7 Secrets to Mastering a Quantum Success Leap in Your New Year

Success isn’t being able to do 5,000 things really well. Success is being able to consistently do a few things really well – 5,000 times.

The New Year is almost here! A time for excitement and new beginnings! For me, it never loses its “newness” or luster. I’m an optimist and always look at the cup as half full. I honestly think I enjoy the thought of new beginnings, goals, and the possibility of reaching new heights (and all that comes with each New Year) more than any other part of the holiday season. I tend to dream big.

Recently, I received a request for a speaking proposal and as I put the information together, I decided to pull (from my emails) comments from my last 5 “real life” clients. I was truly stunned by the remarks once I compiled them. Here are the ones I found…

RECENT SIZZLING CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS:

Alphonzo: “Words do an injustice to describe how happy I am with the results. It makes me feel as if I underpaid. This has been well worth the investment!”

Tenisha: “I received an offer to interview for the fellowship at the University of [Name]! As you know, this is a highly competitive fellowship. Thanks for your support and assistance in developing a phenomenal proposal that really caught their eye! Have a happy Thanksgiving!”

Susan: “I accepted a job as a RN Clinical IT Analyst. The pay is $75,000. Not bad for a start. I work 37.5 hours a week, no weekends, holidays, or direct reports, and 5 minutes from home! Thank you for your hard work. The CEO and CFO said they were very impressed with my resume!”

John: “Well, I must say I am very much pleased – OK more like ecstatic with what you've done with my resume. I’m certain it will be able to help me get to the next level in my job search and/or career. I can't thank you enough – a sentiment I think all your clients share.”

Mike (Response after seeing the first resume proof): “When I look at this resume' I think ‘Is this really me?’ Excellent Tracy! I mea
WOW! I am truly blown away. You have outperformed my expectations, and that is not an easy thing to do.”

Mike (Response after seeing his first cover letter proof): “I f***ing love this! (Sorry for my bold language) You nailed it!”

Mike (Comment a week after receiving final files): “Starting to get some interest - had a woman tell me she was ‘So impressed with my resume she had to talk to me!’”

I’m the type who is always striving for that higher mark – always seeking to make my services and writing the best, and this exercise at the end of the year gave me a good glimpse at what I have accomplished. It’s very fulfilling to know you are helping people and making a difference in their lives. I can see that my hard work has been paying off. After all, I recently had 4 clients in a row who all referred someone to me before they even saw their first proof! I could only hope that any resume writer or any type of professional (for that matter) could pull the emails from their last 5 clients and have remarks written about them that are so powerful, or consistently get referrals before the work was done. And if not, isn’t it time to be asking “Why not?” and to be striving for the goal to become better at whatever it is you do over the coming year?

Everyone likes a numbered list of steps so here are some “secrets” I have personally always believed are important in setting and achieving goals. And yes, they are very easy to do, but they’re also easy to skip over and avoid doing each day, so discipline is the key here. I’m not saying this is the right approach for everyone, but since you have a few days left before the end of the year, be sure to take some time to go over and thoroughly contemplate these “success steps” in a nice, quiet location to get the coming year started off right. Even though these are simple steps, baby steps, if carried out persistently and consistently, I promise they will add up to big results:

1) Dream It: It all starts with a dream – an idea. Just look at Apple and the other real innovators. You know the saying… “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Don’t be afraid to dream, or rekindle your dreams. You know you have it in you to be a success. You long for it with a burning intensity – it’s all you think about (during your free moments when your job isn’t sucking the life out of you). But how do you crack the code? (Believe me, there’s a way – as long as you’re willing to put some effort in to it – but most of that is the subject of another article). For right now, just relax and dream.

2) Write It: Now it’s time to write the dreams down before they float away. All the research points to the fact that simply the act of writing your goals down helps you keep them in clear focus and attain them. I go so far as to keep a “Brainstorming Sheet” open at all times on my computer (year round) and when an idea strikes, I record it and save it for later. But mainly, I suggest taking time to write down everything you want to accomplish – no matter how big or small. Just get it all down on paper.

3) Prioritize It: Choose what’s most important out of all the dreams you’ve now recorded. Maybe your children are young and since they grow up fast they are a priority right now. Maybe you have a way to develop a second income stream that will pay off in spades (with more time and money) if you give it your best effort for a year. Whatever it is, strategically pick the top few priorities to laser focus on over the next year. Be flexible – things change in life – but laser focus on what really counts in your life.

4) Plan It: Now that you have a focus, break it down in to baby steps. Use a separate sheet for each goal and brainstorm all of the steps that it will take to reach that goal. Then list them in the order you will do them. (You can’t contact a publisher until you’ve written the book).

5) Schedule It: All of the dreaming, brainstorming, prioritizing, and planning in the world won’t do any good unless you get it down on your daily schedule. I have one sheet that has my daily master schedule printed on it and then also use my planner. You might even pick a “theme” for different days of the week. For example, Mondays work on career goals, Tuesdays relationships, Wednesdays Plan B efforts, etc. But make out a master schedule and stick to it. I start out in the morning with some of the most important or harder things such as quiet spiritual time, exercise, etc. Be sure to keep “health” in your daily priorities too – you can’t enjoy the view from the top if you’re sickly. I schedule breaks and use them to drink glasses of water (which I pour from a container I pre-measured earlier that morning so I can see if I’m drinking my allotted amount for the day) and walks, outside, etc.. But try to work your main priorities into your day, whatever they are. If you want it badly enough, you can find the time for anything – even if you have to get up 10 minutes earlier.

6) Do It: Again, it doesn’t do any good to get this far if you don’t finally dig in and do the work. Need I say more? This is the “secret sauce” (if there is any). Discipline yourself and do those steps you have planned. Take heart. You’re not going to climb a mountain today, you’re just going to take one more step in that journey of a thousand miles. So as Nike says “Just do it!”

7) Evaluate It: Finally, it is extremely critical that you take time (preferably once a week) to sit down and evaluate and adjust your plans and action. Take an honest look and ask “What did I do this week that worked well? How can I keep doing that and make it better? What did I do that didn’t work, and how can I change that?” You can do this as a meeting with “Me, Myself, and I” (if you’re disciplined) or use an accountability partner or two. But don’t skip this step. If you fine tune things to stay on course, it will make all the difference in the world!

So there you have it. A doable plan for the coming New Year! It’s something I’ve brainstormed and used with good success, and I hope it helps you too.

As a quick illustration of how the little steps can add up to big results, let me tell you about a personal experience. I tend to find the “lesson” in everything in life so this was a moment I felt I learned something.

A few years ago I was mowing a large patch of lawn at my house decided I was getting tired of mowing around an old piece of cement. It was about 18 inches long and 3 or 4 inches high and looked like it had been part of a foundation or a door step from an old building that had since been torn down. I had to slow down and carefully maneuver around it or I would scrape the blade, and I’d finally had enough.

I grabbed a hammer and plopped down on the ground with a pair of safety goggles and simply started chipping away. Each time I struck a blow, I could see a tiny indentation where a chip would fly off. It was slow going but I was determined and undeterred.

My two sons heard the noise and came running to see what I was doing. I explained that since I didn’t have a sledge hammer I was simply going to chip away at it with the smaller hammer until it was gone – even if it took all day. They laughed and said, “That will take forever!” Then walked off to play. Well, I’m far too stubborn (or determined and persistent, as I like to call it) – it’s one of my worst faults. So I kept at it.

Half an hour later my sons came back to check on my progress and were amazed that more than half of the cement piece was gone! I ended up giving it a second “pounding” the next day and have never had to mow around it since (and my arm wasn’t even sore). So 2 days, an hour of my time, and an untold number of hammer blows, but I successfully accomplished my goal. And now I think about that lesson each time I mow over that spot. Many little efforts = success.

My point is that by daily / consistent, and persistent action of doing something (let alone laser focusing on making that “something” an action that really counts toward your goal) truly works. How can you go wrong with a plan like that? It doesn’t matter if your goal is to go from the “Monday morning blues” to “Monday morning bliss,” or from being a prisoner locked in a cubical cell to experiencing total career freedom, or any number of other goals, you can’t help but have a quantum success leap if you follow these simple steps over and over again throughout the coming year!

So there you go. That’s my take. Just remember that daily persistent and consistent action is the key. Now get out there and do it, and by this time next year, you’ll be easily be looking back with satisfaction and reading emails in your Inbox from people who feel they have underpaid you too!