13-Step Plan How to Achieve Your Goals and Dreams

Do you know that most people spend their entire lives figuring out the secrets to success, but they never did?

For many, success is a far-fetched and illusory lifestyle that they can only dream about. But the good news is that anyone can achieve their goals and dreams and live the successful life they desire if they want to.

How? First, you need to understand that success is science, not art.

Meaning, it is a structured event. As long as you follow the proven path, use the right recipe, and apply the right steps, you will produce the right results that you want.

Second, you have to understand that the person taking the journey – you- is of utmost importance.

If you want to bake a cake and you follow the recipe and use the right ingredients, chances are, you may still fail.

Don’t get me wrong, when you follow a proven plan, you will greatly increase your chances of success, but there is one huge factor you need to consider, which is you.

Even if you have the right formula, things are still going to be uncertain because of the person making the cake – you.

In short, you need 2 things to be successful and to achieve your dreams:

1. A proven plan and steps, and
2. You need to grow yourself to become the right person.

So, what are the proven steps you can take and how do you transform yourself to become someone worthy of success?

The answer in this guide: Follow the 13-step master plan below…

1. Start With a Vision

No matter what kind of success you are looking for, the first step you need to take is to always start with a vision. You need to identify the things that you want in order to achieve it.

Many people live life without identifying their objectives, targets, and what they want. As a result, they are living life reactively and they simply follow wherever the crowd brings them.

If you want to achieve your goals and dreams, you must live a purposeful life. And it all starts with your vision.

Ask yourself these questions below and envision the successful life that you desire:

• What does success look like in my life?
• What must happen for me to feel and be successful?
• Where and what will I be doing in the next 10 years?
• If I have all the resources, what kind of lifestyle do I want to live?

You don’t need to be too specific at this point, you just want to get an idea of what kind of success you want.

Just close your eyes and imagine the kind of success you desire. You can also dream about living your perfect life in areas like finance, career, relationship, business, health, and fitness, spiritual, personal, etc.

In addition, you want to dream about all the possibilities. You want to think of your success based on the future that you want, not based on your current circumstances.

So, don’t worry if you’re broke right now. If you’re in debt now, it doesn’t mean you’re going to stay this way forever. Things are going to change and it all starts with a vision.

How to Create a Vision for Success

Make time to dream about your dream. It is sad to see that people spend days and weeks planning their vacations, but they don’t even spend minutes imagining the life that they want.

Thus, make time and schedule your ‘dream time’. Envision the life you want and make it real in your mind.

Besides, you can make things even more tangible and vivid by writing down all the things that you want. Get yourself a journal do it now.

Here are additional resources to help you discover your vision for success:

• Why Having a Vision is Important to Your Success in Business and Life
• How to Create a Life Vision Plan that Drives You to Success
• Vision: Why You Need to Have a Vision in Life and How to Find It

2. Set It As a Goal

I know you have heard about goal setting a gazillion times. But it’s not about what you know, it’s about what you do.

You may understand how goal setting works or have even read a book on setting goals but are you doing it? Do you actually write down your goals and do you really know how goals work?

Many people know that they need to have goals in life, but they just don’t do it. And by doing it I mean writing down your goals and creating a plan to achieve them.

So, let’s talk about setting your goals to materialize your dreams and achieve the success you want. You can follow the SMARTER goal system I shared from my ultimate goal setting guide:

S – Specific

Now it’s time to be specific with what you want. You have to envision the success you desire, choose one or a few goals that are truly important to you right now and focus on them. You don’t want to split yourself too thin by focusing on 100 goals. At this point, you can keep the rest of your goals at the back of your mind. Just focus on 1 to 5 goals you want to achieve.

M – Measurable

Next, write down your goals and make sure they are measurable. You can do this by including numbers such as the pound lost and the amount of money you want to earn.

A – Actionable

Include an actionable factor to your goals too. You don’t want to set a goal that you cannot execute. For instance, if your goal is to lose weight or to earn more, you can’t execute because they’re not actionable. I will explain more in the next step on being actionable.

R – Risky

Yes, you want your goals to be a little risky where it challenges you to get out of your comfort zone. If you are earning $5,000 from your business, setting your goal to another additional $100 is not going to get you out of your bed. You want your goals to be a little risky, yet achievable.

T – Time-bound

You should have heard about this – including a deadline for your goals. You want to know exactly by when you’re going to achieve your goals.

E – Exciting

Are your goals exciting enough? If your goals are not exciting, you will not be looking forward to taking action and achieving them. Here’s a quote from Tony Robbins:

“People are not lazy. They simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that do not inspire them.”

That’s right. People are not lazy. They simply have uninspiring goals that do not motivate them to achieve more.

R – Relevant

Finally, make sure your goals are relevant to your values and life. You don’t want to set and achieve a goal that is not what you want. As Thomas Merton famously said:

“People may spend their whole lives climbing the ladder of success only to find, once they reach the top, that the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.”

Thus, don’t set a goal that is not what you want. Set a goal that is in alignment with your heart and your life’s values.

How to Set Goals:

Here’s what you can do, write down your goals on a piece of paper or in your journal. The point is to write them down because according to Dr. Gail Matthews’ research, people who write down their goals doubled their chances of reaching their goals.

Follow the SMARTER goal system and you will never go wrong. If you need to learn more about goal setting check out my guides below:

• Ultimate Goal Setting Guide: How to Set Goals and Achieve Them
• Why Goal Setting Is Important? Read Before Too Late
• The Importance of Daily Goal Setting and How to Do It Right

3. Create an Action Plan

Once you have set your goals, it is time to create an action plan. You can’t achieve your goals without a plan. Like writing down your goals, when you create an action plan, you greatly move one step forward to achieving your dreams.

Your action plan is basically a plan that shows you what steps you need to take to reach your goals and by when.

In my previous article, I have shared 10 templates you can use or follow to create your own action plan:

10 Effective Action Plan Templates You Can Use Now

You have to understand that wars are won in the general’s tent. When you have an action plan, it gives you a crystal-clear direction of where to go and what you need to get done.

Besides, your plan allows you to focus better on getting the most important tasks done rather than being distracted by other less important things in life.

In short, an action plan is important. By taking a glance at it, you will know what actions you need to take. It also serves as a reminder so that you will never procrastinate on your goals.

Here’s what you need to understand: Your action steps should be actionable. It can be as simple as a to-do list, but the tasks you write down must be specific and actionable.

Your action plan must be able to give your mind a clear instruction of what to do. Here’s a format of how you can write down your action steps using the Implementation Intention technique:

“I will [ACTION] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].”

Here are some examples:

• I will read for 30 minutes at 10 AM in the library.
• I will write a 2,000 words article at 9 AM this Tuesday in the office.
• I will exercise and workout for 45 minutes in the gym tomorrow.

When you write down your action steps in this method, you are giving your mind specific instructions on what to do. Hence, you will follow through and stick to your plan.

How to Create an Actionable Plan

Create your action plan right now. It doesn’t matter what kind of format or template you use. The key is to come up with a plan of action so that you can work on it each day and make progress to reach your goals.

Remember, your action plan must be something actionable, meaning, they are the things that you can work on. Here’s a great guide to help you on this:

• How to Turn Your Goals into Actionable Plans

4. Work Hard and Take Action Every Day

The link between your dreams and your reality is called action. Most people have dreams. They dream big, but the problem is that they don’t take action.

They think about all the great life they want to live at night, but when they get up the next morning, they continue their daily routine and do nothing about their dreams.

If you’re serious about making your goals and dreams a reality, you must commit to taking consistent action.

The key here is consistent action. You don’t want to work on your goals for just a day or two, you want to do it consistently until you produce the results you want.

Like getting back in shape. You can’t hit the gym once and expect to have 6-pack abs. It is just not going to happen. By the way, because success is a long-term journey, you want to make sure you take care of your health for that. Eat healthily and exercise more. Check this out: why go vegan?

Success may take months and even years. Things are not going to happen overnight. Hence, you need to have patience and work for it consistently, day-in and day-out.

Lionel Messi is considered one of the most successful footballers in the world, but he didn’t get there in days, weeks, or even months. This is what he says:

“I start early and I stay late, day after day, year after year. It took me 17 years and 114 days to become an overnight success.”

Thus, be willing to make progress and take consistent action, every day.

How to Take Consistent Action

Commit to your Big Five. Meaning, take 5 little steps every day to make progress toward your goals. No matter how big or how small the steps are, you just need to commit to taking 5 little actions each day.

If you can do so, every day, you will have created 5 small victories. And in a week, you will have 35 victories; in a month, you will have created 150 victories; and in a year, you will have 1,825 victories.

Can you imagine how your life can change in a year if you commit to just doing 5 little things a day?

It doesn’t need to be something big or complicated. You just need to commit to doing the small things and be consistent. It’s like what Dwayne Johnson says:

“Success isn’t always about greatness, it’s about consistency. Consistent, hard work gains success. Greatness will come.”

Thus, commit to your Big Five and do 5 little things that will move you toward your goals every day.

Read: How To Achieve Anything By Using The Rule Of Five

5. Focus on What Matters Most

If you want to achieve your goals and dreams, you must focus on what matters most. You must focus on doing the things that will get you the most impact.

In other words, you want to do the things that get you the most success.

I bet you have seen a lot of people working day and night, but they don’t get the results they want. They work hard, but they are working on the wrong or less impactful tasks.

Not all works are created equal.

Like how the clock works. When you want to tell time, you look at the clock, right? So, which hand do you look at first? You look at the hour-hand first, and then only then minute-hand, isn’t it?

But what about the second-hand? You totally ignore it.

Although the second-hand moves the most and works the hardest, yet, you don’t even look at it when you check out the time. You only look at the hour-hand and the minute-hand.

The same principle applies to life. You want to be in the right position to produce the most results. You don’t want to be like the second-hand where you work the most but create the least result/impact.

You want to act like the hour-hand where you move a little and are able to produce amazing results.

I know this is unfair. But no one says that life is going to be fair. And if you want to win at the game of life and success, you must learn the rules and be effective.

Hard work is important, but you must make sure you are working hard on the right thing.

Read: Stop Working Hard Unless You Fulfill These 5 Principles

If you run in the wrong direction, it will only get you to the wrong destination faster. No matter how fast you run or how hard you work, you will still not get to the right destination.

Hence, do the right thing and focus on what’s important to you right now.

How to Become Effective and Efficient

So, how can you be productive and do what matters most? In the best-selling book, The ONE Thing, the authors provide a clear picture:

“Your big ONE Thing is your purpose and your small ONE Thing is the priority you take action on to achieve it. The most productive people start with purpose and use it like a compass. They allow purpose to be the guiding force in determining the priority that drives their actions. This is the straightest path to extraordinary results.”

In short, you need to start with a purpose. Once you have your purpose, you decide on your priority. And when you know your priority, only then do you work on improving your productivity.

Take a look at this diagram shown below:

As explained in the book, productivity is the tip of the iceberg and it only covers about 10% of the entire iceberg. What truly matters for you to become productive is to understand your purpose and priority.

After all, what you do every day should be in alignment with your purpose. You don’t want to be doing things that are out of your purpose and not your priority.

To understand better, I strongly suggest you read the book, The ONE Thing. It is a great book that I have read over and over again.

So now you understand the connection between purpose, priority, and productivity, what do you need to do? In the book, the authors suggest you ask this question frequently throughout the day:

“What’s the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”

Identifying your ONE thing and doing it will make sure you live a high-impact life.

6. Join the Success Club

The next step to achieving your goals and making your dreams come true is to join the success club. In other words, you must network with other successful people.

This is important because the people you spend the most time with will greatly influence your life, and ultimately, your success.

Jim Rohn was right when he said:

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

We tend to become who we mix with. You can see it everywhere. People who play and enjoy a certain sport will always be around each other. People who drink usually have friends who drink too. And people who are successful usually have friends who are doing well in life too.

Birds of the same feather flock together. If you mix around with losers, you will eventually become one.

Now, I’m not suggesting you dump all your negative friends or family members, because sometimes it is impossible to choose who we get to spend time with.

What I’m suggesting you do is to spend less time with negative people and start making more friends who are positive and successful.

And if you can’t join the successful, spend less time with the mediocre. When you go out with a bunch of people who complain and talk bad about others, you will join the conversation and become one of them too.

You want to join the success club, not the mediocre club.

How to Join the Success Club

First, understand that making friends with successful people in today’s world is easier than you think. You can read their books, connect with them on social media, and make connections to join their groups or even attend courses or workshops to get to know them.

Next, you don’t really have to only join people who are more successful than you do. You can always make friends with people who share the same vision, values, and are positive.

You can always start friends and family members. Ask them if they know anyone who is positive and shares the same vision as you did. If they do, tell them to arrange for a meetup and get to know them.

Remember, positive and successful people are always willing to share their values, dreams, and also help you reach your dreams too. But in order to build the relationship, you must learn to serve and give before you ask and take.

Now, here are some practical advice you can follow:

• Every week, spend an hour or two to meet up with people who support your goals and dreams. It can be your partner or your good friend.
• Every month or every quarter, identify the people who you can help you reach your goals and dreams, and start making the connection with them.
• Make a list of successful people you want to follow and learn from. Follow their work and join them on social media. Read their books, buy their courses, learn from them as much as you can, and get close with them.

If you follow the 3 advice above, you will eventually grow your network with positive and supportive people.

7. Identify Your Roadblocks and Get Rid of Them

There is one thing you need to do to create the success you want in life – get rid of what is stopping you.

You see, a lot of people fail to realize that success is not just about addition, it is also about subtraction.

Addition is like learning a new skill, adopting a new habit, reading a new book, etc. On the other hand, subtraction is about identifying the obstacles that are stopping you and getting rid of them.

In subtraction, you learn to throw away the negative thinking, you get rid of the bad habits, and you stop doing what is not getting you the results you want.

Sometimes, to produce amazing results in life, you don’t want to just keep adding new actions to the list, you need to get rid of the bad things or the irrelevant actions on the list.

Imagine you’re in the middle of the ocean paddling a boat and the boat has a hole at the bottom, and you’re sinking slowly. You can either paddle as fast as you can to get to the shore, or you can fix the hole and prevent the boat from sinking further.

Most people only focus on learning and doing the things that move them forward, but they forget that they need to get rid of the negatives so that they don’t take one step forward and two steps back.

Identifying the obstacles that are stopping you from achieving your goals and dreams and overcoming them is like fixing the leaking boat. Once the boat is in good condition, then you can paddle and sail faster to your destination.

So, what is stopping you from reaching your goals? What are the obstacles that prevent you from making your dreams come true?

How to Identify Your Roadblocks and Get Rid of Them

List down all possible obstacles that prevent you from success. Here are some examples:

• Technical difficulties such as building a website, coding, lack of know-how, etc.
• Don’t have enough time.
• Lack of focus and always get distracted.
• Fear of failure, rejection, and even success.
• Lack of a clear vision and have no clarity in life.
• No motivation and always procrastinate.

Once you have identified your roadblocks, learn to overcome them. For instance, if you feel that you don’t have time, find ways to make time. Learn to manage your time.

After all, we all have 24 hours a day. It is not how much time you have or don’t have, it is how you use your time that matters. Read books and learn how other successful people who have similar situations like you overcome the problem.

If you want to build a website but lack the know-how, learn to do it. If it is too boring to read, hire someone to build the website for you. Remember, you don’t want to give yourself the excuse to not do it. So, do whatever you can to get rid of your problems.

When there is nothing there to stop you, you become unstoppable.

Read: What Prevent Most People From Being Successful: The 7 Roadblocks

8. Burn the Ship and Be 100% Committed

If you really want to achieve your goals and dreams, you need to be 100% committed to the results.

Ask yourself, honestly, are you interested to achieve your goals, or are you truly committed?

The majority of us have dreams and goals we want to accomplish in life, but most of us are only interested, but not committed. Whenever we face some difficulties, challenges, and hard times, we choose to let go of our dreams.

We tend to choose to do the easy things rather than doing the hard things to achieve what we want.

I know, it is not easy. And I know that everyone has their own circumstances.

However, you have to understand that no matter what you have faced in your journey, there is someone out there who has encountered a similar or even tougher situation and still managed to work things out and achieve their dreams.

Sometimes, you just need to burn the ship and get rid of all possible options. When you have no choice but to do it, you will make it happen.

Remember, if you want to take the island, you’ve got to burn the ships. When you leave yourself no choice but to succeed, you will find a way to overcome all the difficulties and problems.

So, how do you put yourself on the line by burning the ship? Well, get someone to involve. In other words, find an accountability partner.

You don’t want to keep your goals and dreams just to yourself. If you are the only one who knows what you want and your progress, there is no one to hold you accountable.

When no one is there to hold you accountable, you will give lousy excuses and no one will know. After all, no one knows about your progress and so you can procrastinate and do nothing, right?

Hence, get yourself an accountability partner. Put yourself on the line so that you will have no other options but to press forward and achieve your goals and make your dreams a reality.

How to Take Accountability and Be 100% Committed

Identify someone who can become your accountability partner. This person can be anyone as long as he or she supports you and are willing to track your progress. It can be your boss, your business partner, your friend, your spouse, or your colleague.

Commit to sending a weekly progress report to your accountability partner. Each week, you will list down what you want to get down, and then by the end of the week, send a progress report to your partner.

Let your partner monitor your progress. Let him or her encourages you to achieve more.

If you want to learn more about holding yourself accountable, read this article here. In the article, I shared the 7 easy methods of how you can hold yourself accountable so that you will stick to your plan and achieve your goals.

Read: 7 Easy Ways How to Increase Your Commitment to Success

9. Upgrade Yourself to Match Your Goals and Dreams

When was the last time you read a book after graduating from school? According to FactsAndTrends.net, about 74% of the average Americans read only one book for the last 12 months.

Reading is important, yet most people don’t read. Plus, reading is one of the easiest and fastest ways to improve your knowledge.

And if you only read a book a year, what do you think will happen to your growth?

There is no way you can achieve greater success if you don’t upgrade yourself.

You see, you are where you are right now because of what you know. Your knowledge and skills can only get you this far. And if you want to go farther, you need to work on improving yourself.

Sadly, most people don’t learn and improve themselves after school. They prefer to watch a movie or drama and then complain about life rather than working on improving themselves to reach a higher standard.

If you want to achieve more, you must equip yourself with better knowledge and skills.

I like to play games. In the game, if your character is at a low level, say level 3, and you an enemy at level 5, it will be a difficult fight. But when your character levels up to level 9, the same level 5 enemy will be of no threat to you at all.

Things become easy when your standards are high.

If you have never managed a $10,000 problem before, it may seem like a huge problem. But for the billionaires, they invest in multi-million dollars. And a $10,000 problem is NOT a problem at all.

This is why it is important to upgrade yourself. You want to improve yourself so that you become bigger and your problem becomes smaller.

When you have vast knowledge, incredible skills, and high standards, no setbacks and problems can bring you down.

This is how you can achieve extraordinary success in life – by learning to become someone who is worthy of the success you desire.

How to Improve and Upgrade Yourself

There are many things you can do to improve yourself. Here are some of the things you can do:

• Read at least a book each month.
• Attend seminars and workshops in your industry.
• Learn from other people who are more successful than you.
• Get yourself a mentor or a coach.
• Invest in online courses and programs. (Goal Setting Formula is a great start)
• Listen to podcasts that can help you grow.

It is easier to learn something with the help of the internet these days. Twenty years ago, you can only learn through books and classes, but today, there are plenty of online courses available. Not to mention there are also free YouTube videos and podcasts to help you become someone better.

Your only commitment is to be willing to open yourself up for learning. Make it a habit to read and learn every single day.

If you can improve just 1% a day, by the end of a year, you will become 37 times better than when you first started.

Of course, it may sound easy. But trust me, if you are willing to commit to consistent learning and improving, within a year, you will see significant improvement in your life.

Here are more guides you should check out:

• How To Improve Yourself Everyday By Setting Benchmark Goals
• 10 Practices How to Improve Yourself Every Day
• How Reading Can Change Your Life – The 10 Ways

10. Envision the Success You Want Every Day

There was a study conducted by Dr. Biasiotto at the University of Chicago where he divided basketball players into 3 groups and tested their free throws.

The first group of basketball players practiced free throws every day for an hour. The second group visualized themselves making the free throws, but without physically touching the ball at all. And the third group did nothing.

After 30 days, Dr. Biasiotto tested their free throws skill. And he discovered that the third group who did nothing did not make any improvement. The first group who trained free throws an hour a day improved their skills by 24%.

And the second group who ONLY visualize their training improved their skills by 23%.

The conclusion is that visualization can improve your overall performance.

We have often heard that visualization is important, but does it really work, and can it help us achieve the success we want in life?

The study done by Dr. Biasiotto just confirmed that. Visualization works and it can help you close the gap between your dreams and your reality.

To make it simple, just think of it as when you visualize the success you want, you feel good about it and you become motivated to take action. When you take more action, you will produce more results. So, visualization can be effective if you are willing to work on it.

Our minds cannot differentiate between what is real and what is being imagined. This is why when you watch a scary movie, you will actually feel the eerie state even though you’re just sitting at your home.

Therefore, you can make good use of visualization to help you achieve the results you want faster and easier.

When you vividly visualize the outcomes you want in life, you are giving your mind a clear set of instructions of what you want. Your mind then can relentlessly towards your goal.

How to Visualize and Manifest the Success You Want

Imagine the success you want every day. Spend time to actively visualize having achieve your goals and are living your dreams.

As most professional athletes did, they imagine and visualize their winning experience. They see themselves winning the tournaments. You have to do the same.

One more thing you can do is to create a vision board. Find all the pictures that can represent your goals and dreams and use these pictures to remind you of what you want to accomplish in life.

You can learn more about vision boards from my previous article here:

Vision Boards – The Ultimate Guide to Creating and Living Your Dream Life

In the article, I shared the step-by-step method of how you can create a vision board and you can also find some great examples there.

11. Measure Your Progress and Track Your Results

The next step you can take to achieve your goals and dreams is to measure your progress. This is what a lot of people don’t do, and this is also why most of them fail.

How can you tell if you are moving forward or away from your goals if you are not measuring your progress?

If you don’t track where you are right now, how can you know when you have arrived?

You see, if you want to lose weight, the first thing you need to do is to weigh yourself. But sadly, most people don’t measure their progress and they don’t how to track their goals.

When you measure your progress, you know where you are. You know if the things you’re doing are working. Plus, when you measure, you are indirectly reminding yourself of your goals and what you need to do to get there.

Professional athletes measure their progress every day. Basketball players track their free throws, bodybuilders track their reps, and golfers measure their swings.

Of course, there are many systems and methods you can use to measure and track your progress, but the point is that you must do the measurement, regardless of what system you use.

If you don’t measure, you cannot improve. When you put things down into numbers, you can track, you can measure, and you can know what to do to get better results.

Imagine you start an online business and you want to advertise your products on Facebook. What do you do? You create campaigns for your advertisements and then you track your ads performance, right? You drop the ads that are not working and you increase your budget where the ads are working, don’t you?

This is why measurement and tracking are important. If you can’t track and if you don’t measure, you will never know where you spend your money and how much you’re getting back from your advertisements.

The same goes for your goals and the success you want to achieve. You must track and measure them.

How to Measure and Track Your Progress

Create an easy system to track your progress. It can be as simple as using the Calendar Method, or you can also create an Excel spreadsheet to monitor your progress.

I personally use a custom Excel spreadsheet to track my progress. I also write down everything in my journal. If you want to learn more about how to measure your progress, read this article here.

You don’t have to be a technical person to track your progress. You can use whatever platform or system to help you. The key is to do it so that you will know where you are and if your actions are producing the results you want.

If you think that you don’t want to learn another new App or use another new platform, use a journal. Plan and write down all the things that you need to do and then do your tracking from there.

It doesn’t need to be complicated, it just needs to be effective.

12. Celebrate and Have Fun

If you want to have the long-term motivation and maintain your momentum, your journey must be fun. Many people set goals, but they don’t like their journey. They want to be successful, but they are not willing to put in the hard work because they don’t find the work fun.

Only those who are having fun along the journey can maintain their drive and take consistent action to reach their goals.

Do you love what you do? Do you feel excited and can’t wait to take action to reach your goals and make your dreams a reality?

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

You must give yourself a good reason to look forward to reaching your goals every day. And the good news is that you can create fun in your journey.

First, learn to celebrate all your successes, regardless of whether they are big successes or small ones. Even if you take a small step, celebrate it.

This is to train your mind to look for positive things that you are proud of. You want to make it so that you feel excited to take action towards your goals. You don’t want to make it boring and uninterested.

Next, create a reward system to maintain your drive. Give yourself an irresistible reward so that you will work harder to achieve it.

It’s like giving yourself a good treat after your hard work. We can train our minds like how professionals train dogs. They cue the dogs to perform a trick, if the dogs obey and perform the trick, the trainers will reward the dogs by giving them treats.

The same principle applies here.

• You can reward yourself with an hour of movie or games once you have completed a big task in the day.
• You can allow yourself to take one day off if you achieve the target for the week.
• You can also reward yourself with a holiday if you achieve your quarter or annual goal.

You want to make the hard work something you’re looking forward to and you want to make the journey interesting.

Hence, celebrate your progress and give yourself rewards that you can’t resist.

How to Celebrate Success

You know what to do, right? First, celebrate all your progress. Find the fun in the execution. You want to make the journey pleasant and exciting.

People procrastinate and give up the things that they do are not fun or too boring. They rather do something else that is more fun. Thus, celebrate all your wins. Compliment yourself, give yourself a pat on the back, and find ways to celebrate.

For me, I will do a power pump to celebrate my victories. I also indulge myself with a cup of nice hot mocha whenever I have completed most of my tasks.

Check out this post: 13 Great Ways How to Celebrate Small Victories and Make Progress

Next, give a reward to yourself. What do you look forward to having or enjoying? Make it a reward for your progress.

I will take 30 minutes or an hour off once I have completed a major task of the day. And if I finish all the items on my to-do list, I will allow myself to play games on my iPad.

What about you? How do you reward yourself for the hard work that you have poured in? What are the rewards that you’re looking forward to achieving?

Here’s a good read: How to Reward Yourself for Your Hard Work and Effort

13. Learn From Feedback

This is the last step in this masterplan, but please bear in mind that your journey is just the beginning and there are many more things to learn and to improve from here on.

You have to understand that failure is inevitable. There is no way you can get away from making mistakes and facing failures, challenges, and tough times in your journey to success.

As long as you are making progress every day, you will face new challenges and make mistakes. But that doesn’t mean you should stop and not make progress. Instead, you must learn to embrace your failures by turning them into feedback.

“It is impossible to live without failing at something. Unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all. In which case, you fail by default.”

So, don’t be afraid of failure because failure is what gives you the experience to do better and to perform wiser. We learn more from failures than from our successes.

Remember, it is your failure that builds your character. The more you fail, the more you will learn. And the more you learn, the more places you can go.

If you read the biographies of successful people, you will find that all of them went through some form of failure before they managed to bounce back and achieve the great success they have.

• Steve Jobs was fired from the company he started. Walt Disney was fired by the newspaper editor who said that he lacked imagination and creativity.
• Elon Musk faced the possibility of filing bankruptcy when SpaceX failed the first 3 rocket launches, but he didn’t give up. Musk chose to persist on and on the 4th rocket launch, SpaceX succeeded.
• Stephen King had a similar story. He has a strong passion to write and he wanted to be a writer. But all his manuscripts were rejected. And just before he quits, he threw one of his manuscript into the dustbin. His wife picked it up and read it. She found the story was interesting and encouraged King to try again. Eventually, King’s first novel was accepted and published. Carrie became the novel that shot Stephen King to stardom.

So, what’s the lesson here? Don’t give up.

Turn your failure into feedback. Learn from your mistakes and the failures you have made. The only way you can achieve greater success is to become better.

And the only way to become someone better is through learning from your own mistakes and failures.

Remember this, you cannot fail unless you choose to give up and quit.

How to Embrace Failures and Turn Them Into Feedback

So, what do you need to do when you fail? Here are the 3 fundamental principles on how to turn failures into success:

1) Turn your failure into opportunity.

You just need to change your perceptions about the failure. Like the story of how 3M developed Post-It notes. The engineers made a mistake and created a billion-dollar industry because they chose to tackle the problem from a different angle.

2) Transform your failures into challenges and motivation.

Don’t ask “why me”, instead, be strong, be competitive, and tell yourself, “try me”. Sometimes, you really have to be strong and develop the fighting spirit to challenge yourself to overcome your problems.

3) Turn your failures into lessons.

Learn to reframe the meaning of failure. You have to understand that failure is not there to stop you, but to grow you. People fear failure because they believe that failure is not something good. Learn from Thomas Edison – when he was asked about his 10,000 failures, he said he didn’t fail, but he just discovered 10,000 methods that didn’t work out.

If you need more help in handling the problems, mistakes, and failures you experience in life, read this:

7 Powerful Steps How to Overcome Failure in Life and Bounce Back

Conclusion

Phew, we have covered a lot of ground here. And if you manage to read from the beginning up to this point, congratulations because you have just demonstrated that you have the commitment to achieve your goals and dreams.

I really hope that these 13 steps are going to be of great help to you. I hope you have benefitted and learned something from this guide.

So, do you find this article interesting and helpful? Let me know. Tell me what you think in the comment section below.

And if you do like what you read, please also share it so that others can benefit from it too. Cheers.