey requires some baggage. You need some clothes, some food supllies, medicine and other travel necessities to take with you. Remember that success journey it’s the same. In order to become the better you, you’ll need to develop some new skills, to learn some new information, to develop your abilities and aptitudes. Everything has to be backed-up and supported by the right attitude. Attitude is the luggage that will carry all your supplies.
Route and checkpoints: Goals and objectives
When you start in any journey, you need a route. You need to know what roads to use and which roads to choose on your cross-roads. There will be some choices to be made in your journey. Without a route you’ll have some trouble and you may face a lot of detours on the way. Checkpoints are really important in measuring your evolution on your journey. You need to choose the right goals and objectives in order to ensure that you’ll keep the path to success. Define clear and measurable goals and objectives and keep the eye on your evolution and you’ll definitely rich your destination faster and smoother.
Now, having everything prepared, you are ready to start your journey to success.
Senol ASAN is an expert on leadership, communication, negotiations, sales and sales management, business development and project management, and performance management. He has published articles on some of the most important websites over the internet and in international publications. He had public speaking engagements on leadership in different countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Senol is a successful retail banking expert with more than 11 years in retail banking and more than 7 years of management and leadership positions within the most important financial group of Romania. He proved in these 7 years that he natural combines very well emotional intelligence with rational intelligence which makes him a very appreciate leader and speaker.
Senol has participated in trainings with some of the most important international trainers from USA, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Austria, Slovenia and Romania.