This month’s question is:

Are there a series of steps I can take to improve my levels of personal success?

This is one question that I get asked quite often? And to be honest, it is a question that can be answered in a variety of ways, all of which would be probably correct in their teachings.

What I am going to outline is series of steps and considerations that I believe will go a long way in helping you develop your success, but developing it from a solid base and in a specific order of advancement.

We will start with the foundation and work our way up:

1. Personal

Our foundation for your success is based on the key elements that make you who you are or who you want to be.

Areas such as:
• Values
• Morals
• Ethics
• Standards
• Principles
• Character

All of these have significant role to play in either helping you identify who you are and what you are about, or they become a guidance mechanism towards what you should do and how you should do it.

These elements help identify who you are, what you stand for and what you are prepared to stand up against. Without them your success or future will have no significant foundation from which to grow.

2. Technical

With each and every aspect of life there is a certain skill set that will be necessary to see your success eventuate. Obviously the element of experience will have significant impact. Both general life experience and specific experience related to what you are pursuing. The great thing about experience, is that it is work in motion and that motion can either be slowed or accelerated, depending on the person involved and their desire to increase their levels of experience.

Other technical factors could include:
• Skills
• Knowledge
• Ability
• Aptitude

3. Knowledge

Knowledge is a very broad subject as like experience, there is both specific and general knowledge. But for the perspective of developing success, your knowledge should be based around the areas of:
• Direction
• Goals
• Understanding
• Expectation
• Resource

4. Vision

The elements of vision once again can be diverse, with each having a significant role in the development of your success. And although similar in some respects, there are also some differences that make each area equally important.

Aspects such as:
• Visualisation
• Imagery
• Insight
• Awareness

Should all be considered when looking at the development of this stage of your ladder of success?

5. Psychology

When the subject of psychology comes up in discussion, about its place in performance, more often than not, the discussion soon moves to the subject of motivation and although motivation is a critical component, there are other components that are equally important.

Areas such as:
• Attitude
• Mindset
• Belief

6. Resolve

I believe it would be a safe bet to say that your success or the pursuit of it is not going to be smooth and consistent journey. There will be times when you question the goals you have set yourself, you will question your ability, you will ponder the price, you have to pay to see your success realised and it is at these times, you will need a set of qualities that highlight your level of personal resolve.

Qualities such as:
• Focus
• Attention
• Concentration
• Application

7. Obedience

The next step in the ladder of success that I see as being important is the skill of obedience.

And when I say obedience I say it in the context of:
• Discipline
• Commitment
• Dedication
• Perseverance

8. Emotional Control

The last rung on the ladder of success is the skill of emotional control. The ability to deal with external factors that if you allow them, can and will have a huge negative impact on you and therefore, your ability to reach the levels of success you are pursuing.

When you think about the areas of emotional control you should consider start with these:
• Fear
• Anxiety
• Conflict
• Obstacles

Obviously, there are many more considerations you should contemplate as you go about developing your levels of success. What I have outlined in the Ladder of Success is a set of factors that I believe are paramount in the pursuit of success, no matter what the definition of success is. They are outline in an order that will build your success in the right chronological order.

But regardless of whether you choose to build your success on the principles I have outlined, or you choose a completely different method remember:

The Journey Continues!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 5:18 am and is filed under tpc, Ask Bill a Question, Performance. 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.