Have you ever felt that achieving success is somewhat elusive? There’s always more to do, new marketing strategies, bigger accomplishments to pursue. So when is it that we actually can say, “I’m a success!”

In my coaching experience, people with the highest levels of stress are often the ones who have a general feeling of “I haven’t accomplished enough yet.” Interestingly, it’s typically tied to things like not having enough money, feeling overwhelmed with too many ideas, always having a 16 page to-do list that never gets done. But from my point of view, they are often quite successful and have plenty of cash flow.

So why do these people feel as if they aren’t successful enough?

Generally it stems from one of these three issues:

Issue #1: Comparing Yourself to Others

My client Jane often brings to our call a comment like, “Look at what Jeff/Alex/Mary/Shelby did in revenue last month. Why can’t I do that?” I often respond with, “Well, they have a system in place that allows them to market and sell products online. You are still setting your systems up.” Comparing ourselves to others creates negative energy. Negative energy attracts negative outcomes.

We are all exactly where we need to be. Mistakes, set backs, challenges, wins, accomplishments – it’s all a gigantic opportunity to understand who we need to be in order to fulfill our life’s purpose. When we compare ourselves to others who seem to be farther along we shortcut our own learning process. We also have no idea what life lessons that other person is dealing with…and trust me…they are there, somewhere!

Be willing to eliminate comparison and replace it with admiration. Admire what they’ve accomplished and ask yourself what you can learn from them that will help you on your journey. I often feel so much gratitude for my friends that are farther along the path than me…I get to implement short cuts because they worked out the bugs!

Issue #2: Setting Unrealistic Expectations

If you have four kids, two dogs, a working husband and have full responsibility for your domestic life, is it realistic to launch three new programs if you only have two hours a week to invest in your business? Setting unrealistic expectations is often a way in which we can fulfill our lifelong belief that we don’t deserve to be a success. It perpetuates tension because there is no way in which to fulfill our desire…only our negative beliefs.

Achieving success depends upon our ability to believe what we want is possible. If you believe in it, then you make it a priority and you will align yourself with the resources, time and energy necessary to make it happen. If you find yourself continually unable to meet your expectations of yourself (aka missing deadlines, always having big ideas but little results, etc.) then it’s time to evaluate your beliefs and do some “inner work.”

One of the exercises we teach clients in our Fast Track to a 6 & 7 Figure Lifestyle Business Mastermind is to upgrade your beliefs. Identify what the root cause is of that belief and then decide to create a new story that supports the success you desire. There are some great support systems out there to help you with this. If you aren’t a member of the Fast Track, perhaps book a breakthrough session with one of our coaches to get help with this process.

Issue #3: Pursuing Unmet Needs

An unmet need is often deeply rooted. It’s typically driven by security, love or self-esteem issues. Unfortunately for most of us, pursuing unmet needs basically means we make short-term choices that don’t align with our long term success goals. Or, we sabotage our success by not doing what works.

A simple “alignment” process can get you on track quickly. By becoming fully conscious about your values and priorities you can begin to make powerful choices that get you to your desired outcome quickly. The tool I recommend to align your needs and goals with the right action is the ULTIMATE Success Generator™.

If your measure of success has been off…then what steps can you take to get back on track quickly? As the saying goes, awareness is the first step towards the solution. Once you know what’s going on then you can take appropriate action to grow your business.

Here are a few things to start doing now.

Solution #1: Get Clear On What Success Means To You

How do you define success – for you? Not your friends, mentors, gurus or clients but for you. Is it how much fr.ee time you have? How much money you are making? How you feel inside knowing that you do what you love? Is it being able to check off action steps from the list?

When you take a vacation do you head off to the airport and just jump on the next plane leaving – no matter where it’s going? No, probably not. You would know what your destination is, buy a guidebook on the location, plan your excursions, buy some new outfits, etc. You would take action that is going to get you to your desired outcome.

It’s no different when you are creating a plan for success. You must be clear about what it will look like when you get there…or else you’ll continue to think you have to keep working hard. That doesn’t mean you won’t evolve your goals and want to continue to grow. What it means is at some point you have to be able to know you’ve achieved the outcome so you can feel that sense of accomplishment. There is nothing more exhausting than feeling like you are chasing success and never arriving.

Solution #2: Create Measures To Know When You Are On Track

A measure is a way of keeping track. It can be a well defined goal, an amount of money, or maybe even certain feelings or emotions that are present. When you have a way of keeping score then you have the ability to know where you are on the path to your desired outcome.

One of the exercises we have our Fast Track members do early on in the program is to design their 6 – 12 month roadmap. We identify what financial and lifestyle goals they aim to accomplish and then decide how they will track their progress.

This technique is essential if you have a team approach to getting things done. If you are delegating to someone whom you are paying, you will want to measure the success of this investment in your business. If you establish specific items they need to accomplish within a certain time, then measure the success of meeting these outcomes on time, then you will know what your return on investment truly is…and if this process is paying off for you.

Solution #3: Focus on What’s Working

My last suggestion is one that can work for every area of our success. Remember Jane from the example above? Well the one thing she found worked the fastest was changing her focus. If you spend your time focusing on what you don’t have, who has more than you or what you haven’t yet accomplished then you will always feel down and depleted. The simple act of being grateful for what you do have can shift your energy from the negative to the positive immediately. It sounds oversimplified sometimes but it works.

It’s amazing how much more successful we can feel when we view the world through the lens of “wow, look at all I’ve accomplished” vs. “crap, I still have so far to go!”

Remember that the law of attraction works by bringing more to you of what your focus is on. Just like a flashlight in a dark room, what we shine our light on is what we see. Shine the light on the good stuff and you’ll be amazed at how successful you already are!

About the Coach:

Melanie Benson Strick, The Million Dollar Lifestyle Business Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige.

Get the Entrepreneur’s Secret Weapon to revolutionize your results and get on the fast-track to a freedom based business at www.thepowerofthevirtualteam.com

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 at 8:00 am and is filed under Business Goals, Podcast, Success Strategies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.