10 Steps How To Get What You Want In Life

Whether you want to build a successful business, become the CEO of a company, travel first-class around the world, or enjoy teaching kids in kindergarten, you can achieve and get what you want in life… If you are willing to work for it.

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Of course, the journey is not going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean it is impossible. That’s right, I believe that every one of us can get what we want in life, but we must be 100% committed and be willing to do what it takes to get there.

This guide will show you the 10 steps on how you can achieve anything you want in life…

1. Be crystal-clear with what you want

First and foremost, you need to be crystal clear about what you want. Every one of us wants to succeed in life, but do you know that we all have a different definition of success?

For some, success means running and managing a multi-million dollars business. While for others, being successful means being able to touch and change lives.

Therefore, the first step to getting what you want in life is to define the success you desire. Find out exactly what it is that you want out of your life.

Most people are living in mediocrity because they have no idea what they want in life. When you ask them what they want, they will give you vague answers such as…

“I want to be happy.”
“I want to be rich.”
“I want to be more successful.”
“I want to earn more.”
“I want to get back in shape.”

These are vague wishes that everyone wants. But if you study extraordinary people like Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Richard Branson, you will notice they have crystal-clear goals and visions. These people know what they want, and they have a plan for it.

Do you know that Richard Branson has a blog? He even shared how he makes lists, set goals, and how to accomplish them. Check it out here.

Hence, the first step in getting what you want in life is to identify and get clear with what it is that you want.

If you have no idea what you want out of life, read this guide: 5 Ways How to Find Out What You Want Out of Your Life

2. Set it as a goal

Once you have identified what you want out of life, the second step is to set it as a goal.

I know you have heard about it a gazillion times, but do you do it?

The problem with most people is that they have goals, but they don’t write them down. They only keep their goals in their heads. That will not work.

Goal setting is about turning your dreams and visions into reality. And writing down what you want will make you want more tangible.

Besides, doing so actually increases your level of commitment. Think about it, people write down their goals because they care. And they are committed.

On the other hand, people who don’t bother writing down their goals show their lack of commitment and desire for their goals. And that is why they don’t care if they write down their goals or not.

Here are 3 keys to help you make your goals work for you:

1) Write down your goals

Don’t just think about what you want, put them down on paper. When you write down what you want to achieve in life, you are giving your dreams a time and space to live. There was a study discovered that people who wrote down their goals were 60% more likely to reach their goals. Read it here.

2) Review your goals

Many people get it wrong and think that goal setting is a one-time process. No, you don’t just write down your goals once and then forget about them. You review them every day. Each morning, you have to remind and ask yourself, “What is my most important goal?” You want to constantly review your goals so that they become a part of your life.

3) Measure your progress

You want to track your progress and find out if what you do is getting you the results you want. Most people don’t do this, and that is why they are not successful. Schedule time every week to measure your progress. Find out what you have done and how you can improve to get better.

If you want to learn more about setting and achieving goals, read my ultimate guide: Ultimate Goal Setting Guide: How to Set Goals and Achieve Them

3. Create an actionable plan

The third step in getting what you want in life is to create an actionable plan. Here’s my favorite quote from Larry Winget:

“No one ever wrote down a plan to be fat, broke, stupid, lazy, unhappy, and mediocre. Those are the things that happen to you when you don’t have a plan.”

You have to understand that success is created by design, not by accident. Money will not fall from the sky and you will not become successful automatically.

It takes careful planning and doing the work to get what you want in life. Thus, stop living a reactive life and stop waiting for things to come to you.

Instead, be proactive. Be the one who gets things done. And it all started with a plan.

Now that you know what you want out of life, and have set it as a goal, it is time to create an actionable plan to get you there.

It is sad to see that most people spend time thinking and planning their vacation and weekend plans, but they don’t spend time planning their life or the future they want.

Luckily, you are not most people. So, set aside a time, get ready with your favorite beverage (I prefer mocha), and get ready to plan for the life you want.

Create actionable steps on how to achieve the goals you want in your life. If you have no idea how to do that, read these:

4. Take massive and consistent action

Once you have your plan ready, it is time to work on it. You want to take massive and consistent action and stick to your plan.

Most people are not living their dream life because they fail to stick to their plans. People are overweight because they don’t take action. We all know how to lose weight – proper diet and exercise – but we just don’t do it.

You see, at the end of the day, the difference between someone successful and someone who is not, lies in what they do.

If you want to become a writer, then you need to write every day.
If you want to become a YouTuber, then you need to create videos consistently.
If you want to build a profitable internet business, then you need to work on it every day.

You get the idea. It is what you do that separates you from the rest of the world.

You can have big dreams and bold goals, but if you are not acting on them, guess what, nothing’s going to come true.

Your dreams will remain dreams.

Tony Robbins once said…

“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.”

That’s right. You can get what you want in life, but you must be willing to work for it. If you are not willing to execute your plan and work for what you want, you will never have it.

The biggest problem with taking action is most people procrastinate. They delay doing the work. If you want to learn how to get rid of procrastination once and for all, I suggest you attend this free web class from the New York Times best-selling author and my favorite success mentor, John Assaraf.

5. Learn from mistakes and failures

Trust me, along your journey to success, you will make mistakes and you will fail. The only person who doesn’t make any mistakes or fail is the one who never begins.

As long as you are taking action and making progress, you will make mistakes and you will fail. But the question is not in whether you will fail, because you surely will. The question is how you deal with mistakes and failures when they come.

First, you have to understand that mistakes and failures are inevitable. They are challenges to help you grow and get better.

Second, you have to treat them as feedback instead of roadblocks.

Think about it, how do people become successful? Well, they make good decisions, right? How do they make good decisions? They have experience. And how do they gain experience? Through making mistakes and learning from failures.

And third, understand that failures are the stepping-stones to success.

Many people fear failure and they avoid making mistakes. The problem is that they got it all wrong. Mistakes and failures are not the opposite of success, they are a part of success.

If you don’t fail, you will never learn. And if you don’t learn, you will never improve. And if you don’t improve, you will never get better.

Here are useful resources to help you overcome failures in life:

6. Get a mentor or a coach

Do you know what is the fastest way to succeed and get what you want in life? It is through learning and replicating the success of those who have done it.

Take a look at this picture below…

success leaves clues, so just follow the trail

Getting what you want in life is like getting to the top of a mountain. Imagine you are hiking a mountain. There is already a trail to show you how to get to the top. Are you going to follow the trail?

The answer is obvious, isn’t it?

This is why getting yourself a mentor or a coach is important.

Do you know that most successful people have mentors and coaches? Do you think Tiger Woods have coaches? How about Lionel Messi or Michael Jordan?

Even entrepreneurs have mentors and coaches.

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the largest social media in the world, Facebook, was mentored by Steve Jobs.

And do you know who mentored Steve Jobs? There were many: Bill Cambell, Nolan Bushnell (founder of Atari), and in my opinion, Mike Markkula, who taught Jobs about the principle of metamorphosis where a business needs to transform.

As you can see, if you want to succeed, you need to get yourself a mentor or a coach. Get someone to guide you so that you can attain what you want faster and with fewer detours.

I learned a lot from John Assaraf, one of the leading mindset and behavior experts. You can attend his brain mastery program for free here.

7. Build habits

The next step is to build habits. It is true that motivation is what gets you started, and habits are the things that keep you going.

Motivation comes and goes, and so with your willpower. Therefore, you cannot rely 100% on motivation and willpower alone to make it.

To achieve what you want in life, you need to be consistent. And the only way to be consistent is to build productive habits and turn your actions into routines.

Do you think I’m able to build and grow this blog solely based on motivation? No, I’m able to stick to my publishing schedule because of my habits.

When I first began this blog, I published twice a week, Tuesday and Thursday. And I have been doing that for years. And that was how I managed to build this blog into receiving over a thousand visits per day.

Just like what Haruki Murakami, a best-selling author said in this interview:

“When I’m in writing mode for a novel, I get up at four a.m. and work for five to six hours. In the afternoon, I run for ten kilometers or swim for fifteen hundred meters (or do both), then I read a bit and listen to some music. I go to bed at nine p.m.
I keep to this routine every day without variation. The repetition itself becomes the important thing; it’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.”

Success isn’t going to come to you overnight. It will take time. And that means you have to take action and do it for a sustained period.

And that is why you need to turn your actions into habits. But, how do you build habits? Here’s a great book you need to read:

atomic-habits — One of the must-read books for those who want to build good success habits. Get this book on Amazon.

8. Focus and get rid of distractions

You can get anything you want in life, but you must focus and get rid of distractions. Why? Because most people succumbed to the “shiny object syndrome”.

They started a project, but after a while when they don’t see any progress or results, they will get distracted by other things, and then they quit and start another project.

This is why many people fail. They start a blog, but they got distracted by other things. And eventually, they abandon their blog and do other things.

The same goes for everything you want to achieve in life. Whether you want to write a book, become a YouTuber, or start an online business, if you don’t focus, you will get distracted.

We live in a noisy world. And to achieve anything you want in life, you must develop the power of absolute focus and never get distracted.

Here are a couple of guides to help you:

9. Delay gratification

Next, you want to learn how to say no to instant gratification. In other words, you want to develop the ability to delay gratification.

So, what is delayed gratification? It is the ability to resist the temptation of an immediate reward.

For example, you can choose to watch Netflix right now or work on your goal. Choosing to work on your goal and saying no to Netflix is an act of delayed gratification. Because you say no to the immediate pleasure (watching Netflix) and choose to work on a future reward (working on your goal).

There was a famous study called The Marshmallow Experiment where researchers offered a marshmallow to a group of children. Those who waited for another 15 minutes will get 2 marshmallows. So, it was 1 marshmallow now or 2 later.

And they discovered that children who delayed gratification and chose to wait tend to do better in almost every area of life.

That is why your ability to delay gratification is important…

If you delay the gratification of binge-watching Netflix and work on your blog now, you will have a better blog.
If you delay the gratification of eating the bowl of hot chocolate fudge, then you will have a healthier body.
If you delay the gratification of playing computer games and choose to exercise in the gym, then you will have a better physique.

Hence, learn to delay gratification. Read this article to learn how to do it.

10. Be relentless and don’t give up

Lastly, if you want to get what you want in life, you must NOT do this – quit and give up. As long as you don’t quit, you stand a chance to win. Understand this:

“A winner will never quit, and a quitter will never win.”

You have to be relentless with what you want. Instead of just wishing for what you want, you must be 100% committed to it. Be willing to do whatever it takes to get what you want, and success will be yours.

Read: How to Develop Determination So You Won’t Give Up

However, most people are NOT relentless. They choose to quit and give up whenever things get tough.

No matter what it is you want to achieve in life, you will have to pay the price. You see, if you don’t pay the price right now, you will have to pay it later. Either way, you will still have to pay. You either pay the price for success right now, or you pay the price for failure later.

So, be determined. Be relentless. And don’t give up.

Learn from Muhammad Ali: