Picture, Passion, Plan

I came across an interesting formula for success and I thought I would share. And as always most of the advice to achieving anything is based on plain old fashioned common sense. Picture where you want to be, have the passion to propel you and a plan to make it easier to get there.

All the great motivational speakers and marketers talk about making a clear picture for yourself of what you would like to be, what you would like to have, what you would like to share with others. They say that you need to be able to feel it, smell it, take it in fully through your mind’s eye. Great spiritual writers say that all you will ever need, you already have within your mind.

Instead, many of us focus on what we do not have, and what we are not achieving in our lives. Metaphysical writers say that by maintaining that kind of focus, we simply attract more of this into our lives. They write that the opposite is also true: that by focusing on what we want, what we hope for, what we believe is ours to achieve, we actually attract more of it into our lives. These writers use the "mirror" concept, saying that what you put out is what you get back. Great athletes prove the truth of this. Over and over we hear about how Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, and Michelle Kwan visualized themselves as winning. We would never have heard of these world-class champions if they pictured themselves as failing. Get where I'm going with this? "Seeing" where you want to be is the first step to getting there.

Then add passion to the formula. You need powerful passion to keep your picture in front of you. Feed that passion. The best food is to attain a part of the picture each day or week or month. Put your goal on a schedule and refuse to be discouraged. And when you do take a step, praise yourself. Share your passion with advisors who will respect your trust and add positive energy, encouragement and good ideas to help you maintain your passion. You need all the passion you can muster to drown out the negative voice that lives in your head and work to discourage your forward direction. Your negative voice may tell you that you are not smart enough, not prepared enough, don’t know enough, don't deserve what you hope for, can never be "one of the lucky ones". Only passionate desire in combination with a clear picture can overcome the counter productive thoughts.

Finally, you plan. Your personal plan is just that a plan, a blueprint, a map. Start with the end in mind. What do you really want? What have you got that you can use to get there? What else do you need to get to achieve what you want? How do you PLAN to get that? A plan is simply a map of where you are and where you want to go. A solid plan can be a handwritten set of papers or a sophisticated electronic file. It may include financial, physical, technical, mental and spiritual elements. Having a plan gives you written proof that you know where you want to go and you know how you're going to get there.

When you implement these three components, picture, passion and plan, success is imminent.